|
Welcome back to the EXCELLENCE IN COLUMN WRITING here by yours truly, Mr. Tito, that is exclusively here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. I hope that you're having a GREAT holiday season... I know that I am with work going well, have the love of my friends and family, and I feel that I'm a good groove right now as Mr. Tito and as a wrestling fan. If the current WWE product ever upsets me, especially RAW, I can just chill out on the WWE Network. Just this past week, I watched the Owen Hart special, JBL's rountable with HHH/HBK/Austin talking about the Undertaker (awesome!!), Breaking Ground, and NXT... Good stuff! For years upon years, especially since my 2010 return... I've argued that the WWE needs a strong HEEL stable. After all, history has shown that the strongest drawing periods have coincided with a heel stable for the #1 babyface to fight and overcome. 1980's WCW had the Four Horsemen and poor Dusty Rhodes/Sting had to overcome 3 guys in the way of getting Ric Flair. Bobby Heenan had his family and they went after Hulk Hogan. During 1996-1997, we had the NWO in WCW and you had to get through an army of guys to get to the champion. Hart Foundation and Degeneration X had guys (or even girls, Chyna) in the way to protect their WWE Champion... 1998-1999 saw the Corporation at which Steve Austin/Mick Foley had to get through an army to get a piece of Vince McMahon and/or the Rock. Evolution had Batista, Flair, and Orton protecting their champion, Triple H. Even to a lesser degree in ECW and in WCW, Raven's Flock saw opponents getting through various warped individuals before ever getting a chance at Raven (but Bill Goldberg mowed through all of them!). WWE has tried that HEEL stable a few times in the last few years... We had the Nexus which presented one of the most compelling endings to RAW ever when they attacked John Cena (and CM Punk) and dismantled everything else in sight. All downhill from there... Daniel Bryan got fired for choking someone with a tie, someone else got injured, and Wade Barrett just wasn't ready at that point to be a main eventer. We have also had several iterations of the Authority. The first was with Randy Orton as WWE Champion and later, Seth Rollins. In both cases, there was always additional drama in place... Orton was always trying to win Triple H's approval (summary of Orton's career) while Seth Rollins couldn't do squat without arguing with the "Director of Operations" Kane. In hindsight, for as much as we've griped about Seth Rollins being a weak WWE Champion and his reign seeing RAW lose about 500,000 in viewers, WWE Creative made him into a weak champion. John Cena regularly owned him as U.S. Champion. Overall, I like the Wyatt Family, but aside from Bray Wyatt owning Daniel Bryan, not much to brag about on their resume... And now... The League of Nations. Yes, I've argued for a HEEL stable... Did that for years... In many ways, I want to give the League of Nations a legitimate chance to succeed. Overall, I don't mind the in-ring talents of Wade Barrett, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and Rusev. And for all 4 wrestlers, they didn't have much going for them anyway... But, they were just slapped together and Sheamus, without much hype or push, became WWE Champion. Sure, I'm relieved as hell that Roman Reigns was only WWE Champion for 5:15, but Sheamus as a personality and character is not something drawing me to the television. Ditto for the other 3 guys although I'm a bigger fan of Del Rio than most (he's in absurd shape right now). For all 4 of those guys, WWE Creative has ruined them. Sheamus and Del Rio have been overpushed and then undercut several times already from the Main Event scene. Wade Barrett was made into a joke as Intercontinental Champion and injury reasons limited his potential with the "Bad News" character. Rusev was pushed strong and then John Cena disposed of him... Injury and Lana slowed him down as well... But what made the Four Horsemen, Heenan Family, NWO, Hart Foundation, DX, Corporation, Raven's Flock, and Evolution work so well? Their centralized figure was OVER and drew fans through generating massive amounts of heat. Fans paid good money and tuned in every week to see if the centralized figure (Flair, Andre, Hogan, Shawn Michaels, the Rock/Vince McMahon, Raven, or Triple H) would finally "get theirs". Better yet for those heel stables, there was always a top babyface chasing that centralized heel champion. Dusty Rhodes/Sting went after Ric Flair. Hulk Hogan had to fight off Andre the Giant... Lex Luger/Diamond Dallas Page/Sting/Roddy Piper had to overcome Hulk Hogan's army in the NWO. Steve Austin had to go through the Hart Foundation, Degeneration X, and the Corporation and that dominated his life for 3 freakin' years! Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit had to deal with Evolution protecting Triple H... And finally, look at the hell poor Tommy Dreamer AND Sandman went through in ECW to just get a sniff at Raven. It took Raven leaving ECW to join WCW for Tommy Dreamer to finally get a win over that guy. So the centralized heel figure is Sheamus? The same guy who couldn't make it deep into the tournament of the WWE Title tournament and also lost earlier in the night through a Survivor Series match... The same guy who repeatedly hears "YOU LOOK STUPID" chants and I don't think fans are doing it just to troll him. Ratings numbers prove that. He's not a heel WWE Champion that compels people to watch him on television or see him at an arena. Worse yet, the weak heel champion has the severely overpushed Roman Reigns as his babyface counterpart. In my previous paragraph, it is very clear that I have strong heel champions versus strong babyface opponents. We do NOT have that with Sheamus and Roman Reigns. Quite the opposite. Monday Night RAW is now pushing the 3 million mark in viewership. As much as we may have harped on Seth Rollins for losing 500,000 viewers, he did that over a 6 month stretch. Roman Reigns and now Sheamus in the WWE Title scene have dropped it another 500,000. If you'll recall, the Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt Main Events of RAW saw massive viewership erosion and November/December have seen nothing but Reigns getting pushed hard. And now Sheamus as WWE Champion. In less than 2 months, those guys have lost an additional 500,000 viewers that it took Seth Rollins to lose in 6 months while squabbling with Kane. Remarkable. Therefore, I have NO FAITH in the League of Nations. History, both long-term and short-term, tells me exactly what will happen... WWE will get sick of this storyline and move on... Besides, Roman Reigns has already mowed through them by himself several times now. We're not seeing any Horsemen or NWO-esque beatdowns on Reigns which we should see regularly. Ohhhhh no. Reigns overcomes them by himself. WWE wants Reigns to become the "next" John Cena and that's exactly how they're booking him. Cena mowed through the Nexus and Seth Rollins as the Authority's top guy. But the problem with Roman Reigns is that he's NOT John Cena. John Cena is a GOOD WRESTLER. John Cena has a PERSONALITY that draws people in. In fact, John Cena was able to shed his "Thug Life" gimmick and remain a top draw. Gee, what hasn't Roman Reigns done? That's right... He's still using the Shield theme song and wearing a bulletproof vest like a moron! And where's the chemistry with the League of Nations anyway? Sure, Sheamus and Wade Barrett have been teaming together... That's fine... But what compelled Alberto Del Rio and Rusev to join the party? Both were dealing with their own storylines before getting shoved into that group. Del Rio was in a bad relationship with Zeb Colter for the "MexAmericans" (that scooter...) and Rusev is still attached to Lana's spotlight. Meanwhile, the League of Nations has already been upstaged by other heel groups like the New Day (who screwed over Sheamus at Survivor Series 2015) and the Wyatt Family from RAW. There is just nothing there but 4 good wrestlers being thrown together and it's whole purpose is just an attempt to get Roman Reigns over. It's NOT going to work... You cannot force Top Draws... I've been saying that for YEARS now. WWE keeps trying to force Sheamus, Roman Reigns, and Alberto Del Rio down our throats. We, as fans, openly reject them... Could you imagine how OVER Dean Ambrose would be if he was pushed as strong as Roman Reigns? Could you imagine if Daniel Bryan was pushed strong as Sheamus? Those have been the ones fans want to see and yet they get clobbered by the wrestlers that Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, and even Triple H think are superstars. You lost 500,000 viewers in 2 freakin' months. Time to pull the plug on Roman Reigns and let him work his way up through the midcard first and if he does well, then promote him to the main event. Wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Triple H, and John Cena all worked their way up... Why can't Roman? I'm just waiting for John Cena and/or Brock Lesnar to return already... When the WWE poorly develops their superstars, relying on veterans is the way to go for the short-term. But those two aren't getting any younger and Roman Reigns and Sheamus aren't the guys to officially replace them. WWE is in a sad state of affairs when they need to rely on veterans too much instead of developing younger talent to become main eventers. Give Dean Ambrose a chance......... ------------------------------------------------------------ Mr. Tito's WWE Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PAY PER VIEW Predictions Using the WHO SHOULD WIN (my opinion) and WHO WILL WIN (my prediction) format... First of all, what wrestlers would be willing to participate in any match involving Tables, Ladders, and Chairs? Wrestling becomes STUPID when