Really hope The Shield shows out tonight like they did at TLC in December, I actually would have ordered this if there were two Chamber matches, only one means we're streaming. Also disappointed that Dolph Ziggler is not anywhere on the card tonight, hopefully we'll finally see him cash in his Money In The Bank tonight.....


Tonight's Card

Pre Show Match
Brodus Clay and Tensai vs. Team Rhodes Scholars

Kaitlyn vs. Tamina Snuka for the Divas Championship

Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz for the United States Championship

Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship

Randy Orton, Kane, Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and Chris Jericho in an Elimination Chamber match to determine the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship

John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus vs. The Shield

The Rock vs. CM Punk for the WWE Championship



You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

Hopefully you're right and we see him finally cash in.

Have we had a Divas match since Eve left?

Pre Show Match
Brodus Clay and Tensai vs. Team Rhodes Scholars
Brodus & Tensai

Kaitlyn vs. Tamina Snuka for the Divas Championship
Divas. Don't care.

Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz for the United States Championship
Antonio Cesaro

Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship
Alberto Del Rio, Ziggler to cash in. If he doesn't cash in, he finds his way into the Elimination Chamber somehow.

Randy Orton, Kane, Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and Chris Jericho in an Elimination Chamber match to determine the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship

John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus vs. The Shield
The good guys.

The Rock vs. CM Punk for the WWE Championship
CM Punk by DQ after interference by The Shield

This Del Rio/Show feud has been great.

They aren't that dumb that they would kill a crowd before the show even starts.

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

Pretty solid match though

.

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

Yea, and sadly that probably means Cesaro will drop the belt to Miz at Mania. That'll suck

The show has hardly gotten started.....



You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

is that dutch mantel's old music?

and, a tea party gimmick?

.

"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

Lol, no shit, Cole. Thanks for the insight.

Hope he eliminates them all.

.

Lol, nvm.

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

It makes no sense.

"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

Swagger has been a lower card guy for a few years. He gets pushed for two weeks and is in the title match? Wack.

But is Del Rio/Swagger really gonna main event Mania? Seriously?

Sheamus/Bryan was not a "main event" match last year either.....


You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

Don't know why they bother having two titles when nobody takes the other one seriously as a world title.

Like it's been for the past 2 years. At least it wasn't Orton.

Oh ok. I could've sworn Cole said the winner would main event. Kane said it backstage too if I'm not mistaken.

I agree it should go on early, if at all. Not sure what Swagger's done to deserve a push.

At this point WM usually has at least 3 ME.

Last year the main events were Rock/Cena, HHH/Taker, Punk/Jericho then Bryan/Sheamus.

> At least it wasn't
>Orton.

I know this is only their second real match, but they impress me every time out......



You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

these guys are pretty watchable.

Agreed.

I figured Reigns to be on some oaf shit, but he's legit. I need them to mention his family tie to Rock though.

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

I'm good with them having a "palette cleanser" match. Better than the Divas anyway.

"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

I'm sure Kofi's a great person in real life, but his persona is really stale.

Dude was like "Kofi Kingston??!"




You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

.

Or the comedy segment?

If the former, I disagree, this has been a great show so far.

If the latter, well... yeah. Finally they're doing something with these two, but it just highlights the lack of attention they've given the tag division lately.

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

Obviously Rock's walking out with the strap, but I'm curious to see how Punk loses.

Hooray for continuity!

Rocky's gassed as hell

Seems like he's getting protected a bit.

the Punk years being 2011-2013

these were fan-provoked years. They don't happen if not for the "smart marks", the other half of the audience that was ignored for 10 years. Finally their demands were answered and their hero did nothing but make EVERYONE HE WORKED WITH LOOK LIKE A MILLION BUCKS for two years. Rock/Cena 2 who gives a shit?

Punk lost, whatever. Still, he's an all time great and he's proven that in just 2 years time. I wouldn't have said that about him in June of 2011. This run of his has been a privilege to watch.

Rock better get his cardio up before Mania, ain't nobody trying to see all those rest holds.



"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

Even if we have to put up with Lesnar/HHH 2.



"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

My roommate was telling me Taker had some surgeries this past year and may take this WM off in order to ensure he's able to work WM30 and retire after that.

They shouldn't need any Wrestlemania match to go a half-hour, even if they do a four-hour show.

HHH-Lesnar at SummerSlam went about twenty bell-to-bell. They can easily do that again.
Rock-Cena II and Punk-Undertaker could each do a similar amount. There's no need to drag them out.
Del Rio-Swagger can be about fifteen bell-to-bell.

These being your four marquee matches, of course. But there's a strong undercard (Divas division exempted). Team Hell No, Jericho, Ziggler, Ryback, The Shield, Barrett, Cesaro, Big Show, Orton, Henry, Sheamus, Rhodes & Sandow, Kofi. There's enough talent there to make sure everybody gets their beak wet and Mania's not some badly paced thing like it has been the last two years.

But they never do because the man up top has lost touch

"That's all you good for...dancing"

What a waste of time that feud would be. I need a gif of Mark's dance though.

Can you imagine how boring of a WM match that would be?

He didn't wallow in his usual schtick and instead of being comically over the top, he delivered a strong, pointed promo that made him look stronger than he's looked since his opening confrontation with Rock at the start of Mania last year.

I'm betting on a triple threat to evolve from this, which would be an amazing main event IMO that ties up all three feuds at once (Rock/Cena, Rock/Punk, Cena/Punk)and creates a nice two year arc for all three men. That's my ideal main event based on what we've got in front of us right now.

I wouldn't mind a triple threat match, especially since Rocky's cardio seems to be lacking.

Though I could see Heyman screwing up interference again next week and it leading to Brock/Punk. I don't want to see Punk and Heyman split up, but I think we're headed that way.

Great start to the show, especially if this match actually goes down.

I don't wanna future endeavor him or anything, but only because I don't want to wish a man out of his job, but.... he sure ruins a show. I'd like to see how Henry does going forward though, but PLEASE don't have him feud with Khali.

Great way to pick up that momentum.

There's only so much Montel Jordan a man can take.

He just cost our boy Ziggler the belt, but I can't stop smiling.

big E as an enforcer...

just give him a fedora and suspenders and he's Mr. Hughes 2013.

Nothing scary about it at all.

and then he basically had del rio fall on top of him.

"it's over for you! it's over for you!" LOL

His feud with Big Show was excellent from start to finish and this match with Dolph was excellent as well.

Big E has the worst finisher ever though.

What's up with these monsters with trash for finishers?

I'd love to see someone bring back the banzai drop. That move used to scare me to death as a kid.

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

I love how just yesterday Cena was hell-bent on stopping The Shield, failed, and has now completely forgotten about them.

I'm pumped though, should be a great match.

Get yourself a three word chant, and repeat the hell out of it.

I guess I won't mind so much, if WWE's just using him as a way to get Ziggler the title. But man, is he a chore to watch.

.

Then again, how do you get excited for the announcement of Vince vs. Heyman?

You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

Where no matter what this guy does I'm not going to care

He doesn't even look like the kind of dude who would be flying the Coiled Poo Flag either

Swagger works best as "Generic Overconfident Heel", not "Heel With A Political Angle" (ironically Kurt Angle would be great in a role like this)

necessarily the one spouting the racist shit, the heat for this thus far appears to be reserved for Zeb, and I could have swore I heard Cole and Lawler talk about how Swagger had been manipulated/brainwashed/led astray by the bearded old coot

Even still, it's a lame, played-out way to get heel heat in 2013

Especially since there are more than a few in the audience who agree with ol' Zeb and really don't see the problem with his message

(But get Swagger and Zeb talking about what women should be doing for men and the country in 2013, however, and you got some good heat)

As someone who has watched Vince race bait and sound the jingoistic horn more than a few times over the past 29 years, this current shit's about more than being oversensitive or p.c, it's just stale as fuck

_____________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, niggas, for knowing shit.

When the time comes to turn the Shield loose and for Ryback to be a full time title player everyone is going to be so well prepared for it. If they fostered their last six or seven failures (Miz, Alex Riley, Tensai, Nexus etc) the way they've taken care of Shield and Ryback we'd probably have a lot more guys to pull for.

.

.

and somehow I was expecting more.

Still kind of blingy.

But thankfully that Cena belt is gone. I hope that this "Rock Belt" doesn't stick around too long, though. With the Brahma Bulls and all.

Don't like the big logo, I prefer something more like this:

http://www.wrestling101.com/home/wp-content/gallery/features/wwe-belts-7.jpg

Where the logo is buried in some intricate design (don't have the be the one above), but resembling the ones they used to give out in boxing.

This just looks like a big-ass logo, which was the same issue I had with the Cena belt (well, the fact that the belt was initially INTENDED for Cena, then ended up being the standard)

They can't top the WHC imo, but I'll take this one over the Cena belt

the replica belt that they're selling doesnt have the Brahma bulls on it, it just has a WWE logo.....

http://shop.wwe.com/WWE-Championship-Replica-Title-Belt/W05070,default,pd.html



You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

And I also don't quite dig the "Champion" font in front of it, either

My first impressions, is all

___________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, niggas, for knowing shit.

_________________________
http://expertise.blogdrive.com
http://twitter.com/KMBReferee
http://www.formspring.me/KMBReferee

This is what was leaked last year when CM Punk said that there was a new belt made and he saw it and it wasn't much of an improvement. The leaked pics are basically the new belt just a little incomplete (no color yet, such as the black background).

http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/001/736/697/wwetitle_original_crop_exact.jpg?w=340&h=234&q=75

that was brilliant

they're teasing a triple threat right now at WM

Those three work so well together. I haven't seen a truly cohesive group like that since the Hardys. Somehow, I still feel like they're being underutilized. I need to see matches every week with these guys from here on out. I'm bored with the run in shtick. It's time to give them matches every week because that was easily the best Raw match in months.

It really baffles me that people don't like Sheamus. He's a beast in there and consistently gives one of the better matches of the night, regardless of who he works with.

I'm not sure about Reigns just yet but I think he might have the Batista level in him.

Sheamus is a beast in the ring, it's the five year old he acts like outside the ring that I have problems with.

The Shield match was definitely the best of the night again. I liked Rollins with the chair as they were leaving too.

If they just focused on him being the big red tough guy who LOVES A FOIT!!!! he'd be a LOOOOTTTT better. But any time he tries to be "funny" it's just the worst.

A couple boring moments notwithstanding, all the matches have been genuinely entertaining and exciting. B+ show so far.

They're always in the right place, at the right time, to hit their big spots, and their teamwork overall is top-notch

Which means Vince will break them up by May

_____________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, niggas, for knowing shit.

right before Cena's music hit

And we know, "but that match isn't going to happen (this year, at least)," thanks

Nice almost-swerve, though

____________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, niggas, for knowing shit.

GOOD

The replica version being sold looks slightly better.

http://shop.wwe.com/WWE-Championship-Replica-Title-Belt/W05070,default,pd.html

But it still looks like something that was inspired by Vince's granddaughters using the BeDazzler on one of HHH's old belts.

it looks like a giant class ring.

If you're going to get a new belt, fine. But at least make a new belt that was heads and shoulders above the last one. And it's not.

Vince should go to Scott Coker to find out what a real championship belt looks like.
_________________________
http://expertise.blogdrive.com
http://twitter.com/KMBReferee
http://www.formspring.me/KMBReferee

but I think the personalized side panels will be cool.

>If you're going to get a new belt, fine. But at least make a
>new belt that was heads and shoulders above the last one. And
>it's not.

The fact that this one doesn't spin means it's already heads and shoulders above the last one.

And yes, this one's sparkly, but honestly it feels appropriate, given that Rock is the one debuting it. (vs say Punk, who the change was originally linked to).

Do I love it? Meh. It's different at least, but I'll need time for it to grow on me.

But is it "heads and shoulders" above the last one? Fuck yeah it is. Fuck that last belt.

Tell it again!

I miss the days where the world title actually showed a globe or an eagle or some shit. Still, this is definitely an improvement. I think it'll grow on me.

This one looks like a mans belt, not a drag queens accessory.

with a globe or eagle looks like a drag queen's accessory. If anything this one (along with the spinner) are the drag queeniest with all the pearls/diamonds/sparkles.

>with a globe or eagle looks like a drag queen's accessory. If
>anything this one (along with the spinner) are the drag
>queeniest with all the pearls/diamonds/sparkles.

The Unified strap is still the best (after the Big Gold, obviously) IMO. The eagle "worked" but wasn't all that. That IC strap they've got now is cheesy and cheap looking. The tag titles have always looked like trash.

Anyhow, it's not about the sparkles, it's about the design, and I like this design. It's simpler, stronger, more solid looking. My only beef is the dated "w" logo. That scratched look ineeds to go.

I like the fact that it resembles a championship ring.

The only ones I didn't like were the spinner belt, the new tag titles, the Divas, and I'm on the fence on the US title.

