DOES VINCE EVEN CARE ANYMORE?

I didn't watch the 2/23/2015 edition of RAW but this is just going off the reviews of the tweets I saw and from what I watched on Fastlane.

It seems to me that Vince is throwing in the towel. Bad booking all the way. Between NXT and the main roster is night and day as far as booking goes. NXT is the wrestling that most of us long to see when we turn into Monday Night Raw or Thursday Night Smackdown. The booking of Roman Reigns getting stuffed down our throats to get him over is not best idea. I saw someone that said that the fans really want to care for Roman but they just don't like the booking. I'm not a fan of bad booking in any fashion. I hate it in reality as well as entertainment.

Thinking it over, I'm going to give the divas the benefit of the doubt. I've complained and complained about the divas for years, but after thinking it over, you have to most of the blame on Vince and the "creative team." The good ole days when you had Trish Stratus, Lita, Victoria (Tara), Jazz, Chyna...the divas actually got time. Speaking of Chyna, did y'all see that twerking video? Chyna still on drugs? Anyway, I read that the divas only got 30 seconds on Raw. 30 SECONDS! How can you have employees show off their skill in 30 seconds? Especially in business like wrestling. I do see that the women get time on House Shows or "Live Events", but I'm sure they would want some time in front of the camera other than to be eye candy. I admit, I'm not the biggest Bella Twin fan in the world. I'm a fan of Paige, AJ Lee, Natayla, those who actually had a wrestling past not coming in for a "divas search." Just making a joke of the profession. Granted, search winners like  Layla has gained experience over the years, but seriously tho.

Bryan Danielson aka Daniel Bryan seems to have the Shawn Michaels mentality in that he tries to make every match the best it can be. He made Roman look great at FastLane. It was a good match. Everybody knows Reigns has a lot to improve on, but the talent is there in my opinion. Reigns needs to learn had to follow what the crowd is giving each night. He seems to have script and sticks to it, but with a live audience, you have to make tweaks here and there to make it work better. In church we call it, following the flow of the spirit. If the spirit is leading to something that's not according to the program just follow it. If the live crowd is not liking what the product is producing in the ring then the performers should have the mindset to call an audible to follow the flow of the crowd.

How great is Rusev as a heel? He's the kind of heel JR likes. If you listen to the JR podcast, JR has complained about there's no more real heels in the business. Hopefully he's satisfied with Rusev and Lana. Lana has become one of the better valets of this era. I've heard she's wants to actually work in the ring, but I've also heard because of injuries she can't. Though with this role as a manager/valet, she's doing great business.

Sting and HHH is going to be money. They sold that match so well at FastLane. I'm in agreement with a lot of people when they say that the Sting and HHH segment at FastLane was the best of the night. Sting didn't say a word and still made his point. WWE is already booking Sting better than TNA ever did. As a fan of Sting, it's cool for me to see him in a WWE environment and properly used.

Bray Wyatt's undertaker promo at FastLane was so good. Completely had me fooled. That's the kind of stuff I miss as a wrestling fan. The joy of being surprised. Bray Wyatt came out in a coffin and cut a promo from the casket. It was done so well. Can't say enough about how good that was. A lot going around how old Taker looks now. Well, you can't been the clock folks. It was bound to happen. Now he's dyed his hair and is working out. Now who should go over in that match of Bray vs Undertaker? Bray, but that's just me. Bray is the young guy, Taker has had his time. He's still a HOFer so the streak being over doesn't hurt his legacy at all in my opinion.

All in all the yes the product could be better. Not all is bad, but not all is good either. Vince is old. Triple H is going to have the book soon. It seems like Vince is on his way out the door. Vince would deny that, but you watch the product, it seems that way.

~Daniel Richerson

Give Daniel Byran his Title and His Money

First let me say that I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I hope your 2014 is going great so far! Also let me say that I enjoyed Old School Raw this past Monday (1/6/2013), especially seeing Jake The Snake Roberts coming out to the ring looking healthy and better than ever. The Pipers Pit and he gave his ode to Punk I thought was epic. And even I have to say that the Bellas have really improved in the ring. And I have been on the record saying that the Bellas suck in the ring, never mind what they do outside the ring, but never the less...