it's realized that the month is DECEMBER and therefore, we must book several matches with Tables, Ladders, and/or Chairs. Just like when we're in October and we must wrestle Hell in a Cell matches... Worse yet with TLC, when you have ladder matches with this event, isn't that repeating another event called Money in the Bank that has a big ladder match? Yeah... If December is going to be considered a "waste" month for WWE, why not just name it Starrcade? Ditto with October's Pay Per Views becoming Halloween Havoc. If WWE won't take the months of October and December seriously, why not use the trademarked WCW event names? Divas Title: Charlotte (c) vs. Paige Part of Charlotte's gimmick was that she was a great wrestler in spite of her dad... But now, the WWE has stuck Ric Flair with her? OK... So far, their matches together have been subpar. Granted, WWE Creative could give two craps about either one because of the Dunn/Vince influence that longs for the days of the Bella Twins. But, if Charlotte and Paige want to influence a real revolution, they must put on an amazing match. They have to step it up or the Bellas will return. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: Charlotte, probably with some help from the dirtiest player in the game.... -------------- Chairs Match for the US Title: Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger I was surprised that Jack Swagger was still with the company... What good is a CHAIRS MATCH when WWE company policy disallows for you to crank wrestlers in the head? It's funny to see Alberto Del Rio in the League of Nations yet he's still stuck in the past with his "new" manager Zeb Colter to fight Jack Swagger. Goes to show you how rushed the League of Nations idea truly was. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: Alberto Del Rio -------------- Tables Match: Team ECW vs. Wyatt Family Dudleys have been losing repeatedly, Tommy Dreamer hasn't been in the WWE since 2010, and Rhyno can lose to WWE's developmental wrestlers at NXT. That, and their peak ECW years were during the late 1990's... And they have any shot against beating the Wyatt Family? Goes to show you how thin the WWE roster is right now when you need to have an ECW reunion for the 10304845th time. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: Wyatt Family -------------- Ladder Match for the Tag Titles: New Day (c) vs. Lucha Dragons vs. Usos This could seriously be the "Match of the Night" with the amount of death defying spots that may be hit. But do the Usos or Lucha Dragons have a shot? Nah... Usos are companions of Roman Reigns and Lucha Dragons just aren't something long-term for the WWE. At this point, it makes little sense to take the Tag Titles away from New Day unless you have a super strong babyface team. Hanging out with Roman Reigns does not make you an over babyface tag team... WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: The New Day --------------- Intercontinental Title: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Dean Ambrose Repeat theme from this event... Why is Ambrose wrestling Kevin Owens instead of one of the League of Nations members? Just not much reason for why these two are wrestling? Continued proof of how the WWE quickly changed their plans recently. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: Kevin Owens. Dean Ambrose should NOT be Intercontinental Champion. I figure Rusev or Barrett will interfere, or something? --------------- WWE Title: Sheamus (c) vs. Roman Reigns Reigns has had the better of Sheamus on the past few editions of RAW and that should suggest that Sheamus wins here. WWE, I think, will try the Royal Rumble victory with Reigns again and therefore Reigns won't win it here. WHO SHOULD WIN / WHO WILL WIN: You know who won't win? The fans. Who on earth wants to see this match? Two forced down-our-throats wrestlers who have zero personality to adequately connect with fans. I can't wait for this stupid month to be over so that we'll get rid of this feud and John Cena/Brock Lesnar will be back. Sheamus wins this match and maybe he holds the WWE Title for longer than expected because he has a nice role in the new Ninja Turtles film. ---------------------------------------------------------------- THE LAST WORD So Tommy Dreamer has returned to the WWE and he'll be wrestling at TLC Pay Per View. Good to see him back, as I'm a longtime fan... I began watching ECW during 1996 in the middle of his chase of Raven, as described above. I wish him and his beautiful wife Beulah (also in ECW) the absolute best... However, I worry about Tommy Dreamer. He has been open about memory loss or functionality issues as documented in this article. Yet, as the article alludes to, the same WWE doctors who won't clear Daniel Bryan are OK with Tommy Dreamer performing? Really? By WWE taking on Tommy Dreamer, they've just shifted the liability onto themselves... That is so unlike the WWE in recent times. As noted, they are not letting Daniel Bryan back into the ring despite Bryan getting a second opinion that cleared him. If Dreamer gets whacked in the head hard this Sunday and endure more medical issues, the WWE is clearly on the liability hook because Tommy Dreamer most definitely passed a physical to work for the WWE. Not that I want to deny Dreamer the work, but WWE should be smarter than this... After all, since the Chris Benoit double murders, the WWE has ramped up its policies on concussions and the doctors are taking the matter seriously. Ditto on what you're seeing in the National Football League (NFL) right now... After years of ignoring the issue of long-term health risk from repeat head trauma, the NFL changed its policies and its rules to better protect players. NFL is not only trying to protect the players, but protect itself... They have billion dollar lawsuits out there regarding past lack-of-policies and there's a new movie out there called Concussion which describe's the NFL's past denial of the concussion issue. Sure, that will attack what the NFL did in the past, but in the present, the NFL has taken it upon themselves to protect players and the results are evident. Helmet-to-helmet or crowning shots are banned, referees are told to watch for players possibly concussed, tests must be passed to continue playing or be cleared for next week, among many other changes. In just 2 years, NFL reduced its concussion totals from 261 in 2012 to 202 during 2014. NFL players are also becoming self aware like Ben Roethlisberger who took himself out of a recent game because he thought he may have been concussed. WWE and NFL need to have policies and procedures in place to address concussions to limit liability... Why? Because at some point, Football Players and Pro Wrestlers need to own up to their end of blame for concussions. To become an NFL player or a WWE Superstar, you MUST sign a written contract. Because both professions have existed for years now, it's pretty obvious how dangerous both fields can be. On one hand, NFL has collisions on every play even if you are wearing padding. Every play! For pro wrestling, you are getting slammed on a hard ring. Most people believe that rings are padded but those are boards... And the ring post is steel, the floor is concrete, the barriers are often steel, and those ropes aren't exactly safe either. Ask Mick Foley about his ear or the many times wrestlers have been almost choked to death when their head gets tangled in the ropes. NOT SAFE... But the NFL Players and WWE Superstars KNOW THAT going in... It's OK to enjoy the 6-figure, 7-figure, or even 8 figure per year salaries for those sports but it's another to cry about the risk that both organizations provide. Football players and pro wrestlers would have to be absolutely ignorant if they didn't know the physical risks to their bodies. For pro wrestlers, they should see what repeat head injuries did to Chris Benoit. The doctor who examined his brain said that Benoit's brain resembled the brain of an 85 year-old Alzheimer's patient. That's insane... Poor practices within WCW and then WWE just let Chris Benoit work through injuries while the damage was piling up. Hard to say what really happened during that fateful June 2007 day, but evidence shows that Chris Benoit was not of sound thinking mind when he did it. And then you add whatever substances was in his system at the time. NFL players have seen awful scenarios, too... Take Hall of Fame Center Mike Webster. Shortly after retirement, his head trauma caused him to have amnesia and advanced stages of dementia. He was in bad shape after his NFL career and he died at the younger age of 50. He'll be part of the subject matter covered in Concussion. But in recent times, football players and wrestlers know the risks of their chosen profession... Wasn't this always the case? Last time I checked, football was always a physical game and pro wrestling still had wrestlers willingly taking bumps. How could players or wrestlers avoid saying "hey, my head hurts today after that game or match" and not realize something was wrong? Sure, the income security isn't what it is today, but come on... To suggest that you're completely ignorant to reality is validating that you, yourself, are ignorant. NFL and WWE made bad mistakes during the past and older lawsuits will always be around to haunt them... But they've learned from their mistakes and knowledge about the long-term damage of concussions is improving with time. However, the NFL and WWE have improved their own policies and personnel safety learning from the past... With players and wrestlers still signing the dotted line to play football or wrestle, isn't there an increased liability on them? If both are so dangerous, why even try it? You have to liable for your own actions at some point. 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
|
