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The anticipation of the Excellence in Column writing, I understand, can be overwhelming... I usually post on Tuesday evening, but I was busy with work stuff... But I was watching RAW on Hulu and was sorta live-tweeting the event on Twitter. So if you ever want a preview of what I may say in my column, simply follow me on Twitter via @TitoWrestling... And I usually respond to your Tweets unless you're trolling me... So what did I think about the Royal Rumble Match changing from a #1 Contendership match to the WWE Title being on the line? Stupid. Absolutely stupid. Think of the logic here... The Royal Rumble already has the best built-in "sense of urgency" among any of the WWE events. If you win the Rumble match, you become the #1 contender for the WWE Title to headline the Wrestlemania event, WWE's top show. There is no need to add any additional gimmicks just 3 weeks away from this BIG event... But WWE did. Vince McMahon made the change and he's putting his 70 year old self out there on television because of sagging ratings. Worse yet, it's yet another "booking crutch" for Roman Reigns, Vince's hand picked next-big-thing whether the fans want him or not. As I proved in another column, Roman Reigns has received more booking crutches than about any WWE wrestler has received in history: - Only member of the Shield to defeat CM Punk. - Runner-up in 2014 Royal Rumble - Scored the final pinfalls in BOTH Evolution 6 man matches. - After Shield break-up, Reigns was in back-to-back Pay Per View WWE Title matches. - Scored clean win over Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2014. - Returns from injury, wins 2014 Slammy Award for Superstar of the Year. - Wins 2015 Royal Rumble. - Pins Daniel Bryan cleanly at Fast Lane 2015. - Originally booked to beat Brock Lesnar on his way out at Wrestlemania 31, but Lesnar's re-signing changed the booking. - Single handedly beat up the Wyatt Family by himself on repeat nights, pins Bray Wyatt cleanly at Hell in a Cell 2015 (good match, to his credit) - Wins #1 Contendership Tournament to wrestle Seth Rollins at Survivor Series 2015 to reportedly win WWE Title. - With Seth Rollins hurt, Roman Reigns wins WWE Title tournament through Survivor Series 2015. - Single handedly beats up the League of Nations stable on repeat nights. - Finishes TLC 2015 with more League of Nation beatdowns and then attacks Triple H. - Vince McMahon returns after several years of not being on WWE television and oversees Roman Reigns winning the WWE Title on RAW. - Vince McMahon is now repeating his "Austin vs. McMahon" playbook with Reigns and now puts the WWE Title on the line for Royal Rumble 2016. Wrestlers who are OVER don't need such booking crutches. But all of the favorable booking in the world cannot stop the fact that Roman Reigns is still green inside the ring. Take away any DQ gimmick and he's heavily exposed as a wrestler. And what's next? With the Royal Rumble Match's #1 contendership pissed away, are we going to get that clunky Elimination Chamber rolled out to determine the Wrestlemania #1 contendership? Oh joy... Why not roll out the WCW Triple Cage? How about the idiotic WCW Doomsday Cage Match? See what happens when you have a POOR Creative Team in place that neglects the midcard, poorly uses any developmental wrestler who debuts, and has a complete and utter disregard for Titles? When you lose 1 million viewers on RAW, it forces you to do desperate measures like returning Vince McMahon to television, overpushing a wrestler like Roman Reigns, or adding an unnecessary gimmick to an already great Royal Rumble event. As I argued in yet another column, the Royal Rumble just needs better booking and a better Rumble winner. Sorry, but Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus, Batista, and Reigns were not ready to carry the wrestling business at the time they each won the Rumble in the last 5 years. The result was lackluster impacts at Wrestlemania and summers in complete disarray because of that bad booking. I have to be brutally honest here... It was embarrassing to see a 70 year old Vince McMahon flopping around the ring as "special guest referee" of Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns on RAW. Worse yet, wearing the old cutoff referee shirt and trying to flex... Vince is still in good shape for his age, but it is not necessary for him to get physical in the ring as the referee and then take bumps from Reigns. But again, desperate times call for desperate measures. Because WWE Creative have failed to create compelling storylines, push the right wrestlers, and poorly utilizing developmental wrestlers... Vince McMahon HAS to appear on television and pimp his hand picked Roman Reigns. That's sad. And now John Cena reportedly has a torn rotator cuff and he may miss Wrestlemania 32... Wow... Makes you wonder why AJ Styles and several other