Now, Daniel Byran. They guy that has been the most over guy in the company of the World Wrestling Entertainment. No matter what the machine thinks when they shove John Cena down our throats. I respect John Cena, but he's not the most over guy anymore. In my opinion, Daniel Byran is quickly becoming the face of the WWE. His yes chants are becoming legend. Of course with the crowd reactions he got in every arena, but even outside of wrestling the Yes chants are becoming a part of the culture. Kinda like DX back in the 90s with the crotch chop and the infamous two words.

I saw this video of the Michigan State Spartans doing the Yes chant at the game and the whole arena joined in. To me that was an epic moment in wrestling. It puts wrestling back on the map. Which is a good thing. So with that being said, WWE, what's the problem? End this crap with Bryan and the Wyatts, and put the strap on the guy. No he's not really a heavyweight, but he is the man right now. Give the man a strap and a good run and see where it goes. Yes he's a small guy but I know of another small guy that got a huge push and run...named Shawn Michaels who trained and brought Daniel Byran or Byran Danielson into the business. I can't be the only one seeing this. Daniel Bryan is money right now, so why not bank on it?

That's it for this one. Not that long, this blog but I got my point across. It's Daniel Byran's time now. LETS GO!!

~Daniel Richerson
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Daniel Byran is on the road to one of the biggest pushes in the modern era

I said last post that wrestling is becoming fun again. Did a little thinking on this. Me being a mark most of my life seeing how business is done and also being a  movie buff. I think Daniel Byran is on route to become one of the biggest stars in the modern era of sports entertainment. Week after week Daniel is getting power bombed by the shield and or RKOed by Randy Orton. It's only a matter of time where the hero fights back, and when Daniel Bryan finally gets that hero's comeback the place is going to go insane.

Triple H is a tremendous heel. He's playing this part well. The mark that's still in me is hating him for how he's "running things," and that lets me know that what he's doing is working. Ok, yes this storyline is a rehash of old storylines but bottom line is that it's working. People are buying into it. It's almost becoming cool to be a wrestling fan again. IF Triple H was really the bad guy the IWC says he his, Daniel Bryan wouldn't have his spot he does now.

Even the Divas division is stepping up a little bit, but with that being said I got my doubts. As of this blog posting, it's booked that at Night Of Champions, it will be a fatal four way for the divas championship featuring Natalya, Brie Bella (smh), Naomi, and AJ. If Natayla or AJ does not win, someone should riot. Naomi has a lot of potential, but she's not ready yet. Her in ring skills are dynamite, but her promo skills are just bad. Brie Bella is all around awful. AWFUL. Natayla and AJ are the only wrestlers in that match. Therefore, one of those two should win the belt. I would have AJ keep the strap. I know they're trying to build the popular Total Divas show but screw that. AJ got the promo of her career a short time ago and I feel deserves to have the strap. Plus AJ could be the first Mrs. Richerson. Hey you know what they say, once you got fat, Michelle Obama hates you.

Now let me go in on the Big Show story going on. That segment with him and Stephanie McMahon was so uncomfortable to watch. Big Show looked so beaten down and worthless and Stephanie looked like the little sister who made it and is now holding over the Big Show's head. I don't have a clue as to where that storyline is going but it's interesting. When Daniel Byran finally gets his comeback, I do think Big Show and Dolph Ziggler will be a part of it. Somehow I think Vince will be part of it too. I've read rumors that this is all building up to a Wrestlemania match with Vince's guy is going up against Triple H's guy. Notice Vince hasn't been on TV much since the "new corporation" if you will started up? Something is brewing. And it's going to be sweet.

Daniel Richerson
@Big_Dusty on Twitter and Instagram
Facebook.com/bigdusty

THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE AMERICAN DRAGON

This is the year of the dragon…the American dragon if you will, Bryan Danielson aka Daniel Bryan. The momentum this guy is on is going to make him enough money to build a retirement fund. He’s in the Money In The Bank match, I feel he’s a shoe in to win that match. Vince is a business man. Whether we believe it or not, Vince is a smart business man. So here’s what should go down in my opinion. Daniel Bryan should stay face. And go ahead and turn Cena heel. I would say about 85% of the “Universe” is turning on him anyway. Merchandise sells, will they go down? Depends on how bad of a heel Cena is. Back in early 2000s, Cena was a pretty good heel in my opinion. The whole Dr. of Thuganomics gimmick was working. I’m not saying he should go back to that gimmick, but I am saying why not play to the fans a little bit. I say turn Cena heel, let him lose on the microphone, and see what happens. Remember when CM Punk cut the infamous promo in Vegas? The internet exploded. People tuned in to see what Punk was going to say next. Why not Cena? Cena is a good on the mic. One of the better talkers WWE has but he’s in such a bad gimmick right now, that the corny stuff they have him saying is barfable. If Cena ever cuts a Hulk Hogan Bash At The Beach ’96 type promo and tells the Universe to stick it, I think business would pick up. Ratings would possibly go up. On the other hand it might be too little too late. I think try it. I mean using the gimmick that Cena is going to be Cena despite of the fans think of them is just a standard bs way to go. Jalen Rose says it best, “Got to give the people, give the people what they want.”

