|
Bookmark Mr. Tito's Column Archive to read the current and past columns. Well, well, well... It is I, the quintessential columnist, Mr. Tito exclusively here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. Took a little time off following the Great Balls of Fire Pay Per View. You know, ramming a guy in an ambulance and barely making deal about it afterward sort of takes the air out of you as a wrestling fan... And now Jason Jordan is Kurt Angle's son. Go figure. At the end of the day, folks, the pro wrestling business is about the clash between Good vs. Evil in the quest to earn the top Championship Titles. If it wasn't about the competition over the World Titles, why have matches? Why have title belts? If WWE is such a "Soap Opera for Men", then let's just ditch the ring already and have more talking scenes and non-wrestling segments. If it's the drama that sells the product, then why waste time having matches? Because that would be silly. Majority of wrestling fans tune in for a staged athletic competition that guarantees them a good show. You don't always get that with real sports as seen lately by blowouts in the NBA, NFL, and sometimes disappointing UFC/Boxing matches. WWE has the ultimate advantage because they can script a longer, hard fought battle for a championship. That's ramming an ambulance into another vehicle with Braun Strowman in the back or revealing another wrestler to be Kurt Angle's son is SO STUPID! Remember, pro wrestling is about the conflict between Good vs. Evil over Championship Titles. Furthermore, what Roman Reigns did was actually illegal. That's assault, brother (you could argue Braun tipping over another ambulance was as well), which is punished by jail time. HOWEVER, because it happened in the WWE Universe, General Manager Kurt Angle is just mildly upset with Roman. Furthermore, Roman is still babyface. Isn't that a HEEL move by attempting to kill another wrestler with a vehicle? Not him... He's acting as if nothing happened. Instead, Roman was awarded with a #1 contender's match... If a fighter in Boxing or MMA assaulted another fighter in a manner against the law, they'd be suspended or banned from the sport! That's in addition to the Legal System having a say, too. Part of the reason why the Attitude Era peaked during late 1999 and began to decline after Wrestlemania 16 is because of the loss of reality that the Creative Team was showing. For example, Triple H drugs up Stephanie McMahon and takes her to a drive-thru wedding during late 1999. While it was a much needed character boost for the Triple H character, the premise was silly. The Las Vegas wedding attendant didn't even question why Stephanie was passed out and how obvious that Triple H was speaking for her. Furthermore with the Triple H character, he carried around a Sledgehammer. Remember when Triple H attacked that casket with the sledgehammer when the Rock was in it? Contrast that with silly things that Steve Austin did during 1998-1999 that made sense towards his character hating his boss that were silly at most (Beer Truck, attack in the hospital, the gun with the "bang" sign, etc). You cannot drug someone in order to force them to marry you (illegal). You cannot attack someone with a sledgehammer as a weapon (illegal). Fast forward to 2002 for the Rock vs. Hulk Hogan build-up before Wrestlemania 18. They had an AMAZING stare-down segment on RAW in the middle of the ring that gave everyone chills. However, that was followed up by the New World Order attacking the Rock in the parking lot and rammed his ambulance with a semi-truck. Completely erased the cool in-ring segment between two of the biggest icons in the wrestling business. WWE needs MORE reality, not less of it. Again, if the "Soap Opera" is what draws, ditch the rings and get rid of the title belts. Go ahead, WWE, your move. See if that WWE Network sells without Pay Per Views FULL of matches. ---------------------------------------- Lots of news to cover here, so I'll play catch-up by going topic-by-topic: JASON JORDAN = KURT ANGLE'S SON?!? From my opening rant, it's obvious how I feel about this storyline development... Just a lack of reality here as this would assume that Kurt Angle blew his load into Jason's mom during his college years. I guess that's plausible, as Angle was a successful athlete and colleges are close to breeding grounds. It's just that at age 28, wouldn't Jason Jordan know who his parents are? Plus, Jordan is from Illinois... Kurt Angle went to college in Pennsylvania. Unless he took random road trips or Jason's mom was a hardcore amateur wrestling fan, it just doesn't make sense. HOWEVER - I'm HAPPY for Jason Jordan. He gets the opportunity of a lifetime to work with Kurt Angle in a storyline and if anything from Angle copies over to Jordan, WE ALL WIN. Let's be brutally honest here... American Alpha wasn't a success in the WWE. Now, you could argue that the Smackdown Tag Team division was a bit weak and that Alpha was rushed to the Tag Titles without many key wins before or after that. I'll agree to that... But maybe they were better on a smaller NXT stage than WWE? We're seeing that with many NXT prospects who are called up. Much easier to perform in front of repeat customers at Full Sail University than in arenas across the United States. Also, Vince McMahon is a demanding booker who expects more from you outside of the ring than inside. I could also argue that the Revival could have made Alpha look stronger than they possibly were... I have yet to see a bad Revival match, seriously. They could be the most gifted in-ring tag team to come along for years. Maybe... I've seen enough from Jordan & Gable to convince me that they've got talent. The WWE is a different environment which makes me worry about Chad Gable. He's an extremely talented in-ring wrestler and reminds me a lot of Kurt Angle, in all honesty. But he's 5'8" in height and 202 pounds. He's PERFECT to potentially carry the 205 Live brand to new heights. Who wouldn't want to see Gable vs. Neville in a feud? Take my money now! I'd throw both Enzo and Gable into 205 to give it some life. But Gable is a guy who would wear that Cruiserweight Title with absolute pride and be the face of that brand. He's just undersized for the WWE main roster, as it's hard to deny. Again, UFC and Boxing has weight classes... Why is it insulting in pro wrestling to have a weight class? Also in my opinion... I believe that Chad Gable has peaked as an in-ring talent. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's on the downslide... What I'm saying is that he's already an accomplished in-ring wrestler. In my opinion, however, Jason Jordan has the more upside. Working with Gable has unlocked Gable's confidence and athleticism and now he's ready for bigger and better things. Jordan is 6'3" and 245 pounds who is a freak athletically. As he works with Kurt Angle in this storyline and further learns by one of the bests ever, he could develop into a legitimate top player. I just worry that Jordan will get "lost in the fold" on RAW who has a bunch of upper-midcarders who could be in the way along with "main eventers" that the WWE Creative Team heavily protects (Rollins, Reigns, Strowman). However - Opportunity knocks, Jason Jordan. As goofy as the storyline may be, you're getting placed in a storyline with Kurt Angle. Make the most out of it and behind-the-scenes, learn from one of the best. In a column last year, I gave my opinion on who could be the next "big stars" and they were Braun Strowman, Jason Jordan, and Apollo Crews. 2 out of 3 ain't bad if Jason Jordan pans out with this angle. I still see hope in Apollo Crews... He just has to figure out how his personality can fit within the WWE because he's a freak athletically and kids like him. Like Jordan, I worry that Apollo will just be lost in the fold on RAW. ALMOST THERE WITH THE SHIELD + WRESTLEMANIA 34 Potential I like the storyline right now with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. Seth Rollins actually apologizing for turning on his brothers "3 years ago" was a nice touch and then offering Dean a chance to hit him with a chair was great as well. Do you see this chemistry? IT'S THERE. Remember - I argued AGAINST Seth Rollins turning HEEL to cause the Shield to break-up during 2014. I took lots of heat from it. At the the time, I enjoyed the Shield as a babyface group as they beat Evolution twice in a row. I argued with Cena seeing injuries and leaving for Hollywood opportunities, the WWE needed new babyfaces. That's why I was against breaking up the Shield during 2014. Results speak for themselves as the Rollins/Reigns era on RAW has lost 1 million viewers and Dean Ambrose seems to be disliked by WWE Creative. I believe that it could work to have Ambrose and Rollins flirt with a runion only to have Dean Ambrose turn HEEL on Seth Rollins to set up a feud during 2018. I see them having a legitimate Wrestlemania 34 match to add what I see to be a potentially stacked card: - Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar - John Cena vs. Roman Reigns - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles - Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose And probably 10 other matches to fill that 5 hour card... Ugh. If Dean and Seth are to remain babyfaces instead, just #ReuniteThe Shield. RAW VIEWERSHIP I always enjoy when RAW briefly goes above 3.0 million... I get all of the trolls yelling at me "see, see, RAW is above 3.0 million". Yeah, you got me... When I can show you RAW viewership that did just over 4 million viewers during early 2015 and you can brag about 1 show that did just under 3.2 million. Oh, you got me... On a show that hypes the revealing of Kurt Angle's secret and the #1 Contendership match between Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns, it BETTER get above 3.0 million. But I'm grounded in reality and my predictions have patience... FACT is that since Wrestlemania 34, RAW has averaged 2,981,000 viewers. Mind you, I'm actually including the RAW following Wrestlemania 34 into that average which was 3.8 million. I lose 600,000 fans, on average, when I remove that unusually large number. You can mock me all you want for my bold "permanently under 3.0 million viewers for RAW" prediction, but we're getting there folks. We're about to head into the Fall season which is usually poisonous for the WWE and historically the time when WWE loses its fanbase. NFL is there but SummerSlam to Royal Rumble is a "dead zone" for WWE particularly when the holiday season rolls around. The beauty of this is that the haters KNOW that I'm right. To WWE's credit, they've rolled out the big guns for RAW lately with bigger storylines and having bigger match-ups. This week had Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe which SHOULD be a Pay Per View headlining match-up. Instead, it's just another match on RAW. Eventually, these big match-ups will lose their steam and the "shock value" of things like Kurt Angle revealing that he has a son will be gone. Gee, wonder why John Cena is a "free agent" who can go to either brand. When he begins appearing on RAW next year to begin his Roman Reigns feud, it's out of desperation to keep the RAW television show afloat. After all, the 2019 expiration of the WWE television deal with Comcast/USA Networks could present the WWE with one of its last big television paydays. Hard to replace $175 million+ per year from a TV deal. NINTENDO SWITCH - WWE 2K18 YES! YES! YES! For the first time since the regular Nintendo Wii, a Nintendo home console is getting a WWE video game. WWE 2K18 was announced to be a Third Party produced game for the Switch which is selling quite well right now. I was lucky to find one at a Target during late April and I'm loving it. Zelda is an all-time great game, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a massive sugar high, and I can't wait to play Splatoon 2 this Friday. I have already purchased my copy of 2K18. Why? Because I want to show support to the WWE and 2K Sports for placing this game on a Nintendo product. I did the same kind of odd thing with Minecraft for both the Wii U and Switch even though I don't understand that game. As a loyal Nintendo gamer, I wanted to pad Nintendo's numbers so that other Third Party games also arrive. The LAST video game review that I did was WWE Day of Reckoning 2 for the GameCube which was the last console based WWE game that I ever had. I will guarantee that I shall review WWE 2K18 for the Nintendo Switch and attempt to get really good at it as well. I was a damn good Wrestlemania 2000 and Day of Reckoning player in my day, so watch out! Shame that none of the games made it to the Wii U... People can hate on the Wii U all they want, but playing many games off-screen has been awesome for me with kids wanting the big screen. Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Wind Waker/Twilight Princess HD remakes, Mario Maker, Mario 3D World, Smash Bros., and having access to many NES, SNES, and N64 games... Breath of the Wild can be purchased for the Wii U. Yeah, I had a great time and many missed out on Nintendo's finest games ever produced. Switch has been fun although many of the games, so far, have been essentially Wii U games. That's why I'm eager to play games like WWE 2K18 and Rocket League along with any other Third Party companies willing to take a chance. QUICK THOUGHTS - Funny how the US Title feels more important than the WWE Title on the Smackdown brand. - I'm really impressed with Elias Sampson. There's some talent there, folks. - I've really liked Finn Balor's in-ring ability lately... I can see where people have been in awe of his talents for years. - It's so hard to find AXS TV viewership numbers... Very curious to know how New Japan draws here in America. At least beat - The Kurt Angle "Homecoming" WWE Network special was excellent. Amazing how Angle's story went from "if I didn't leave WWE, I would have died" to "I refused rehab and I kept abusing drugs after I left WWE". Like night and day. I still contend that Kurt Angle didn't like how he was used during 2006 and that was the real cause of the exit. - WWE barely changed its midcard on Smackdown during the "superstar shake-up" yet somehow it's exponentially worse than before. How? 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 - 1998-2017
|