New Japan performers happened to be signed by the WWE recently. ---------------------------------- PHAT QUESTIONS Question #1: What do you think WWE should do about John Cena's injury? Here's the one time that I'm hoping that this is an injury angle... But, reportedly, John Cena has suffered a torn rotator cuff and requires surgery immediately. This will put him out for Wrestlemania 32 and may cause significant booking changes as well. The insiders were reporting Undertaker vs. John Cena was going to co-headline Wrestlemania 32 but with Cena injured, that match is now off. Now, Undertaker needs a new opponent... In my opinion, I'd book Bray Wyatt to wrestle the Undertaker and Wyatt wins 100% clean. I figure that Vince will double-down on Roman Reigns's MEGA FACE PUSH and in many ways, Vince has no choice. He's made his bed and now Vince as CEO/Board Chairman has to lay in it. If only the WWE had a babyface sensation on the sidelines that they could use, you know, like Daniel Bryan. In my opinion, Cena's injury puts grave importance on pushing Dean Ambrose as Intercontinental Champion. He's a fan favorite and giving him a mini-push under the radar and giving him multiple clean wins will build him strong as a babyface just in case Reigns doesn't pan out... WWE has to figure out its successor or successors to John Cena as top babyface draw or business could be limited in the near future. --------------------------------- Question #2: Would signings of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows, and Karl Anderson work for the WWE? WWE needs talent fast, so yes... But if you're wondering if those wrestlers would get any worthwhile push, it's hard to say. Vince McMahon has a history of disregarding TNA talent and worse yet for AJ Styles, he's turned down several WWE offers. Vince holds that kind of action personally. Now, whether those 4 go to NXT or directly to the WWE is a different matter. In my opinion, it is now an honor to join the NXT roster... NXT is a very entertaining show and going up against Apollo Crews, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe could work out well. But, the WWE main roster needs significant help. In my opinion, AJ Styles needs to debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble and then maybe work a program with Chris Jericho to help establish him better with WWE fans. He's the known name from the 4 while the other 3 might have to work a bit to gain mainstream WWE fan acceptance. Again, there's nothing wrong with doing time at NXT. ---------------------------------- Question #3: How long before the WWE gives up on serious in-ring women's wrestlers and goes back to Total Divas-esque wrestlers? If Nikki Bella is legitimately hurt with her neck as caused by her Rack Attack finisher, then no. I also think that Lana has legitimately ticked off WWE officials for her TMZ engagement announcement. Those are the two females that Vince and Kevin Dunn really liked based on their looks. Now, however, due to injury and media embarrassment, WWE officials are trying the NXT Divas Revolution ladies out for now... But I think that WWE is purposely holding back Sasha Banks. Come Wrestlemania 32 time, I think her push is on... Just seems that WWE is purposely holding her back to have a big women's match-up at Wrestlemania 32, maybe Charlotte vs. Sasha. With Sasha, they have a great personality, a beautiful woman, and an amazing in-ring performer. And then, once Sasha is firmly established as the heel Divas Champion, then Bailey arrives... I have some faith in where they are going, even if the NXT Divas Revolution was off to a rough start. I feel bad that Charlotte has to already play the Ric Flair card... She's legitimately talented on her own. ------------------------------------ Question #4: What's your favorite wrestling story that you've heard over the years? I laugh at anything that "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig does... His ribs were notorious and cruel, and anytime I stumble upon them, I laugh forever. Hennig would put padlocks on wrestler bags which is absurdly mean because if you just wrestled, you were screwed because you couldn't change out of your wrestling gear. The story about Henning taking a dump in Road Warrior Animal's son's potty is hilarious... Henning was over Animal's house for a Christmas party and he used the bathroom. Curt sees his son's potty and takes a massive dump in it because why not. The story about Henning shaving Sean Waltman's eyebrow off and Waltman blaming it on the Smoking Gunns, thereby putting superglue in their cowboy hats, is a classic as well. Later in WCW, Henning would take a crap in the emergency bucket for any WCW wrestlers who would hide under the ring for whatever reason, such as the Warrior who used a trap door in the ring to appear. I laugh at the DDP/Mick Foley "cookies in bed" story as told by both of their books. The late great Roddy Piper had multiple great stories in his book that I read years ago and I laughed at heavily. ======================================= THE LAST WORD Speaking of books, I finally got around to reading Bret Hart's autobiography, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling. I've had it for about 6 years, but my interest in wrestling books sort of died out through the mid 2000's. This book is abnormally thick and I just never got around to it. As I was watching my kids over the Christmas break, I picked up the book and couldn't put it down. It's definitely in the top 10 of wrestling books. HOWEVER - There is a bitterness to the book that you don't see in my favorite wrestling biographies by Roddy Piper, DDP, and Mick Foley. The Montreal Screwjob appears to have ruined Bret, but in my opinion, his feeling of becoming obsolete is what really makes him miserable. During 1997, the wrestling world was changing from the 1980's/early 1990's blueprints that got old quick during the mid-1990's. WWE purged Bret Hart from their roster to let newer innovations and newer wrestlers take hold. Vince McMahon used Survivor Series as a means to get Bret out and begin preparations to unleash the Attitude Era onto the pro wrestling world. In the book, he's very critical of the Clique especially Shawn Michaels and Triple H. Lots of insinuations that both were on the WWE Creative Team during 1996-1997 which is the first I've heard that allegation. I've listened to Vince Russo and Jim Cornette repeatedly about that era and I've never heard them make mention of HBK/HHH being on their team. The book was published just before Bret and HBK made-up, but if you listen to Bret today, he still has heat with Triple H. What it boils down to is that Bret (a) hates that Triple H is on video lying to his then-wife about Montreal as seen by the Wrestling with Shadows documentary and (b) hates that Triple H has become a part of WWE management, something that Bret's 20 year contract was supposed to provide. What was new to me was some of the inside stuff with WCW when Bret arrived there during late 1997. For example, I wasn't aware of the animosity towards Ric Flair among the cliques backstage that explains how quickly the 4 Horsemen were marginalized between 1996-1999. The inner-workings of Hulk Hogan and Vince Russo were interesting to hear. What I wished to have heard from Bret was more of an appreciation for his own career. Instead of being upset about Montreal or how his career ended, he should be appreciative of what he did. Without Bret legitimizing Steve Austin between Survivor Series 1996 and Wrestlemania 13, and the months thereafter, who knows how big Austin could have become. Ditto for Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12. Bret did the honors for HBK although I don't like the overtime finish. Furthermore, Bret Hart provided stability at a time when the WWE was in turmoil and unable to get away from the Hulkamania era. It amazed me how forgiving that Bret Hart was towards Vince McMahon and still has an axe to grind against Triple H. Vince was the guy who ultimately signed off on Montreal but Vince was also the one who let Bret Hart go. Then, Vince McMahon signed off on the booking idea of Owen Hart dropping form the ceiling. As described in Bret's own book, Vince was putting the Hart children against themselves. Yet, Bret Hart is still OK with working with the Vince McMahon to this day. But Triple H, a guy who was Shawn Michael's driver and helped Shawn get dressed, is the one to blame? HHH was insignificant during 1997 and he was still eating his crap sandwich for the "Curtain Call" incident. I especially didn't like all of the family business being mentioned in the book. Bret was very critical of his sisters Diana and Ellie and with the books in print, he can't take those words back. Each have kids and they'll have grandkids... What happens when they pick up Bret's book and the grandkids read about how bad their grandmas were as sisters? It was sad and tragic to see what became of the Hart family and how the stress of Montreal/Owen's death just tore them apart. Not easy to read that. VERY detailed book, yet highly opinionated as well. Whereas other books were more about storytelling, Bret provide the event and give his opinion on the matter or wrestler(s). Not many punches pulled... If you're not used to that with wrestler books, this is a much different book than your typical WWE based biography. Good book, but at times, the tone of the book can drag your mood down. Rightfully so in some regards, Bret is still bothered about the humiliation of Survivor Series 1997 but he should look back with appreciation for the way he helped make Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin into bigtime superstars. B+ grade for the book. 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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