So Cena goes heel, then Daniel Bryan goes up against him at Summer Slam and wins the title. The reaction would be…EPIC! Daniel Bryan and Cena could have matches possibly better than the Punk/Cena matches. As far as wrestling ability, Bryan and Punk are neck and neck. Bryan has been stealing the show on every Monday Night Raw for weeks now. Give the man his due. There’s an old Gospel song that says, “Put your time in, pay day is coming after while.” Bryan has definitely put his time in from NXT, to Nexus, to the 18 seconds bull, to the Team Hell No, to now. The man is ready to carry the company. The fans are behind him. The Yes chants are over more than the What chants ever were. It’s time to see Bryan get his Shawn Michaels on, who trained Bryan btw.

To be honest, I have doubts that the Cena heel turn will ever happen. Most of the IWC wants this to happen, but I don’t think Vince has the grapefruits to do it. Hogan was face a bit too long and the fans got tired of him. Hogan went heel and got another huge run out of the deal. Vince is making the same mistake with Cena I believe. Also I’ve read rumors about some backstage are pushing for a triple threat match at Summerslam with Super Cena, Mark Henry, and Ryback. No! No! No! Sorry, Ryback is not ready clearly. His promos suck, and his skills in the ring leave a lot to be desired. Ryback lost at Westlemania, Extreme Rules, and Payback, and some “geniuses, think he deserves a title shot? Am I missing something here? I know Vince is high on Ryback, but Vince needs to give the people what they want. Why the people? Cause we the people, not pun intended to Mr. “Weed the people” Jack Swagger, pay his salary.

That’s all I got to say. I’m not a wrestling guru or anything; I’m just a lifelong wrestling fan with a medium to post my thoughts on the product. Hope you enjoyed it. If you agree or disagree, let me know in the comment section. Thanks for checking the blog.

Daniel Richerson
Facebook.com/bigdusty
Twitter.com/big_dusty

WWE, FINALLY!!

Hey thanks for stopping by.

Just about immediately after the Attitude Era ended in the WWF/E people were complaining about it and wanting the Attitude Era to come back. Most people had nothing good to say about the PG era. For those folks and the rest of us I give you the Monday night Raw 6/17/2013 episode. Most of us call it the best Raw of the year. I put it up there as one of the better ones in the past 5-10 years. I mean actual surprises happening and working. Christian coming back was a complete shock to me. I expected him to come back sometime but never expected it to happen last night. I would have expected some vignettes, but for him to come out as a surprise on Monday Night Raw was just classic.

Speaking of classic, let’s move forward to the Mark Henry segment. Nicely done. Very nicely done. I admit I actually thought it was genuine. I didn’t see a swerve coming at all. Boy was I wrong, and I’ve never been happier to be wrong in my life. When Mark Henry and John Cena hugged, and then Mark gave Cena the World’s Strongest Slam I felt cheated. I felt doped. I haven’t had that feeling in a long time regarding WWE or wrestling in general. But it was a good feeling none the less. I thought it was genius. I thought it was classic. And think about this folks, it wasn’t just the talk of the WWE Universe, it was the talk of the wrestling world as a whole. Look back at the tweets from Matt Hardy, Shane Helms, Axl Rotten, Kevin Steen, etc. It was just a great moment. It made me a Mark Henry fan. I will say this up front, I was not a Mark Henry fan at all. I thought he was a waste of TV time. That segment changed my whole tune for Mark Henry.

Now Raw did have a bad spot in my opinion. The Randy Orton Daniel Bryan ending was just garbage to me. People are worried about WWE going overboard with the concussion thing, you ask me they already did. Especially with the Daniel Bryan Randy Orton ending. Don’t get me wrong, concussions are serious, but don’t overkill it. In my opinion, this didn’t stop the Daniel Bryan momentum but it did slow it down a little bit. Daniel Bryan will be a World Champion before this year is out. I believe that.