My favorite non-World titles would be the European, WCW United States, anything from ECW, and an odd-choice but oh well, the WCW TV.

This one looks "stronger" though, if that makes sense. As a Razor Ramon t-shirt would say, it's oozing machismo.

and for the most part the main guys in pursuit of it were your wrestlers' wrestlers; Angle, Lesnar, Eddie et al

not an exact copy

Winged Eagle http://www.ajsbelts.com/classicwingedmid.JPG
Undisputed http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/WWE_Undisputed_Championship_Belt.jpg
Attitude Era http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/001/729/251/WWFAttitudeEraTitle_display_image.jpg?1325033872
New One
Spinner

I think the winged eagle one is unique in that it's really small yet still is able to portray the importance and value of the title.

I like the new one, in fact I like all of the ones listed except the spinner belt. The only problem I have is that all it basically is is the WWE logo. There is nothing else there. I honestly prefer TNA's belt set to WWE's at the moment.

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

He supposedly puts Vince in the hospital, then no mention of him on last night's Raw nor EC?

And no Taker either? I realize he doesn't need 7 weeks for a build to Mania, but it'd be nice if we got a hint of his appearance too.

Taker was photographed at a Predators game last week, the night before Raw. Thought for sure he was gonna show up, but nothing. I keep watching, waiting for the lights to go out. Not sure what the plan is if he can't go. Punk vs. Brock maybe?

it's also the night we get Punk/Cena for the WM title shot.

If I remember right he's got four dates between now and Mania.
His contract makes him a non-entity most nights though, so I wasn't surprised.

me think once Cena beats him Taker returns to haunt Punk

Due to surgeries this year and ensuring he'll be healthy for a proper send off at WM30.

This was from my roommate though so I have zero sources, so take that for what it's worth... nothing.

I liked almost every match...

Belt sucks though...


Better than that spinning shit though...

It's still not perfect, and we've all seen them drop the ball during quality stretches before, but things are shaping up nicely.

But I was sitting there in shock how good the matches were... PPV quality matches... Really looking forward to next week....

I'm crossing my fingers for The Rock vs Cena vs Punk for WM...

But I was sitting there in shock how good the matches were... PPV quality matches... Really looking forward to next week....

I'm crossing my fingers for The Rock vs Cena vs Punk for WM...

If only beause it's pissing off their constituents. My fears of it backfiring due to the number of people who share his views are availed, because they're offended by their stereotype being placed under such a spotlight.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/268329-wwe-criticized-of-demonizing-tea-party-with-zeb-colterjack-swagger-angle

Paul Joseph Watson of InfoWars.com has written an article taking a look at outraged fans on Twitter who are criticizing WWE of demonizing the tea party with its current Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger angle, and the specific reference by the WWE announcers to Swagger and Colter getting "fan mail" from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Alex Jones.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

World Wrestling Entertainment has jumped on the bandwagon of demonizing Tea Party Americans as racists by creating a xenophobic character who espouses anti-immigrant rhetoric, as WWE commentators quip that he receives “fan mail” from Alex Jones, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.

During Swagger’s match, commentators Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler joked that Swagger and Colter had received “fan mail” from conservative radio talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Alex Jones.

Twitter users reacted with outrage, slamming the WWE for “crapping all over the Tea Party” by “promoting a Racist, immigrant hating Tea Party character vs a Mexican wrestler.”

“What the fuck are you doing with this Zeb Colter guy? A heel with a Tea Party stereotype angle? Do you still want my money?” asked Mark Scudder.

And the fact that Fox News was so uncomfortable with it themselves... beautiful. That video is a must watch.

And in other news...

http://i.imgur.com/8RLdccn.jpg

Why does Stan Stanski sound so familiar? Because of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guKLlMTAO_g

Glad to see he made it in This Business

So how do these people know it's stereotyping them? Oh wait, because it's mostly true.

Shit's way too obvious for them to ignore.

when she really probably more closely aligns with the old school HW Bush Yankee Republicans. So this might be Vince deciding he's spent enough money on that message, it's time to blow it right the hell up.

is that this pretty much means Vince is likely done trying to buy Linda an office seat, which in turn means WWE can start going back to a more edgier product. I'm not saying attitude era, but at least PG-13.

>is that this pretty much means Vince is likely done trying to
>buy Linda an office seat, which in turn means WWE can start
>going back to a more edgier product. I'm not saying attitude
>era, but at least PG-13.



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

you don't have to be raunchy, but you can still be edgy.

straight copying Attitude probably wouldn't even work in 2013 anyway, but stuff like "Attitude Adjustment" over "F-U" and avoidance of the word "ass" is some BS

Great in ring, just needed a mouthpiece, which this is. He's perfect for the gimmick given his past "All American American" nickname and southern roots.

I think it's an excellent gimmick to get him into the title picture. I'm sure it's not a long term situation, but it's definitely working to get him some cheap, effective heat. A year from now, I'll be sick and tired of it if it's still running unless they've got interesting angles for it. I do like it as a short term way to shoot him to the top though.

No way he beats Del Rio at Mania, just a way to get the crowd even more on Del Rio's side. This is actually going to be the most interesting World Heavyweight Title match at WM in recent memory.

picture. I just don't seem them running with the angle going this deep for too long.

It's a character that, unlike most heels, smarks will actually root AGAINST. Forget all the kids and casual fans, the smart people who just hate the Tea Party are going to be booing this guy. He's essentially the riskiest thing WWE has done since Muhammed Hassan or however you spell that dude's name. Hopefully they don't get pressured by the network to end the character. The fact that Zeb is getting this much publicity from crazy right wingers is AWESOME.

I can see this bringing in crazy ass hicks yelling "WE NEED JACK SWAGGER! GOD DAMN IMMIGRANTS! THEY TOOK'ER JOBS!!!!"

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/pro-wrestling/ring-posts-blog/bal-examining-the-double-standard-wwe-faces-with-certain-media-critics-20130220,0,723904.story

On Tuesday, WWE, through Brian Flinn, WWE’s senior VP of marketing and communications, issued an email statement to the Hollywood Reporter concerning WWE superstar Jack Swagger and manager Zeb Colter. Several blogs, critics and media outlets have complained that the characters Swagger and Colter are portraying on WWE TV are "right wing racists." One paragraph of WWE's statement reads as follows:

“WWE is creating drama centered on a topical subject that has varying points of view to develop a rivalry between two characters. This storyline in no way represents WWE’s political point of view. One should not confuse WWE’s storytelling with what WWE stands for, similar to other entertainment companies such as Warner Bros., Universal Studios or Viacom.”

I see two major points coming out of this article.

Related
Ring Posts; Pro Wrestling news Ring Posts; Pro Wrestling news
WWE pictures WWE pictures
Pictures: WWE Divas perform Pictures: WWE Divas perform
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Ring Posts: Introducing Blogger No. 1: Arda Ocal

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The first, a much shorter conversation, is that it's nice to see WWE receive mainstream media attention in an outlet like the Hollywood Reporter. Who would have thought that in 2013, Zeb Colter (a.k.a. "Dirty" Dutch Mantell) would be featured in a photo and article on that website. But it has happened, and what he and Jack Swagger are doing on WWE television is getting people talking.

The second, a much longer conversation, is another reminder of the double standard that WWE faces with many media outlets, critics and others that think WWE is again using political issues distastefully to generate interest in its brand of entertainment.

I laugh at these people. In fact, I am appalled by the ridiculousness of these claims.

First, let me say that I am someone who has watched pro wrestling for decades and am not easily offended. I am not offended by what Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter are saying on WWE TV. I understand that it is part of an entertainment spectacle and the desired effect of these two individuals is to be antagonistic and elicit a negative response from the audience both in the arena and watching at home.

I am not offended by this situation, just like how I wasn't offended when Sgt. Slaughter became an Iraqi sympathizer in the early 1990s. Or when Muhammad Hassan pushed buttons by portraying an Arab American ostracized by the country he grew up in. I wasn't offended when Paul Heyman faked a heart attack on Raw a few months ago (though I did find that to be the closest to "the line" of all the examples stated above). There's plenty more that isn't "PG." But who cares? That argument is getting old and is used as a crutch for naysayers.

Many of these outraged media/critics are selective when it comes to WWE topics. Where are they when WWE does countless charitable initiatives, such as Make A Wish grants, Tribute to the Troops and Be A Star? Are they simply the "scripted sideshow" when doing good? And they are allowed to be scrutinized like a sport when they push the envelope? Double standard.

Speaking of Be A Star, this is one of the hottest, most infuriating arguments. "How can WWE support and endorse an anti-bullying campaign when much of what we see on WWE TV is bullying?" The best response is that, much like with actors in a film, it would be incorrect and downright ignorant to compare their work as an artist to their work as a philanthropist. Those making complaints know it's entertainment, so why make the argument at all? To me, you look like a fool making it.

Some people just may not like WWE, and may be in high/influential places. That's fine. Senator John McCain once called MMA "human cock fighting," and he certainly will not cause the demise of MMA. These detractors will not be the downfall of WWE either. I just wish this double standard didn't exist, where media selectively brand WWE however they see fit to maximize criticism.

never mind the double standard (I think it's kind of lame to balance it out with the charity, though it is true you rarely hear much about that), but I do think negative coverage of WWE as it pertains to its programming is some BS.

I didn't hear/read too much when WWE was putting some some REAL horrible stuff up (e.g. the worst of the Attitude Era, Katie Vick, etc). But something like this that catches fire and thus is being tweeted about.

FOH, it's two dudes gathering around that goddamn Gadsden flag and complaining about TEH MESSICANS STEALIN ARR JERBS

I see worse on Fox News.

and as someone reminded me recently, this Tea Party shit isn't even in the same league as Greg Valentine's bullshit re: Junkyard Dog (and HHH aka Greg Valentine Jr. in that awful WMXIX program). Again, neither got any press.

Muhammad Hassan was unnecessarily killed by paranoid MFers... still one of my favorite heels that could have been even greater if WWE didn't drop the ball with how he was portrayed. There was press about that, but mostly about UPN proving what the "P" was for (and here's a hint, it ain't "Paramount").

when they try to put some of the horrible aspects in wrestling (the early deaths for example) in context, I'm usually OK with that. but FOH talking about an angle without any critical thought, any context, any actual reason why it might be lame in execution.

I mean, Vince lifted the lid on kayfabe how many years ago? a lot of the "Criticism" is just lazy IMO

Arrested 6 weeks before you're booked in a WORLD title match at WRESTLEMANIA. At least it was just careless driving and not drunk driving. Either way, you need to be smarter than this.

http://www.tmz.com/2013/02/20/wwe-star-jack-swagger-arrested-wwe-tv-taping-traffic-violations/


WWE star Jack Swagger was arrested last night in Mississippi, TMZ has learned -- after allegedly committing several traffic offenses.

Source close to the situation tell TMZ, Swagger was leaving a "Smackdown" taping at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi when he was pulled over.

It's unclear what traffic offenses Swagger is accused of committing ... but they were serious enough to result in an arrest.

We're told Swagger -- a former WWE World Heavyweight champ -- was taken in by local sheriff's deputies ... and later released on his own recognizance.

We reached out to WWE, who tells TMZ, "Mr. Swagger is responsible for his own personal actions."

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/02/20/wwe-star-jack-swagger-arrested-wwe-tv-taping-traffic-violations/#ixzz2LTXOZGDF
Visit the TMZ Store: http://tmzstore.com

On that "I made you, I can destroy you!" steeze

Some of these guys really know how to fuck off during a push, don't they?

I'm interested in the offenses, probably just crazy speeding and shit. Like I said, unless it was drunk driving (which it wasn't) I don't see this fucking up his career very much. Although if he was going to go over at WM (which I doubt he was) this may have ruined those chances.

He'll definitely be scheduled for a 1x1 with Vince at the very least. Hopefully he just catches a lift in Big Show's bus from now until April.

This can't really be spun into anything that's going to help him get heat. What's he gonna say? An cop pulled me over and made up charges because he was white?

Not only can I not figure out how to spin this to further the angle, couldn't the WWE get in trouble if they start spinning the arrest?

into the first three rows. Nuclear heat.

Seriously, WWE has some very important questions right now.
1. Do they fire or suspend Swagger?
2. If they do fire or suspend Swagger, what happens to the Del Rio match at Wrestlemania?
3. Also, how do you write him off the show?


Here's a crazy idea. Let's say they suspend him for 30 days, as a warning. To get him off TV, you do a backstage hit-and-run angle. Swagger is hit by a car and injured. Booker T announces the next week that his injuries are so bad that he will have to miss Mania. Now you have people wondering who ran over Swagger for a few weeks... until the big reveal: it was Zeb Colter, who was drunk behind the wheel.

They end up doing a few anti-drunk driving PSAs mid-show next to each other over the next few weeks, blurring the kayfabe. Swagger: "I lost my Wrestlemania moment because of a drunk driver." Especially when said next to Dutch Mantel who lost his granddaughter to a drunk driver last August.

>Hopefully he just catches a lift in Big Show's bus from
>now until April.


"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

"Any WWE Talent, who is arrested, convicted or who admits to a violation of law relating to use, possession, purchase, sale or distribution of drugs will be in material breach of his/her contract with WWE and subject to immediate dismissal."

Doubtful but I wouldn't be surprised if Vince went ape shit over this.

This very well could get him fired. I forget, was RVD fired when he got pulled over with pot or did he just get suspended and left afterwards?

At the time he was ECW and WWE Champion. He dropped both of them that week and took a 30 day suspension, and I think they fired Sabu outright.

There are a lot of similarities between RVD's situation and Swagger's. But there's a comparison to what Swagger did and say, Cameron's DUI. Cameron's was way worse (she tried to bribe the cop) and they could have fired her and not even blinked. Problem is, Swagger's gimmick is giving the WWE more attention than it's had in a minute, and I think the Wellness Policy dictates that while having marijuana in your system is simply a fine and not a violation, getting arrested for it is a violation.

So this can go either way. I just wouldn't want to be Swagger this week.
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http://www.wrestleview.com/wwe-news/39850-update-jack-swagger-arrested-for-dui-marijuana-posession

Oh well, Mark Henry here we come.

Sucks for Zeb though.

And RAW was just getting better again...

____________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, niggas, for knowing shit.

Swagger is borderline worthless. Bring goddam Chris Hero up and give him Swagger's spot.

Can you imagine a full fledged Shield stable with Punk and Hero in the fold?

It would be exactly like the NWO, only far less popular with immensely better matches.

I'm just fed up with guys getting push after push based solely on their physiques and never getting over. Nobody has ever cared about Jack Swagger, and no amount of gimmick tweaking is gonna change that. Yet there he is, winning the Chamber.

>Swagger is borderline worthless. Bring goddam Chris Hero up
>and give him Swagger's spot.


Are u kidding me? This is getting Vince and crew SO MUCH heat....If they fire him that would be a big mistake...

Just suspend him for a month(s) and keep it moving...

If you didn't, you missed a three-ring circus of failure as Emanuel Newton KO'd King Mo 2:35 into the 1st round.

The wrestling connection to this? TNA signed King Mo to a contract, in hopes that he'd be a crossover star. I think he's made one appearance for TNA so far, as a guest referee.

EDIT: http://twitpic.com/c5rg37

I had to include the gif of the KO. It looks almost like an accident, like Newton threw the backfist just to keep Mo from grabbing him while his back was turned.

___________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, niggas, for knowing shit.

that looks almost as bad as the dive dude took against Ray Edwards.

and then it's clear he got smacked right on the button of the chin.

just saying that the angle and type of strike makes it look a lot less impactful than it (obviously) was.

http://www.imgur.com/9m8yP0D.jpeg

http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tumblr_lrbo9uqfAi1qheauho2_500.jpg
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/22900000/CM-Punk-and-Stone-Cold-cm-punk-22942640-600-398.jpg

http://youtu.be/u9_RcD6WMmM

in which they start as Colter and Swagger, then break character to read a message from WWE to Glenn Beck

This is not the way to get heat, gang.

___________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, niggas, for knowing shit.

I think knowing that they are about to end the Swagger push might be motivating them to go so hard too, they want there to be no question that it is not because of the controversy.

Whoever suggested above that this storyline might be Vince's way of saying fuck the Tea Party is probably on point. By issuing a logically driven challenge to Beck, he's calling out the disconnect between Beck's message and his fanbase.

Kayfabe be damned, this feels a lot more personal now.

>Whoever suggested above that this storyline might be Vince's
>way of saying fuck the Tea Party is probably on point. By
>issuing a logically driven challenge to Beck, he's calling out
>the disconnect between Beck's message and his fanbase.
>
>Kayfabe be damned, this feels a lot more personal now.


I love it...This is indeed a middle finger...And it's very intelligent...

"stupid political commentator"= Glen Beck...

http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/02/20/wwe-creates-controversial-tea-party-wrestler/?utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2013-02-20_201024&utm_content=54524200&utm_term=_201024_201032

http://www.tout.com/m/6j4q43

Yea, I saw some pictures. Excited for tomorrow, gotta sit through Vince vs. Heyman, but it'll be we'll worth it if Taker's gonna make an appearance.

I'm at least DRAWN to the Vince/Heyman stuff, should be fun. Especially if we get a Brock sighting.

I have no idea where they are going to go with Punk/Cena. Either winning makes sense. Hoping for Punk since if it's Cena/Rock I have no idea what Punk is going to do at WM and a 5 week rushed storyline wouldn't do the year he's had justice.

And of course, if Taker makes his Raw return tomorrow, that adds additional excitement.

and the entrance at those shows are tiny, thats my first time ever seeing it. Did they just throw up some plasma TVs to use in place of the Titantron?



You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

He returns at a house show, people start buzzing, the ratings this Monday see a slight increase.

At least, I can see that rationale being used.

.

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

so, it looks like he's gotten jake roberts clean... and supposedly scott hall's staying with him now too.

vid of ddp and jake calling hall. trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poV1FXdNq84

Good for DDP for tryna help, but Hall might not be save-able.

Also worth remembering that DDP is selling his yoga videos off the back of all this. Not to be too cynical, but...

A lot of wrestlers have cosigned it and said it's great. Don't think he needs Hall to promote. I genuinely think he's just trying to help his friend.

That's what they do. I'm not saying he doesn't actually want to help Hall. I'm sure he does, and how wonderful if he can actually save Razor's life. But he isn't gonna miss an opportunity to move product either.

What holds more weight:

Some testimonials on an infomercial with before and after pictures, or him taking guys we all know are a half foot in the gutter and nursing them back to health?

What better way to show us the benefits of this program than to see the changes in real time, more or less? Especially with once great members of his own profession?

I get what you're saying but I get no negative vibes from this, personally. Even if it's a huge marketing ploy, it's brilliant because he's attempting to rescue two lives and salvaging something for their respective careers in the process. It's a net gain for all involved really.

I hear you, I just don't see any nefarious intentions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448

It seems to be held in pretty high esteem.

It was nice to see blood again on Raw, but wow, was that a nasty cut.

Also, did Triple H piss himself? What was that stain? And why was I looking at it?

I was dreading that Vince vs. Heyman segment, it actually ended up being pretty entertaining.

It looked like a work based on the way he got busted open, but.... I'm not 100% sure.

Like he didn't get his hand up in time.


And to Virgenes... Yeah, someone forgot to baby powder the nethers before heading out there. Shit was fucking comical. (Just like his return post retirement... **rolls eyes**)

The cut was on the side of Brock's head. If Brock had juiced - which couldn't have happened anyway because he didn't have enough time to juice himself - it would have been on the top of the forehead.

Brock got 12 staples to close the gash up.
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that's what it was, i'd wager

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

What storyline does this advance?

I enjoyed that particular line, the rest of it was meh. Sounds like he's summoning The Undertaker though, fingers crossed.

How much of this match was a headlock?

No Zeb-O, but this country doesn't belong to "everyone". Sorry :/

hard camera, pal, hard camera.

those guys are obviously inadequate on the stick, especially compared to Ambrose. And yet still they continue to let them talk.

Now they're advertising Sonic. LOL.

And yeah, not only that but they got the commentator who just had a heart attack stuffing it down. Amazing.

But I love it. I think he fits the character well. Blue eyed, blond hair, All American. He's even trying to grow out that southern good ol' boy backwoods haircut.

Plus, his new music is great and way better than the old one. Lastly, how can you not love the old school manager and mouthpiece.

The gimmick is fine, and I'm interested to see what happens, but his matches are usually pretty dull. He's big and athletic, but he just sort of goes out there, does some standard moves reasonably well, applies an ankle lock, and that's about it.

Name the last Swagger match where you thought, "ah, that was a really good match." I got nothing.

But at least he has an interesting gimmick. I do think if he doesn't adapt his moveset during this push... he's fucked.

He already seems to have more confidence and intensity than before. I'm thinking it will translate eventually as he gets some consistent matches.

His ring presence is stale, and he hasn't updated his moveset one bit since he left.

This shit is PPV quality. Every match they've had has either been very good or amazing. This one... I need to watch again, but I'm leaning toward amazing. Their chemistry is impeccable.

he's not playing that Five Moves of Doom shit.....



You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

Although I'm not sure what the purpose was. Just to showcase a great match? How do they parlay this into a triple threat?

I thought maybe there would be some controversy or double-pin. Hell, maybe Undertaker flashes the lights and screws over Punk setting up a Punk-Taker match.

Just to dead Punk from being in the main event?

Last week it was looking like a potential triple threat, which IMO is still the best way to go to effectively end all three feuds once and for all.

It could simply end Punk's presence in the title picture until after Mania, which is fine by me so long as they set him up right for Mania. The program with Taker seems to still be up in the air, so I'm not putting too much stock in that possibility.

Personally it's great to get something like this on Raw once in awhile, regardless of whether it fits neatly into a bigger picture.

What I took away from the match was a few things that really made Punk look great; No Heyman, no heelish behavior, Cena having to go to a Hurricanrana to put him away, Cena not being his usual over-celebratory self at the end. All of this got Punk way over in time for Mania while still getting Cena to where he had to get to.

both guys worked their asses off.

Both Punk & Cena showed out tonight

my little dude is gonna be PISSED, I showed him the Tout clip someone posted above and he was all hyped to see him on tonight's show (Taker is my son's favorite wrestler)....



You gon' live forever
Whether you want to or not
Some of us gon' end up holy
Some of us gon' end up hot.....

Punk's promo seemed to go in that direction at least...

The only thing the company promoted was his Tout-recorded appearance at a house show

___________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, niggas, for knowing shit.

Turns out he didn't.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2013/0226/560699/vince-upset-during-raw-main-event/

Fair bit of trust on Cena's part to take it.

Usually, the only time you see one is when the Shield slowly stack a guy up on Reigns' shoulders.

Goes to show you that when you have two top talents giving a PPV-quality match, they deserve a little leeway. That piledriver was nothing compared to seeing Brock half-covered in his own blood.

>Usually, the only time you see one is when the Shield slowly
>stack a guy up on Reigns' shoulders.
>
>Goes to show you that when you have two top talents giving a
>PPV-quality match, they deserve a little leeway. That
>piledriver was nothing compared to seeing Brock half-covered
>in his own blood.

Yeah, but to the best of my knowledge, after Owen/Austin the only guys allowed to use the piledriver are HHH, Taker, and (I think) Kane. When I saw it, I immediately googled to see if WWE had un-banned it. Nope.

The powerbomb was good too, though.

Lesnar's bloodbath really enhanced what could've been a pretty vanilla scene. (sorry, I'm just that tired of seeing super-tough Triple H.) Shit felt REAL.

The piledriver was an even bigger shock. My brother and I were like "woa is he gonna...A PILEDRIVER!!!" And it makes sense. That's exactly something one of these guys should pull out when they're that desperate to main event Wrestlemania.

>Lesnar's bloodbath really enhanced what could've been a
>pretty vanilla scene. (sorry, I'm just that tired of seeing
>super-tough Triple H.) Shit felt REAL.

It sucks cuz I dont' think anyone buys it. Taker and Triple H coming up off of the couch to randomly wrestling is losing its power as the new layer of guys come up. It is still cool now cuz they are legends who can at least kinda sorta still go once or twice a year, but they are close to the point where they have to stop doing that and 'retire' for at least a Jay-Z amount of time. Then, we can have a heel throw Stephanie down some stairs in 2016 and have HHH showing up and whooping his ass be awesome. I'd rather have Brock/Ryback with a Brock lawse. And Taker/Ziggler would be cool next year after he gets his title reign in. You know he'd jump off of an invisible mini trampoline every time Mark punches him and it would be awesome.

>The piledriver was an even bigger shock. My brother and I were
>like "woa is he gonna...A PILEDRIVER!!!" And it makes sense.
>That's exactly something one of these guys should pull out
>when they're that desperate to main event Wrestlemania.

The WWE has done a pretty good job with resetting the minds of fans so that some moves hold a gang of weight again. In general, WCW/WWE/ECW had gotten to the point in the early 2000s where a piledriver was just a random transition move. And everybody was doing powerbomb variations. Just about every WWE main event had a table spot, chair spot, and/or blood. And once folks started trying to mix in the All Japan 'let's just strike each other for real and do lots of german suplexes!' thing, shit got ridiculous and it was out of hand. A few neck surgeries/year-long injuries, pill addictions (*looks at Kurt Angle*) and deaths made them fix it. Now, the Orndorff piledriver is an ohh shit situation (HBK did one on Taker at WM), the world strongest slam is legit finisher, hitting somebody with a chair means it is personal, and if Randy Orton kicks you in the face with a running start, you get a vacation. Too bad Orton is an assclown or he'd still be dope. Now, he's an overpushed Kane.

Now they just have to get submissions and tapouts a little more right. There's still a little bit too much wincing and wiggling from the center of the ring to the ropes for me. For Cena/Punk, I can roll with it because no one was working a limb or selling an injury AND that was the blowoff match for them for a while. But somebody needs to randomly tap out to a Liontamer/Walls of Jericho sometime soon or it may as well be a chinlock with no pin potential.

Jimaveli

HHH.

And maybe they feel like it give WMs a 'shot in the arm'. But part-time dude vs part-time dude doesn't sound awesome almost regardless of who the names are. Like...even if Austin showed up to take on the Rock at WM while Ziggler gets stuck with a random midcard face like Kofi, we'd call it WCW all over again.

We're almost always guilty of wanting cats to get title reigns and main events when they are on a 'hey! this dude is above average!' type of run. And I get that WWE can't give all of those guys runs and title wins cuz then the title would be changing monthly or so. In the same breath, I'll say if Ziggler doesn't cash in this damn MITB soon I'm gonna lose my damn mind. I mean...is he really gonna do that shit to Cena after he beats The Rock? Or is he just gonna do it to ADR after Thwagger attacks him post-match? He has (hot as the hell) AJ and buff Koko B. Ware with him..and he sells like best days Mr. Perfect and 'match with myself'-era Shawn Michaels.

Jimaveli

Great near falls, great transitions, and Cena pulled out a Powerbomb, a hurricanrana (one of the worst I've ever seen tho, but I guess you gotta give Cena a little credit for even trying it. But never do that move again), and Punk had a great piledriver.

Also on Raw, I think Alberto Del Rio has cemented himself as a permanent main eventer. After he lost the title to Punk he was lingering a bit, and WWE did him no favors to turn him into a face. But as soon as he beat the Big Show out of the blue he became a big deal, and he's taken the ball and ran with it. Reminds me of Edge's first title run after beating Cena at the Elimination Chamber. And now WWE can use Swagger to open Del Rio up and show some emotion and character depth, and they did a great job with it in the MizTV segment Monday night. I'd be surprised if they take the title off of him any time before summer, including for Ziggler.
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Orton apparently wants to be a heel anyway, and Del Rio could really get even higher as a good guy against a sadistic heel like Orton is capable of.

I can absolutely, 100% believe this happened:

"Worst: Triple H, Threatening Via Tout

See? Triple H couldn’t even wait until he left the building. I like to think that he ran out, bloodied Brock Lesnar, left to cheers and found himself backstage without having said anything. So he rushed to find the nearest guy with a camera and was all LET ME TELL THE WWE UNIVERSE WHAT JUST HAPPENED AND HOW THEY SHOULD FEEL, THEY NEED TO KNOW HOW TOUGH I AM and the camera guy was all “uhhhhhh I can Tout it for you” and Triple H was all TOUT, YES, LET’S DO THIS, I AM THE GAME and recorded 15 seconds about how he’s an ass-kicker. I also like to think he recorded 600 consecutive 15-second Touts, and this was just the first of the bunch.

Nothing could be worse than a major star having his return speech on Tout, right?"



And for everyone surprised about Cena's Hurricanrana... this isn't the first time he did it, and actually he didn't even do it all that long ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jErzwZs_jCI

Still shitty of course, but still.

a mock michelle bachman or palin vignette with zeb/swagger.

maybe drop in a quip about a "kenyan muslim" leader giving healthcare to illegals.

maybe a mock fox news segment...kinda like when they did larry king/cnn/hbk as hogan.

'cause i don't know about y'all, but zeb/swaggs breaking character in that glenn beck appeasement bit kinda took the edge off the angle....for me at least.

he's just not very good at anything. They should've debuted this gimmick with Husky Harris and committed to the bit. I'm not nearly as high on this shit as everyone else is and I'm close to being over it altogether. It's a cool idea placed on the totally wrong guy.

I prefer the idea of a great mouthpiece to run it instead of the wrestler himself. It gives it an air of brainwashing IMO.

Further, this only works if they're going to really push it on a main event level, and Bray Wyatt- the name Husky Harris is currently using, which kind of indicates you're a little out of touch right now-is definitely not the guy to do this with.

In fact, the guy who has billed himself as the All American American is the perfect guy to do this with. Del Rio has been elevated considerably because of it and JS has proven to be vicious and unrelenting in ring, despite being unspectacular. He's not a beast like, say, Sheamus, but it's working.

> and Bray Wyatt- the name Husky Harris is
>currently using, which kind of indicates you're a little out
>of touch right now-
>

once I'm done hysterically laughing I'm gonna reply with some thoughtful shit

Yeah, you would think that's some nerd shit.

I know the cool kids wing it without knowing their head from their ass and you're desperate to fit in. I ain't mad at ya :)

has he ever gotten over on his own?

Swagger ain't about that life, if you're going to go whole hog with this dumb shit, at least saddle somebody new with it

__________________________________________________________________________________
May this week's Internet indignation cause your inbox to flood with intimacy offers, Outraged Message Board Dude

Regardless of how people feel about Swagger the wrestler, this is a legitimately organic extension of his heel "All American American" gimmick. He was also a former MITB winner and cashed in on Jericho. Shitty title reign or not, he's been in the main event scene before.

And take a look at someone like Mark Henry. With the right gimmick, he went from jovial jobber to absolute scary monster. Swagger's been fine in the ring (if a bit stale) but if he were to get a main event push, Zeb's the perfect mouth piece for him.

I think it's still way too early to tell if he'll be successful or not (all the mainstream attention is giving Vince a chubby though), but the confluence of factors all coming together leads me to think he will.

The big Tea Party losses, the slow degradation of the extreme right (just look at all the conservatives signing on to support gay marriage and immigration reform), the Rock's monster exposure with the belt and like a hundred movies, WM29 at Metlife (heavily smark city), let alone the fact that his opponent is Del Rio, whose stock is elevating every time he opens his mouth.... The stage is set for this specific gimmick to succeed, and frankly, I hope it does.

Edit: And don't get me wrong, personally I'm not the biggest fan of Swagger either. I just think he's the right guy at the right time to push this sort of gimmick, and he's just the beneficiary of being really lucky.

What it feels like to me is, "hey, let's pitch a 'controversial' topic and give it to somebody... ooh, Swagger's coming back, let's put it on him"

Son was never taken seriously enough as the All-American American (just take that title alone) to call for him to "progress" into a pseudo Tea Partier who has it in for Mexican immigrants. Nothing in his previous incarnation suggested that he harbored any of these issues. It'd be different if he lost to Rey or Sin Cara in a Loser Leaves Town match 8 months ago or some shit, and came back to swear revenge on all Latinos, and this was the result.

The problem is he was a joke before he went out, and now we're supposed to see him as some sort of serious, racist threat. I'm not buying it.

______________________________________________________________________________________________
May this week's Internet indignation cause your inbox to flood with intimacy offers, Outraged Message Board Dude

If it was anyone green, we'd be decrying them for getting the shotgun push into the main event. No one else's gimmick really makes sense either.

We can agree to disagree on whether or not it's logical, and just because the "All American American" gimmick failed back then doesn't mean it's not relevant now (changed political landscape and all that).

> The problem is he was a joke before he went out, and now we're supposed to see him as some sort of serious, racist threat. I'm not buying it.

Fair enough, but like someone said above, he's not the mouthpiece, Zeb is, so it comes off as he's returning to the WWE as brainwashed and "angry".

And like I've said before, this feels personal. The fact that Vince is sending Cole to stir shit up at Beck's studio is indicative of that. It's not some throwaway controversial gimmick for the sake of being controversial.... this is Vince's big fuck you to the Tea Party. This feels like it transcends the usual wrassling tropes, and he's just using his biggest platform to send the message (as well as pushing it during wrassling's Super Bowl).

I think Dutch is making all the difference here, not JS, and that's what makes it work. I think Zoo is reading too much into trying to piece together the logic of this "progession" and as you echoed my earlier statement, this comes across as Zeb being the catalyst for this whole thing.

Still, there's a fair point to be made that JS simply doesn't cut it as the main event guy and shouldn't be getting this hotshot push to Mania.

I agree with you though, they've executed rather well and it's pushing Del Rio higher up each week. I legitimately love Del Rio as a face and this has been a great way of pushing his change.

>Still, there's a fair point to be made that JS simply doesn't
>cut it as the main event guy and shouldn't be getting this
>hotshot push to Mania.

I alluded to this with all my qualifiers on Swagger the wrestler in post #283, and clarified further in my edit in that post. The gimmick is what I'm a big proponent of, not really Swagger himself. He literally was in the right place at the right time for this gimmick to exist, despite almost shitting on himself with the possession charge.

Let's stop pretending (based on that question) that he's the only guy on this roster that could pull it off, or that he was the only "logical" guy for it since he had the word "American" as part of his gimmick.

________________________________________________________________________________________
May this week's Internet indignation cause your inbox to flood with intimacy offers, Outraged Message Board Dude

Ok, this was constructive. Like I said, honest question, who else could carry the gimmick? I think we can both agree that Zeb is the driving force behind the gimmick but he's obviously not wrestling. And this is for the title at Wrestlemania so you'd definitely need someone with experience.

If not Swagger... then who?

>Ok, this was constructive.

Really, bro?


>Like I said, honest question, who
>else could carry the gimmick?

As Buck said, you could give it to Ted Jr. But I'm saying, fuck the main roster. You mean to tell me they couldn't pick the next guy in FCW who's ready to come up to the main roster and give this to him? Actually, don't answer that: the answer is yes, yes, you can, WWE Kreative, if you have the planning and foresight to start this shit earlier than January 2013 (and try to hotshot 3 whole months to WM, which is really fucking lame). As opposed to sticking the gimmick on someone who really doesn't need it. Which actually leads to...


>I think we can both agree that
>Zeb is the driving force behind the gimmick but he's obviously
>not wrestling.

Correct! Which is why you don't need Swagger in this role. There seems to be this argument being made that Swagger is the only cat who could pull this off. He's not. Swagger, a former champion and main eventer, can speak for himself. He's a roster vet. He doesn't need someone else as his mouthpiece, even if it's suggested that he's been brainwashed. You can bring in a NXT cat early, have Zeb be his mouthpiece, and have him roll through the roster, which would organically lead to a WM title shot, not this rushed, two-month-hotshot bullshit. Shit, you could actually have the guy debut, be a loser, then get "recruited" by Zeb, which leads to him mowing down the roster and leading to the shot. "Experience" really isn't necessary, if the actual creative and booking groundwork is properly done.

But if you HAVE to have Swagger in the role, even then, WWE Kreative, you'd better do the fucking work. Which means you air vignettes of Swagger from about a month after his last appearance until he actually returns to Raw, where he says he's going back to the drawing board, and when he returns he's going to not just restore order to the WWE, but to America. And we actually see him "learning" under Zeb, we see Zeb "training" and conditioning Swagger for "the new war" that he's going to fight when he returns to WWE. You could even have fun with keeping what he's really talking about a mystery until he returns, then hit everyone with this Tea Party shit.

And I know, "But Linda was running for Senate! It was a political year!" Which, yeah. Don't do it at all, then.

Not only does this whole thing feel rushed, but it also feels like we've been placed into the last third of the story, like if this were a vinyl album, we were placed two songs before the return groove.


>And this is for the title at Wrestlemania so
>you'd definitely need someone with experience.

Not if you knew what you were doing and didn't try to "shock" everybody with this half-thought out bullshit that's being passed off as "controversial."


>If not Swagger... then who?

See, WWE has a whole roster of guys who aren't on the main roster but are ready to be brought up. A fresh face would have made this "controversial" gimmick a bit more tolerable had it been planned out and booked properly. And no, sorry, I don't know or have studied the NXT roster. Doesn't mean my point isn't valid.

Putting this shit on Swagger, a former champ and roster vet, then adding a mouthpiece for him, smacks of "Kreative has nothing for you, Jack Swagger, except this Tea Party thing..." by someone who's desperate to "get people talking" about his product.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
May this week's Internet indignation cause your inbox to flood with intimacy offers, Outraged Message Board Dude

I definitely agree that someone could have been brought up from the minors to grow into the role. Look at the Shield; they've been brought along masterfully and were similarly thrust directly into the main event scene. And I don't deny that a fresh face would have infused some young energy into the gimmick instead of Swagger's stiff "WE, The People" schtick.

And I agree that we don't need Swagger in this role. Like I've stated numerous times in this thread, I'm not sold on *him*, but I'm absolutely sold on the *gimmick*. His prior gimmick, his inevitable return and his lack of charisma made him a natural fit for Zeb though.

Now for my counterpoints...

"Swagger can speak for himself.. doesn't need someone as his mouthpiece"
Umm... no he can't. He's fucking terrible on the mic. