Posted in: Mr. Tito
MR. TITO STRIKES BACK - Internet Hate for Seth Rollins, RAW on Hulu Review, and More
By Mr. Tito
May 24, 2016 - 11:40:39 PM

Follow Mr. Tito on Twitter.com: @titowrestling

Welcome, one and all, to Mr. Tito Strikes Back exclusively here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. This is a PRO-ROLLINS column right now... To quote the great Cinderella song "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)", I didn't know how much I missed Rollins until he was out with an ACL injury. My issue with Rollins was with his BOOKING... Instead of being a strong champion, he was relegated to an internal Authority feud with Kane. If you look at 2015, that year's Pay Per View was DOMINATED by Rollins's amazing in-ring work... Damn that has been missed.

So I watch RAW on Hulu during Tuesday nights... Therefore, I get to watch with complete amusement as the internet nitpicks and has complete meltdowns for what's on RAW live during Mondays. It's hysterical. I sit back on Twitter and LAUGH... And then I wonder... Did I sound like that?

What amused me is that the drive-by Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) goes from cheering Seth Rollins's return at WWE Extreme Rules 2016 to trashing Seth Rollins just 24 hours later on Monday Night RAW. Even though Seth Rollins was a heel through November 2015 when he tore his ACL, they fully expect him to be a babyface here in May 2016 upon his return. Huh? What are you talking about? And it's QUITE CLEAR that Roman Reigns is a babyface. As much as you may dislike Reigns, and believe me, I've been critical of Reigns since early 2014 (I'm on record as of January 2014 in one of my columns)... He's currently being booked as a babyface wrestler... Cannot deny that fact even if he can't get over anywhere.

But why on earth is everyone PISSED about HOW Seth Rollins is being used? You have 2 nights of activity to assess here folks... What, do you NOT want the best in-ring performer of 2015 to return and THICKEN the WWE roster at the MAIN EVENT level?!? Would you rather have more of November 2015 to May 2016 WWE again? Believe me, those are months that I'd rather forget as a wrestling fan. This "Roman Empire" stuff sucks but this partial "Bullet Club" stuff isn't that exciting either. As great as AJ Styles is as an in-ring performer, he's lacking in the drawing abilities of personality and communication abilities that complement most Main Eventers. I'm just wondering where this "New Era" of the WWE is when it's just free agents acquired from TNA and New Japan. Yipee.

To bash Seth Rollins for his return for just 2 nights of activity is hilarious... Many of you wrestling fans should cancel your WWE Network subscriptions and then put all of your merchandise, DVD/Blu-Ray discs, and action figures into a pile and BURN THEM. You are NOT a wrestling fan...

Like I said, if you want to relive the November 2015 to May 2016 "New Era" WWE, be my guest and enjoy them independently on WWE Network (Pay Per Views) and on Hulu (replays of RAW/Smackdown). Do that on your own time... Don't ruin the WWE for the rest of us who are starving for some much needed starpower, like Seth Rollins or John Cena, to return and work well with the younger wrestlers. Did you see those John Cena U.S. Title matches last year? Yes, those were much better than those "awesome" Kalisto battles for that same US Title. What a joke...

These little IWC criticisms of Seth Rollins's return only proves to me how clueless much of the wrestling fanbase truly is about the business. You need STARS who are at least 6 feet tall, can talk, have a personality, and complements all of that with good in-ring ability. The complete package... That's what Seth Rollins is... WHO CARES if he's a heel?!? If anything, enjoy the fact that he's wrestling Roman Reigns because the fans will turn him babyface naturally.

What the hell are you complaining about? Seth Rollins just busted his ass to recover from an ACL injury to ENTERTAIN YOU and yet you're somehow bitter and cynical about his return? Just 2 nights within 24 hours and you're already bashing him?

Turn in your wrestling card, please...

Gee, RAW's ratings were up this week from the previous weeks' freefalls... Wonder why? And that 3rd hour finally held above 3 million viewers for a change. And that was against a competitive NBA Eastern Conference Finals game.

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RAW is HULU

Missed the Cut
- New Day vs. Social Outcasts
- Baron Corbin backstage segment
- Big Cass vs. Bubba Ray Dudley

It was GREAT to see Seth Rollins back and better yet, cutting a nice heel promo upon his return. Took all of those "Get Well" letters, threw them in a trash can, and burned them. I do like how Rollins has ended the blonde streaks on his right side of his hair. Not that it annoyed me, but it's a slight cosmetic change that makes him look more serious as a competitor. Roman Reigns comes out and then Shane McMahon. Already we have our MAIN EVENT of Money in the Bank 2016... I'm OK with that.

Money in the Bank qualifying matches, eh? Sami Zayn vs. Sheamus was up first. Not a bad match. Problem is that were given heavy doses of Sheamus to end 2015 and then we've barely seen him lately. Hard to care... Not a bad match but I was really happy to see Sami Zayn actually WIN a match for once against a decent name (Sheamus has won multiple World Titles now). Afterward, Sheamus goes crazy and attacks everyone backstage throughout the night. Here we go again with yet another character change. At least he grew that beard out, which I guess is a positive change. End that mohawk already, buddy. You're just too loud and you present too much as a character. Keep things simple...

Miz vs. Cesaro was up next... Not a bad match. I think Miz has benefited from having better opponents lately and maybe that's the remedy to fix him as a wrestler and character? After all, Miz has a nice finisher... He just has to better link the rest of the match to that finish. To my surprise, Cesaro won the match and advances into the Money in the Bank match.

And now, another match-up that caused the Internet Wrestling Community to lose its mind. I keep hearing unfair bashing of Chris Jericho that he's "too old" and "gave Apollo Crews a bad match". Huh? Are we watching the same wrestling program? What I saw was the usual Apollo Crews that was full of energy that needs better timing and psychology to fit in with the WWE style. Crews is like a linebacker who moves like a Cruiserweight. I'm not here to bash Crews and I have in fact praised Crews for his ability... Just needs to complete the package and add better psychology to his work. Can't be all offense but you must also effectively sell pain and emotion in a match. Lots of upside with Crews, but instead of having him struggle in the WWE, keep him on the NXT roster to have battles with Samoa Joe until he's fully ready for the WWE spotlight.

I did NOT like the Charlotte break-up with Ric Flair. For one, Charlotte has to better work the crowd instead of getting rattled by trolling such as the "What?" chants. While I like realism added in pro wrestling, Charlotte's words towards Ric Flair were cutting deep. Very deep. And the verbal attacks on Ric probably went on a bit longer than it did. Later, Ric Flair was saluting everybody backstage as if it was a goodbye. I don't know... We'll see what next week brings.

Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler was quick... As I was multi-tasking between writing the opening rant and last word, I looked up and the match was over! I'll call it now... Dean Ambrose is going to win the Money in the Bank briefcase.

MAIN EVENT and I was shocked to see this as the headliner... AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens and damn it was good. Pay Per View quality match and the results speak for themselves. The 3rd hour held above 3 million for the first time in a while. For Kevin Owens, we have a full year of good matches that pads his resume... WWE has to figure out how to market and present him because he's money. He's an excellent heel performer and AJ Styles selling ability complemented him well. Great match and nice way to end RAW.

SHOW THOUGHTS: Thumbs up for this RAW. Enjoyed it very much and I like the Money in the Bank entrants so far. I'm soooooooo happy that Seth Rollins is BACK! Suck it, internet... Having star power is good... [ A ]

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THE LAST WORD

I do follow politics and often speak out about it on my Twitter account... I'm following the rise of WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump quite closely and am curious if he can actually pull this off... I've commented on him in the past... In my opinion months ago, I felt that he might have problems with a few specific demographics (Women, Hispanics, Blacks) specifically for some of the shoot comments he's had, past and present. Despite that, he's rolled through the Republican field and just recently, he's closed the polling gap that he once had against the probable Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.

For Trump, he does well because being brash and politically incorrect with his mouth is sort of his gimmick... He's shot from the hip for years and it's refreshing to hear when considering the others in Washington right now. If most other politicians said what Trump said, they'd probably resign from office already... But again, it's all about how you project yourself. It's funny to see how rabid the Conservative base has become for Donald Trump despite his years upon years of donating money to Democrat candidates (including Hillary Clinton). Trump works the mainstream media and social media outlets so well that people's attention spans are quickly lost when it comes to Trump. "Punish" women for having abortions? That would bury any other GOP politician. Donald Trump? Forgot it in about 2 days... That's amazing.

But if WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump becomes President, it might be because he's a great candidate that everybody loves... It's likely due to dislikes of his probable opponent, Hillary Clinton.

You see, I often see similarities between Hillary Clinton and WWE Chief Brand Officer (CBO), Stephanie McMahon. Many similarities.

Let me present the biggest similarity out of the way first...

With Stephanie McMahon, it is ASSUMED that because she's the daughter of Vince McMahon, Stephanie can be a successful manager of the WWE. Stephanie has been around Vince for 39 years and probably more closely by working heavily in the WWE since 1999... Therefore, if she is related and works with the #1 wrestling promoter of all time, Vince McMahon, some of that innovation and leadership skills should rub off, right? Well, considering that the United States WWE audience has been divided in HALF since 2000 when Stephanie took an increased executive role with the WWE...

With Hillary Clinton, it is ASSUMED that because she is the wire of Bill Clinton, former President of the United States for 8 years, Hillary can be a successful President of the United States as well. Hillary has been married to Bill since October 1975 and one would figure that hanging around a successful Governor of Arkansas and 2-term President of the United States would rub-off, eh? I don't know... There's talk of potential FBI indictments for poor handling of classified email communications and there are criticisms for policies as Secretary of State. Personally, I'm not a fan of some of her votes while in the United States Senate. I think Democrat voters knew her quite well when the opted for Barack Obama during 2008 and I believe something remains in the air with Bernie Sanders keeping a moderately competitive race in 2016. Shouldn't she dominate this race if was all related to Bill Clinton, a popular former President?

However, where I really think that Hillary Clinton and Stephanie McMahon REALLY compare towards each other is how they are major ENABLERS to bad behavior of their male counterparts.

Vince McMahon, while he's the #1 wrestling promoter of all time, is no saint. He's talked openly about his past through various interviews and he's quite thankful for a forgiving wife in Linda. But look at Stephanie... Turns a blind eye to any such behavior of her dad that could have been detrimental to her mom. Instead, she's blindly loyal to him and supports his every move in the WWE. You've never once heard of Stephanie sticking up to her dad on a BAD creative idea. Not once... She just nods her head in agreement when she could have been the voice of reason to legitimately fix the WWE. Complete yes-woman.

And then there's Bill Clinton... Monica Lewinsky anyone? That happened during his presidency and in the Oval Office at the White House. And that's just the tip of the iceberg for various female allegations. And Hillary's response? Remains married to Bill Clinton to this very day and Bill is out there campaigning for him. Not a hint of ever thinking about divorcing the guy... Do you think that other women don't see that? I think that's a great reason why she's not the overwhelming choice as the Democrat President. She could potentially become the 1st female President of ALL TIME and yet Bernie Sanders does OK among female Democrat voters in some states. Younger ones especially.

Then, you have the obvious... When both raise their voices when they act mad... It's screeching on a chalk board, seriously.

I've never been a fan of Stephanie McMahon in a leadership position. You should see that shift during 2000 from the storyboarding of then lead writer Chris Kreski, where Triple H look at his best as a heel, to Stephanie morphing into the lead writer and eventually EVP of Creative with time. Suddenly, storylines lacked logic, title changes were random, and then Triple H began to really dominate in the ring. In fact, Stephanie's position of power was used to make Triple H one of the most dominant characters of all time between late 2000 through 2004. Gee, what happened to the ratings of RAW during that timeframe again? The "cut in half" trend began... And then her creative clashes with Paul Heyman regarding the Smackdown roster from 2002-2004. Ridiculous... Smackdown had MORE viewers than RAW during that period of time along with developing those "Class of 2002" developmental wrestlers into true stars... Yet, Stephanie lets petty ego crap get in the way because Paul Heyman proved himself to be a superior creative mind than her. And since those early 2000's, WWE has lost a good bit of its domestic audience and during the 2010s, more audience has been lost.

Point being... If you are the spawn of a wrestling genius, that doesn't guarantee you'll be one as well. If you're the spouse of a great President, it doesn't guarantee that you'll be one as well.

If Hillary doesn't become President, despite lots of Donald Trump quotes and actions to use against him... Then it's on HER, the enabler of bad behavior that couldn't ride someone's coattails to the White House.

And Donald Trump could become the first WWE Hall of Famer to be President. Wow... Calling it now... Linda McMahon will get a job with the Trump administration, possibly Secretary of Education.

SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE!

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