Speaking of World Champion let me talk about the Del Rio/Ziggler story. The Heel/Face turn at Payback was Bret Hart/Stone Cold esq. Del Rio is a better heel than a face and turning Ziggler face was just genius. So CM Punk and Del Rio was the main event on Raw. I go in on Punk in a minute, but the match ended with Del Rio doing the classic heel move and leaving the match losing in a count out. As Del Rio was heading backstage, Dolph ran out jumped off the stage and onto Del Rio. Another surprise and it worked. I don’t know if WWE fired the old writers, got new writers, or if the current writers finally wised up. Whatever it is, WWE needs to keep this going.

I say I would go in on CM Punk. The Best in the world. CM Punk and Paul Heyman are masters of the wrestling world. Geniuses of the wrestling world. Reading the dirt sheets, I knew there was a possibility of a CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar storyline down the road. Well on this epic Raw, the storyline got started. CM Punk dropped Heyman as a manager. Told Heyman, “I don’t need your help. Stick to helping Brock and Curtis Axel. I’m not your client, I’m your friend.” CM Punk wins via count out and you don’t hear Cult of Personality, you hear Brock Lesnar’s music. They have a face off. Brock gets the microphone like he’s going to say something then F5s Punk. Loved it. It worked. And we know Punk is going to have something to say on this and having Punk and Heyman going at it via the microphone? Yes please!

Let me end by giving WWE props by at least trying to give the Divas something on TV. The AJ/Kaitlyn storyline is interesting to say the least. Stephanie came out last night and got involved in the storyline. It made no sense to me, but at least it’s something. AJ Lee is gorgeous and she is the best worker in that woman’s locker room. Better than Natalya? Who got the belt? Now, you can argue that Kaitlyn had the belt, the Bellas had the belt, and Layla had the belt. Ok I see your point. But this is the first time in a long time that the holder of the Diva’s championship was a good worker. Again props to WWE. Also Kaitlyn had the moment of her career. Her puppies seemed to outgrow the dog house they were in. Call me perverted if you want, but I’m 26. I’m a male. I’m straight. And you know this. WWE with the late black out was great too. Those who missed it, I’m sure you can find it via Google or Bing. I’m not condoning you look at this, but I’m just saying it happened.

Daniel Richerson
Facebook.com/bigdusty
Twitter.com/big_dusty

12/05/2011 Raw review plus other thoughts

This is LONG overdue, and I do apologize for that. I hope this blog makes up for it.

Before getting into this week’s Raw, let me talk a little about last week. How epic was the Hot Rod? The man still got it. I hope young wrestlers in and out of the WWE watched and learned from that exchange with Cena. Let me say this, this thing with Cena and the fans, what took the WWE so long? Does anybody agree that this should’ve been done at least a couple of years ago? I say as far back as 2006 after his now infamous appearance at WWECW One Night Stand 2006. Anyway, on to this week’s Raw…

The show starts out with Cena coming to the ring. The usual kids and women screaming and the real wrestling fans booing him. Cena sucking up to the fans. It’s barf material. I’m begging Cena to go heel already. Seems like they’re teasing Cena going for the title again. Three words WWE: Just Say No! Alberto Del Rio has potential to be a better heel, but when Vickie Guerrero gets more boos than you do? Enough said. I would love to see Dolph get a title shot against Punk. Y’all see that match they had a couple of weeks ago? I saw someone online compare Punk to Bret Hart and Ziggler to Mr. Perfect. I can’t argue with that. That match was an instant classic. Why oh why did Johnny Ace become an on air character? I’m begging the fans to start chanting boring when this tool comes out. The first segment felt longer than 20 minutes. Good things that happened: Zack Ryder mention…that’s about it. Yes, I am a Zack Ryder guy. The fact that they even teased Cena getting another title shot had me screaming NO to the television set.

Randy Orton vs Miz ends in a countout. Not like the match was that good anyway. The Miz is a good heel, I give him that. Every time I think about the Miz, I think about his time on the Real World. Miz’s dream came true. WWE had turned him into a major player. Personally, I think Miz still got a little ways to go, but he’s getting better every week.

Michael Cole. WWE took the fact that everybody hated Cole, to turn Cole heel. Even when Cole was the “face” commentator, people hated him. Not because he was a heel or face, but it was because he was and still is terrible at his job. Cole still has his job, and JR has been fired many times. I don’t get the logic to tell you the truth.

All this promotion for the WWE Network, I hope it doesn’t go out like the XFL. Remember the promotion for the XFL? Yeah…

Of course I got to talk about Mr. David Hudson…ahem, Otunga…ok that’s done.

Big Kev, Big Sexy, Kevin Nash. I will admit. I am a fan. I am a mark if you will. I’m a mark for the Kliq as a whole. I don’t think a day goes by when I’m not holding up the wolf pac sign. I’m not kidding. I am also a fan of the Kevin Nash and Triple H storyline. You got two professionals that know what they can do and can’t do in the ring, and they make it work.

I can’t wait for Bryan Danielson to get his just do in the WWE. The man can work in the ring, and yet gets treated like a second class nobody on television. Plus he’s a verbal punching bag for the verbal diaretic known as Michael Cole. So Bryan getting the title has now turned into nothing more than proving Cole wrong which is not what it’s supposed to be about. Have Bryan kick Cole’s teeth down his throat, turn Cole into a manager, and bring JR back. Turning Cole manager may seem like a crappy idea, but look at it this way, we would hear and see him less. Cole is trying to be what Jerry Lawler was during the Attitude Era, and for some odd reason, WWE seems to think it’s working.

Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres get no reaction what so ever. The Divas ask for more time. They beg for more air time. Get a reaction from the crowd for a change, and you might get more time. Personally, I think WWE is sleeping on Alicia Foxx, as wrong as that reads. Blog on the divas coming later this week.

This “Social Experiment” thing on Raw has Vince McMahon written all over it. It’s that stupid. I said before I’m a Zack Ryder guy, but are we the fans supposed to believe Zack has a legitimate shot against Cena? If WWE would’ve had Cena lay down and let Ryder get the win, I wouldn’t have been mad. But WWE had to stick to the same old stuff. Using what would actually work? Seems farfetched, I know...

Zack Ryder is nothing but a money maker for the WWE that gets no respect. Zack had everyone in Madison Square Garden chanting his name. And how does the WWE repay him? Having him face not only John Cena, but Mark Henry. Remember, this is the same Vince McMahon running the show that said on tape, “The crowd loves DX, so I was going to love DX.” Now it seems to be, “The crowd loves Zack Ryder, so I’m going to screw Zack Ryder.” It’s not right. It’s not good business.

Noted after I typed the paragraph above, Zack Ryder gets the win the help of Cena. I guess I’m supposed to be satisfied, but it seems to me WWE has a tendency to wait until the fans are ready to riot to finally give them what they want.

The classic nWo theme plays over the speakers, and Kevin Nash walks to the ring with the sledge hammer. Yes I did hold the wolf pac sign as it happened.

Santino Marella. The only question I got is why? Why is he still around? What is he good for?

If Kevin would’ve hit Cole with the sledge hammer—never mind.

Dolph is money in that ring. No doubt in my mind that Dolph will be in WWE or World title hunt very soon.

Did Brodus Clay show up on Raw? I must’ve missed it if he did.

Did Johnny Ace just say that he’s mister excitement? Excite…what?!?

Miz is trying way too hard to be psycho. I see what he’s trying to do. I sorta like it, but he’s trying too hard. Let it come natural. Brian Pillman—by the way, the fact that he’s not in the Hall of Fame is ridiculous—loose cannon character was real. It looked and felt real. Miz on the other hand looks and sounds phony.

CM Punk, as always, was money on the mic. I love the fact that Punk comes out and shoots.  When Punk says he’s the voice of the voiceless, he’s right.

So this week's, December 5, 2011, edition of Raw was average at best. Was nothing spectacular in my opinion. I mean the vignette with the kid and the desk and that whole thing, is interesting. Kane coming back in the mask in what I’m assuming is one last run, is cool. Cena helping Ryder get his deserved and WAY past due US Title shot was cool as well. I am interested to see where this Cena and the fans thing is going.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to follow me on this blog. Leave your comments below sharing your thoughts and opinions. Share this with all the wrestling fans, dirtsheets, independent wrestling companies, etc that you’re connected with.  Read the last blog. Follow my other blog. Friend me on FaceBook. Follow me on Twitter. Follow me on Dailybooth. Follow me on Tumblr. Subscribe to me on YouTube.  And I’m out.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty