THOUGHTS ON SOME CURRENT WRESTLING THINGS

According to the average wrestling fan through social media, WWE is going down the wrong direction, however, if you look at some of the in ring veterans through social media, WWE is heading in the right direction. It's the classic worker vs "smart mark" war that's been going on for decades. I'm not going to say who's right or wrong. Nor am I going to go after a hall of famer because i disagree with his or her opinion by calling them "part of the problem." 

I did not watch the latest Saudi Arabia show that WWE did because I didn't want to and because I don't necessarily agree with how Saudi Arabia handles business. I did however through social media see the results of the show, and like most I didn't understand the decision to have Bill Goldberg win a major championship over a current superstar. For one this is not 1998 anymore. Goldberg is not a spring chicken. Now the argument comes, neither is Jericho, but the difference is Chris Jericho is on TV every week. He's in our faces enough for us to buy the fact that he's still in the spot that he is in.

The Fiend was one of the more interesting characters that WWE has produced in a long while. It was different and it was working. The FireFly Funhouse was working. Only to lose in quick fashion to...Bill Goldberg.

Goldberg was one of my favorites to watch growing up until I noticed that he wasn't as good as they were trying to present him to be. I noticed this before I started reading the dirt sheets and watching shoot interviews.

All that aside, to play devil's advocate, Goldberg is getting his money. Who would turn down a spot where you don't have to work long matches and you're still considered to be a top guy? As I'm typing this it looks like it's Goldberg vs Roman for Wrestlemania. So we'll see how this goes.

Cedric Alexander and Ricochet ideally could help make the US Title mean something again. The US Title should be like what the IC title was back in the 80s and 90s which was a workhorse title. Add Cedric and Ricochet in the mix with Andrande and the matches I feel could steal any show it's put on.

Speaking of Ricochet, I don't think there's enough outrage toward the way his match with Brock Lesnar. Ricochet didn't get a chance to showcase his skills. He was nothing more than a dummy for Brock to F5 and pin. It reminded me of the way Kofi lost the WWE championship to Brock. It does nothing for Kofi or Ricochet to lose like that and let me say that I don't think it does anything for Brock either. We know that Brock is a legit bad---So him making quick work of two established athletes proves nothing. I'm trying to look past the fact that both Ricochet and Kofi are black, but how can I?

I have been keeping up with the AEW product. It's not a perfect product, but I can say that I feel it's a great product. One thing I will say and I know some agree with me is that the Women's division needs a bigger belt. That small belt in the hands of somebody the size of Nyla looks like a toy. The whole Cody Rhodes and MJF storyline is nothing short of tremendous. Jon Moxley being the one to take the belt off Chris Jericho I think it was a good choice. AEW should definitely stay on Wednesday nights. All this jabber about moving to Monday nights is ridiculous. Don't do it. Continue to build your audience. Continue to present the best product you can. Don't make the mistake TNA did and try to recreate the Monday night wars. Leave that stuff in the late 90s. It's 2020.

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Thanks for reading.

Daniel Richerson

IS RAW REALLY THAT BAD?

In the current state of Smackdown vs Raw, I think it's safe to say that Smackdown is winning right now. Smackdown is building characters. It's building new talent just like it did around when the roster first split some years ago. Smackdown built John Cena, Raw then drafted John Cena, and now we got the John Cena we know and---well we got John Cena. John Cena can wrestle. Yes he can. CM Punk did not wrestle those matches by himself. Shawn Michaels did not wrestle those matches by himself. Ever heard that saying, it takes two to tango?

So what is wrong with Raw? What is Raw doing that is not working well enough to get stronger ratings? Is something wrong with Raw? Is Raw doing something wrong? Is there something wrong with us the fans that are burying Raw? First thing we got to understand is that Vince is not running things like a wrestling company. He's running it like an entertainment company. He said it himself . He was talking about when Ted Turner bought WCW, and Ted called Vince and told Vince that, "I'm in the 'rasslin' business." And Vince said something to the fact, "That's good, but I'm not in the 'rasslin' business, I'm in the 'entertainment' business." Once we get that logic in our minds, WWE's booking probably wouldn't bother us so much.

