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Welcome back to the EXCELLENCE IN COLUMN WRITING for it is I, your approaching 17 year host, Mr. Tito here exclusively at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. Lots to cover today as we have RAW on Hulu, Hell in a Cell Predictions, and other material... BUT FIRST, the opening rant... Well, that Stone Cold Podcast with Brock Lesnar was uneventful. Don't get me wrong here... I enjoyed the interview as it was just 2 wrestling greats chilling and having a great conversation about their careers. To my surprise, Lesnar and Austin appear to be pretty good friends... For much of the interview, Brock was completely out of character and speaking like a normal human being. The only time he sold the Pay Per View was at the very end, within the last minute, where he promised to hurt the Undertaker in the cage. That's it... No hints at Steve Austin vs. Brock Lesnar for Wrestlemania 32 and in fact, far from it. Zero animosity during the interview towards one another and Brock Lesnar even said he "understood what Austin was doing" regarding the 2002 walkout when Austin refused to lose to Brock Lesnar on a randomly booked episode of RAW. When Austin said the rumors of Lesnar vs. Austin at Wrestlemania 32 were "BS", I think he meant it. Then again, we're over 5 months away from Wrestlemania 32 and Austin could have another Podcast where Lesnar goes on the attack... But for now, no Lesnar vs. Austin and I believe it. I still insist that Stone Cold Steve Austin will perform at Wrestlemania 32 but simply not against Brock Lesnar. If it were me booking, I would go with Steve Austin vs. John Cena with the booking outcome being John Cena turning HEEL in front of the Dallas crowd by (a) cheating to win and (b) brutally beating Austin down afterward. Nothing is working right now for the WWE, therefore, it's time to roll the dice. With Cena taking 2 months off, I believe this will become a reoccurring theme as Cena is getting older and he's already made boatloads of money. While I'd prefer a babyface waiting in the wings to take over, WWE needs something to spark its programming. Getting a huge win over Steve Austin and then shocking everyone with a heel turn could do the trick. My current Wrestlemania 32 projections: - Undertaker vs. (Sting or Kane or Big Show) - Steve Austin vs. John Cena - Triple H vs. Rock OR Triple H/Stephanie McMahon vs. Rock/Ronda Rousey - Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Title, possibly adding Dean Ambrose - Brock Lesnar vs. (Bray Wyatt or Randy Orton or Sheamus) - Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Getting back to Lesnar on Austin's Podcast... I'm hearing a lot of criticism on how much the Podcast "exposed the business" and how Brock Lesnar treats pro wrestling "like a business by clocking in and out like a regular worker". So what? Has Brock Lesnar been a disappointment since his 2012 return? Nope... He's been the shining light through the darkness of bad booking for the past few years. So what if he didn't grow up a wrestling fan or if he doesn't want to hang out in the locker room. Have you not been amazed at the last 3 years he's given us? And please on the "exposing the business" stuff. The WWE Network has documentary after documentary repeatedly telling you how scripted pro wrestling is. Furthermore, WWE is about to debut Breaking Ground which will fully expose the wrestling business in addition to other shows that already exist like Total Divas and Tough Enough. Spare me on Lesnar. ==================================== RAW is HULU Missed the Cut X - Sasha Banks/Naomi vs. Nikki Bella/Alicia Fox (argh!!) X - Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro and Neville vs. Rusev, King Barrett and Sheamus X - Mark Henry vs. Kevin Owens Fascinating start to RAW this week as Stone Cold Steve Austin appeared on RAW for the first time in 4 years. Well, technically speaking... He's appeared at the table before his Podcasts during RAW a few times... Great to have him back with the full entrance and some microphone work. Basically, he appeared there to hype Dallas, Wrestlemania 32 being in Dallas next year, and to introduce the Undertaker. Cool... Undertaker said a few words until Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman would appear. After some smack, Undertaker would challenge Lesnar to come to the ring and Lesnar did... And of course, they didn't fight because that's how you hype a Pay Per View... I'm fine with this. The match speaks for itself and doesn't need RAW segments to hype it up. Backstage, Dean Ambrose said that he didn't need Randy Orton and was going after Luke Harper/Braun Strowman TONIGHT... I'm hearing more "NEW DAY ROCKS" lately than "NEW DAY SUCKS"... Hmmm... Damn it, I've been waiting for weeks to see the Trombone to finally be used as a foreign object and the New Day uses it on Smackdown. Come on!!! Fun tag team match and I loved how the New Day stole a win from the superteam of Dudleys/John Cena. Think about the amount of titles that Cena and the Dudleys have combined... Wow... I, however, did NOT like the babyface beatdown afterward. Let New Day have their heat. That's the point of pro wrestling, WWE. Another WWE legend appears as it's Shawn Michaels to hype Hell in a Cell. Quite crazy to think that he wrestled in the FIRST Hell in a Cell match 18 years ago. Mindblowing... And better yet, Kane debuted at that very match. After some talking, Seth Rollins comes out to declare that his Wrestlemania 31 moment was better than any of HBK's and the usual Seth Rollins stuff. HBK had some good responses becaue he's GOOD AT CUTTING PROMOS, but tonight proved to me what is broken about Seth Rollins aside from poor booking by WWE Creative. Seth Rollins can't cut a promo... I was right during 2013 when I properly assessed the Shield... Dean Ambrose was the mouthpiece, Reigns was the muscle, and Rollins had the athleticism. I was right... Rollins is struggling mightily with his personality and his communications. I was right 2 years ago and remain right to this day. Ryback vs. Seth Rollins was decent. Helps Ryback that he has one of the best athletes in the WWE performing with him in Rollins and it made every move look amazing for Ryback. Good match and effort against the WWE Champ by Ryback AND good win heading into a Pay Per View for Rollins. Nothing wrong with this match. Whooooooo, yet another legend appears and it's Ric Flair. He is there to hype Roman Reigns instead of, you know, his daughter who is wrestling at Hell in a Cell. Reigns ends up alone in the ring when the Wyatt Family appears minus Luke Harper but plus Erick Rowan. Nothing announced, Rowan just appears with Bray. Oh well, Rowan fits with the group and I'm fine with the 4 member team of the Wyatts. They should reign supreme with that amount of size together. Reigns gets 2 chairs and has a talking session with Bray Wyatt that, of course, leads to a brawl. Dean Ambrose would join Reigns to fend them off. Reigns taunted Bray Wyatt as a "bully" as if PC bullcrap is needed for a babyface to say in pro wrestling. Reigns is a joke with these WWE corporate scripted lines. Why not give him some creative control over what he says? Charlotte vs. Brie Bella is up next. Quite amazing how different the Bellas look... Brie is very thin and I'm not calling her anorexic by any means... But Nikki, Charlotte, Becky, and Naomi participating in this segment are built with muscle tone but Brie doesn't look like much of an athlete in comparison. I do like that Brie adding kicks to her moveset. When you're smaller by comparison to your competition, you can offset that with strikes... Ask her husband, Daniel Bryan. Not a bad women's match, to be honest, although Brie was in control for most of the match and once again, Charlotte's athleticism is NOT on display. Did WWE officials not watch NXT? Charlotte can legitimately wrestle... Backstage, Paige is asked if she attacked Natalya on Smackdown. What? What is this Smackdown thing they keep mentioning and why are relevant storyline angles happening there (or Trombone usage as foreign objects)? LOL @ Paige calling Renee Young as "Sally Jessy Raphael". Wow, I haven't heard that talkshow host's name in YEARS! That's great stuff by Paige. I'm sure many younger wrestling fans don't get that reference but some of SJP's shows were quite outrageous. The 1990's had nothing but shock value on its mind for talk shows between Sally Jessy, Richard Bey, Ricki Lake, Maury Povich, and Jerry Springer... I still don't know where WWE is going with Paige or if they'll take her seriously in the long run. I still see the WWE Divas road always running through the Bellas. As much as we may crap on Executive Producer Kevin Dunn, the Undertaker/Brock Lesnar hype video was excellent on RAW. In case you missed it, expect to see it 50 times during the pre-game show this Sunday! The MAIN EVENT was Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman... Yes, it's the SHIELD vs. Wyatt Family! Fans immediately shout "THIS IS AWESOME" upon realizing what they are witnessing. Seth Rollins initially stands with his former brothers but soon argues about the starting strategy. When they broke up during 2014, I contended that the Shield could have been the babyface sensation that the WWE needed and as a group, they could have complemented or maybe even replaced John Cena. WWE could have kept them as a group and let each wrestler branch out individually from time to time. Based on how Rollins and Reigns are struggling to draw as singles main event wrestlers and how WWE Creative doesn't like Dean Ambrose, I was right on my initial assessment of the Shield breaking up was a bad idea. Shield were ON FIRE after that Evolution feud... Oh well. Much of the match was Dean Ambrose playing the "face in peril" with the Wyatts working him over, standard formula. And just when you thought that a Shield reunion was here, Seth Rollins pulls up lame with an "injured" leg before a hot tag could be made. Reigns would recover and get that hot tag but the numbers game would overwhelm Reigns/Ambrose. Eventually, Dean Ambrose would have enough and grabs a Kendo Stick to swing away. Strowman would snap that stick (impressive) and the Wyatts would take control for a beatdown. Roman Reigns has some great moments when he jumps over the top rope onto all 3 Wyatts and hits multiple trademark moves. Looked good, one of Reigns better moments. I think hinting that the Shield returned amped up the fans. SHOW THOUGHTS: I enjoyed that "go home" edition of RAW. Show did it's job to SELL the Pay Per View and we had some good matches. It was one of the better nights for Roman Reigns as a character but the WWE has to stop scripting his lines so much (unless he can't talk without them). I'm actually quite pumped for this weekend's show and RAW actually helped it. I'll go B+ for this week's show. WWE should seriously consider reuniting the Shield based on the reaction seen tonight. If you need babyfaces with John Cena gone, why not? Better yet, add a 4th Shield member (NXT call-up Baron Corbin would work) and 4 on 4 Survivor Series match-up works perfectly. ==================================== Mr. Tito's PHAT WWE Hell in a Cell 2015 Predictions PREGAME MATCH: Dolph Ziggler/Neville/Cesaro vs. Sheamus/Wade Barrett/Rusev This could be a damn good pre-game match... I would watch Dolph Ziggler closely. He could royally screw over Neville and/or Cesaro and then accept the John Cena US Title challenge. Then, after Hell in a Cell, Ziggler has his built-in feud... Sheamus and Rusev on one team is quite a lot of firepower on one team. OR - Based on Smackdown, someone might interfere and ruin his match. No spoilers, but it may have caused a creative direction change for Ziggler. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: Sheamus, Wade Barrett, and Rusev ------------------------------------ Kevin Owens (c) vs. Ryback Weird vibrations from RAW as Kevin Owens beat Mark Henry cleanly and Seth Rollins beat Ryback cleanly. Not sure what that means... In reality, that was a really good win for Kevin Owens but I'm not sure of the Creative Direction him... But I'm never sure where WWE stands on Ryback. I honestly don't know here. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: Kevin Owens ------------------------------------ Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns - Hell in a Cell Already, we're hearing plans of Roman Reigns getting MEGA PUSH towards Wrestlemania 32 to become WWE Champion this time around. Bray Wyatt is locked inside the cage with no where to go. However, I figure that we'll see lots of Wyatt interference and Dean Ambrose will probably help him out in some fashion. Either way, Vince McMahon wants Roman Reigns to be his top star and particularly now with John Cena taking the next 2 months off, Reigns might be needed to be the top guy in the immediate future. WHO SHOULD WIN: Bray Wyatt - Better wrestler than Reigns, by a margin. WWE needs a strong heel to eventually place a legitimate challenge against Brock Lesnar. WHO WILL WIN: Roman Reigns. Vince McMahon loves him and I believe Vince is disappointed in those who talked him out of crowning Reigns champion at Wrestlemania 31. Vince won't make that mistake again (well, pushing Reigns to the WWE Title is a mistake). ------------------------------------ New Day (c) vs. Dudley Boyz for the Tag Titles Hey, could someone tell me what event is occurring during December 2015? And the kind of match that a certain tag team helped make famous? To me, this match is 50/50 on whether the WWE pulls the trigger on the Dudleys recapturing the Tag Titles. The New Day have been effective at avoiding defeat... Maybe the WWE could delay the inevitable by having New Day steal a win here, have the wrestlers participate in some Survivor Series style match (I'd love to see Spike Dudley return and create a 6 man elimination match), and then the Dudleys paint the New Day into a corner at TLC with their match. Either way, this feud has been fun and the New Day keeps growing in leaps and bounds. WHO SHOULD WIN: New Day. In my opinion, the best time for the Dudleys to win is at TLC. Remember - The New Age Outlaws got over by escaping loss repeatedly and openly bragging about it, just like the New Day... WHO WILL WIN: Dudleys, but I wouldn't be surprised that the New Day then steals the titles back on RAW or at Survivor Series. ----------------------------------- Charlotte (c) vs. Nikki Bella for the Divas Title I'm still weirded out by the psychology of the Night of Champions match. Instead of Charlotte having an extended squash on Nikki Bella, getting revenge for that RAW screwjob finish, we had Nikki Bella dominating Charlotte and Charlotte was hamstrung with leg injury selling. Charlotte is an athletic beast and Night of Champions should have been a means to showcase that. Instead, the booking looked like it was put in place to protect Nikki Bella... WHO SHOULD WIN: Charlotte, handily. WHO WILL WIN: Nikki Bella. I think that Vince McMahon sees real potential in Sasha Banks as a babyface right now based on her popularity from the NXT Takeover events. Her little attack on Brie Bella was convincing to me and I believe that Sasha and the Bellas will butt heads for the next month or so. Many NXT fans respect Sasha and her in-ring ability and charisma is an easy selling point to get over as a babyface. ----------------------------------- John Cena (c) vs. ??? - Open Challenge for US Title John Cena reportedly has time off from after Hell in a Cell through late December. Yikes... WWE's top houseshow and merchandise draw will be gone for some much needed rest unless he's doing a reality show or film to consume that time. Either way, he'll either drop the US Title on this night or drop it on RAW during Monday Night. The question is WHO should face him. Here are my 3 opinions: (a) Dolph Ziggler - Hinted at turning heel, he could accept the challenge and then cheat bigtime to steal the US Title. Then, Ziggler completes the turn to the darkside by attacking John Cena afterward. (b) Dean Ambrose - Wyatts vs. Orton/Ambrose isn't happening, so therefore, he could take it upon himself and challenge Cena. WWE officials have expressed some interest in trying to push Dean Ambrose as a babyface and having him resume Cena's "open challenge" could be a good part of RAW each week. (c) Daniel Bryan - Reportedly cleared to return any day now. See what I said for part (b). He could resume Cena's open challenge storyline while Cena is out while giving the WWE a much needed babyface favorite. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: Dolph Ziggler and I believe he completes the heel turn even if (b) and (c) seems quite logical. Either way, I'll bet on John Cena to LOSE. But again, I'm not sure on Mr. Ziggler based on the booking of Smackdown. ----------------------------------- Seth Rollins (c) vs. Kane, WWE Title vs. Kane's role as Director of Operations Hopefully, this ends this long storyline arc that has effectively neutered Seth Rollins as a drawing WWE Champion. Since he won the WWE Title, all we've seen is bickering between Kane and Rollins and it hasn't drawn. In fact, the 3rd hour of RAW, which Seth Rollins has dominated as the main event attraction, has declined considerably and has drastically hurt the WWE brand. Hanging in the air is some tension between Seth Rollins and Triple H that the WWE has been hinting at for a while. To help Survivor Series out, why not try Triple H vs. Seth Rollins? Then again, if we get this match-up, this could mean that Kane wins... Lousy DQ finish could solve everything, I guess. WHO SHOULD WIN: Seth Rollins wins via the returning Curb Stomp finisher. WHO WILL WIN: Seth Rollins wins via Disqualification. I don't think this angle is ending and may transfer to HHH vs. Rollins. ------------------------------------ Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker - Hell in a Cell Being honest here, I actually happy that Lesnar vs. Undertaker #3 was on a non-Big 3 Pay Per View rather than trying to let it live up to the hype of Wrestlemania. Furthermore, having the match ASAP after that SummerSlam is better sooner rather than later. As I stated in another column, WWE has real fan erosion issues during the 4th Quarter each year and it's due to Hell in a Cell, Survivor Series, and TLC becoming extremely lackluster. Additionally, Brock Lesnar doesn't normally perform during the 4th quarter. To me, this match should resemble the 2nd match... Brock Lesnar will SELL moves instead of beating the living crap out of the Undertaker as he did at Wrestlemania 30. Lesnar has figured out the formula that he can look dangerous while showing some vulnerability. Lesnar just has to sell for the Undertaker and bump enough for the old guy to push this match to its limits. In my opinion, this is the LAST big match we'll see from the Undertaker and we'll see his retirement match at Wrestlemania 32 against someone like Kane or Big Show. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: Brock Lesnar. This win will "clear the decks" for a big possible match-up for Lesnar possibly against the Rock, Randy Orton, or maybe another run at the WWE Title. ================================== PHAT QUESTIONS: Question #1: If Donald Trump becomes President of the United States, does WWE stand to benefit? Absolutely. If Trump gets the nomination and the odds keep increasing the more he buries Jeb Bush (watch out for Marco Rubio), you can bet that the McMahons and WWE Corporation will donate heavily to Donald Trump. Trump has helped the WWE make serious bank on at least 3 Wrestlemanias and Vince/Donald are old friends. Lots of mutual respect there based how aggressive both are as businessmen. If Trump won the Presidency, WWE would definitely benefit in two specific areas. For one, Department of Justice. WWE fights to maintain that they are a form of entertainment and shouldn't be included in any categories of sports (i.e. avoiding drug testing). I also think that WWE lives and dies on their Intellectual Property. They want to further enforce any use of WWE properties, particularly on the internet, and could do so if the Department of Justice ramps up their efforts. I also think that the WWE can sway Trump on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). WWE stands to benefit on rulings for what can air on Cable, how Comcast is regulated, and things like internet bandwidth regulation. The McMahons would have Trump's ear and that would benefit them. ---------------------------------------- Question #2: Which external Celebrity has helped the WWE the most? Yikes, now that is a question... As mentioned above, Donald Trump helped the WWE considerably through hosting Wrestlemania 4 and 5 while playing a bigger part in the strong drawing Wrestlemania 23. The numbers Wrestlemania 23 did were absurd and completely unexpected from the 2007 roster. Other than Trump, I would go with Mr. T for Wrestlemanias 1 & 2 and also Mike Tyson for Wrestlemania 14. Both put more non-wrestling eyeballs on the screen and helped those events get over bigtime. Wrestlemania 1 was a total risk by the WWE and needed added attention... Wrestlemania 14 needed to be a big hit to catapult the WWE strong into the Attitude Era and to help push Stone Cold Steve Austin. Mr. T had that Rocky 3 momentum still going on during 1985 and appearing with Hulk Hogan gave the WWE two big names from that movie. In my opinion, Cyndi Lauper should get credit, too... She was a BIG star during the mid-1980's and the late "Rowdy" Roddy Piper generated a ton of heat in his confrontations with her. All 4 were incredibly important to the WWE... Honestly can't choose. ------------------------------------------ Question #3: Will "On this Day in Pro Wrestling History", "Final Countdown", and/or "WHAT IF" columns be returning anytime soon? Some of you noticed that I brought back On This Day in Pro Wrestling History... on Saturday. Honestly, I just wanted to write something that morning and with me wanting to save current topics for today's column, I checked the Internet Wrestling Database for what occurred on October 17th, 2015. Sure enough, WWF No Mercy 1999 occurred 16 years ago and that was a slam dunk topic. But - I wouldn't count on me producing retro columns. Why? (a) Because I like to write about CURRENT topics and (b) I've have been writing columns for almost 17 years now... I've been there and done that on any retro topic possible. Good lord, I've completed Top 10 lists on every topics. I would personally like to write more "What If" columns, but that column format is actually a chore to complete. Plus - Everybody is doing retro columns now and there are entire websites dedicated to doing Top 10 lists. It's getting to be overkill. I'd rather write interesting columns about current topics. That's how I've made my mark with my columns and I would that method of writing for any aspiring writer. Plus, I get bored talking about the past and would rather mix history into my current topic columns such as discussing the famous "Class of 2002" developmental class (eh, Comments section?). Maybe for a weekend column, I could bring back a retro column but for now, you'll likely seem me writing something Tuesday/Wednesday with Pay Per View reviews. Seems to working quite well. ----------------------------------------- Question #4 - Do you think that Fantasy Sports will ever increase its association with WWE? Depends on a few things... WWE has tried to do fantasy wrestling before but its rules were confusing and participation dropped off quickly. There are a few independent websites that have a few fantasy games but it's not catching on. What the WWE should do is partner up with someone exclusively, whether it's Yahoo! or ESPN (new business arrangement) and offer up a simple fantasy game. In my opinion, it could work better on a weekly basis like Fan Duel or Draft Kings by drafting a new "team" of wrestlers each week. Particularly, if you have Tag Team as a position player, you don't have much choice aside from the Dudleys, New Day, Prime Time Players, and maybe Lucha Dragons. Since the WWE blends its roster too much as there's no set group of midcard wrestlers specifically going after the US/IC Title, making matters more confusing with John Cena as US Champ, it's hard to group wrestlers. Just pick an army of 10 wrestlers and bet against other fans on how they perform on RAW, Smackdown, and Pay Per Views. 1 point for any segment appearance 5 points for a win 2 points for a DQ/Countout/No Contest 20 points for a title victory Something like that... Problem with the WWE, however, is that it's hard to bet because the outcomes of matches are fixed. If WWE got hot and heavy with Draft Kings or Fan Duel, there would be too much incentive to cheat among companies. WWE would have to end their days leaking information to the Meltzers of the world because it could give away the outcomes too easily to matches or storylines. Then again, it would give the WWE another reason to troll wrestling fans by submitting false information to the dirt sheets (which sometimes they do anyway). But in my opinion, a BIG fantasy sports outlet has to take them seriously... Yahoo or ESPN, although I personally like CBS Sportsline... WWE must get into this Fantasy Sports game. Why? And I'll sound like Fox Sports radio host Colin Cowherd and echoing his opinion here, it has been proven that Fantasy Football is keeping viewers glued to the screen even during bad games. Why? Well, for example, if you have Calvin Johnson as your Wide Receiver for the 1-5 Detroit Lions, you'll watch any of their games just to see Megatron (his nickname) score a touchdown or rack up yardage. THEREFORE, you might watch RAW/Smackdown/Pay Per Views more often if you had some sort of fantasy team of pro wrestlers to root for. Like I said, I know there are a few wrestling websites trying to host fantasy wrestling... But my point is that it needs to be more mainstream and part of a bigger fantasy sports network like Yahoo or ESPN. ----------------------------------------- THE LAST WORD Can we end these STUPID gimmick Pay Per Views already? I'm talking specifically about Hell in a Cell and Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC). I'm actually glad that we merged the WWE Titles because that ended the Elimination Chamber show from mattering. In the past, a TLC or HIAC match was spontaneous. The confines of a regular match could not sustain the heat that 2 wrestlers had and therefore, something needed to be added to settle the score. We're seeing some of that with Undertaker and Brock Lesnar right now... After the controversial ending of SummerSlam 2015, putting them in a cage for Match #3 made sense. But that's luck... We haven't had an interesting Hell in a Cell Pay Per View in years... The last time at a Hell in a Cell match was relevant (though I liked Rollins/Ambrose last year) was at Wrestlemania 28 when Undertaker and Triple H did battle in the cage. It worked because it was spontaneous and needed to settle the previous year's Wrestlemania 27 encounter. Triple H and Undertaker didn't need an event specifically named Hell in a Cell to have that type of match. WWE has presented an ignorant climate in that "hey, it's October, time to wrestle in a big cage again". LAZY BOOKING as my good friend Chrissssssss always says. Ditto for TLC in December. Who thinks that? It's December, time to have a DANGEROUS Ladder Match! Wrestlers shouldn't be as willing to hurt themselves based on the time of year. October and December have two OBVIOUS names that could be used but it's a matter of Vince McMahon realizing that the Monday Night Wars are over. Hello, Vince McMahon, you BOUGHT WCW during March 2001 and you've made millions off of their properties, former wrestlers, and footage. That's the ultimate insult to WCW or Eric Bischoff who may have beat you during 1996-1998. YOU OWN THEM... This year's Wrestlemania 31 match-up between Sting and Triple H actually morphed into a WWE vs. WCW match with HHH representing WWE (with DX) and Sting representing WCW (with nWo) and of course, Triple H won the match. That loss totally damaged the Sting brand from the first match! Get over it, Vince... You've OWNED WCW officially since March 2001 and you were owning them regularly by late 1998. October should be named WWE Halloween Havoc and December should be renamed WWE Starrcade. Period, end of sentence... If you want to have a Hell in a Cell match during those events, fine, let the storylines on television naturally cause it. Ditto for TLC matches, although I'd argue that Money in the Bank Pay Per Views have made that show and match redundant. I have issues with the Money in the Bank briefcase but at least MITB has that "sense of urgency" that I keep discussing that most WWE shows lack. There's no urgency at Hell in a Cell and TLC shows and most wrestlers are hoping to get out of those events without injury. Why the October event isn't name "Halloween Havoc" is baffling to me. Overall consumer expenditures on Halloween is around $7 BILLION annually. Think about that... Money, money, money... But what the WWE is missing the the demographics who celebrate Halloween. Parties are growing in leaps and bounds but the real action is with teenagers and college students. That's where HUGE parties occur and are the social event of the year. I know that at my former school, Ohio University, Halloween is the biggest party of the year and that school has consistently been the #1 Party School (thanks, guys) for many years now. Of course, I could argue that way for the December event... Americans spend far more on Christmas than any other holiday and by a large margin. Why not rename TLC into something Holiday themed? Tis the season to exploit the times... Just don't call it "December to Dismember", which I believe remains the worst bought WWE Pay Per View of all time (pre-WWE Network era). But hey, I'm just trying to give free advice to help WWE Network sales... SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2015
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