But on the other hand with that being said, some parts of WWE is still wrestling. Like NXT, like Smackdown, like CWC was. Now back to Raw. I watched some of this video with this guy saying that Raw is dead. That Raw has gotten so bad it's dead. One thing we fans got to realize is that we don't know everything, and some of what we think we know, we really don't know. There's a reason Kevin Nash calls us smart marks, or smarks. I watch a lot of shoot interviews involving members of the Kliq, specifically with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall since they do a lot of them. I learn a lot from watching them cause I listen. Why do I listen? Because they were a part of a backstage group of guys that had Vince's ear. Vince listened to them.

I'm going off topic. Anyway, Raw. Is Raw dead? I don't think so. I tune in to Raw and it's looks pretty full to me. I don't see any card board cut outs of fans to fill in the seats. People still go to the shows. So as long as the fans keep buying tickets, Raw is still alive. Is Raw pulling in the numbers they did in the Attitude Era? No, but is the wrestlers from Attitude Era coming through that door? For the most part no. We got to consider that people are not watching TV like they used to. Whatculture's Simon Miller put out a good video on this subject. Simon Miller is not my favorite Whatculture personality, but he made some valid points in it. I'll put the link at the end of the blog. 

So has Raw been as good as it can be? No. Could it be better? Yes. I heard Scott Hall say something recently that was talking about fans and WWE creative, and he was saying that as soon as we think that they don't know what they doing, they show us that they do. So I think that Raw is going to show us soon that they're not as dumb as we think they are. I mean I think it's time for Vince to hand over control to Triple H. Just my opinion. So I don't think Raw is dead. I think Raw is suffering a little, but I wouldn't go straight to death.

~Daniel Richerson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Iz7gVcDb8 (Why WWE's TV Ratings Aren't As Bad As You Think- WhatCulture Wrestling)

A FEW THOUGHTS ON "THE GUY"...ROMAN

I was watching this video WWE put on on YouTube and it was showing how some of the superstars on the main roster got their start with the company. One of the superstars they showed was Roman Reigns and he was an NXT guy before getting called up. What's the main the reason we have for not wanting our favorite NXT people getting called up? Bad booking. Tyler Breeze, Baron Corbin, Emma, the Ascension, Becky Lynch, and The Vaudevillains are just some of the examples of getting called up from NXT only to get poorly booked. Some exceptions to that include Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Russev, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn.

Roman Reigns, bless his heart, has been poorly booked ever since The Shield broke up. It's not all his fault. I always say when he won that Royal Rumble 2015, He was a product of a poorly booked Royal Rumble. I would venture to say that was probably the worst booked Royal Rumble ever. At no fault of Roman or anybody else that was involved in the actual delivery of the match, maybe except Big Show and Kane, but nevertheless--

Now I will say that it's not all the booking's fault. Roman has to take some blame in this as well. I once heard Triple H, you know the guy you love on NXT but hate on Raw, say, "If you think it's going to work, then go out there an do it." I heard it said that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Especially when it's live TV. If it's on live TV, why not go out there and go for broke. Shawn Michaels made a living doing that in the early days of the Attitude Era. I think it worked out well for him. Not saying Roman is on Shawn Michaels' level of talent or charisma but something has got to give.

So let me bring up the obvious, his suspension. We in the IWC have been begging for a heel turn for Roman. Perfect time to do that is at Battleground. One thing WCW did right is when Hogan was getting booed, they turned him heel. I think that worked out, at least for the short term. Nwo was one of the greatest factions of all the times and a lot of it I feel had to do with the way it started. Back to Roman, he's already one of the most hated with the crowd. Why not turn him. He's on his way to becoming another Cena, and NOOOOObody wants that. There's a big but here though. Turning Roman heel may be a bit too obvious. May be a bit to logical. Oops. I say oops because logical and WWE booking go together like Trump and, well, anything.

I actually think Roman can work. He's good in the ring as far as having a decent match is concerned, in my opinion. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on that, and? I also think John Cena can wrestle. Gasp! What?

I think Roman needs better booking, and I also think Roman needs to do a better job of taking advantage of being live TV. And Roman needs to get off of what ever got him suspended, that would help also.

~Daniel Richerson

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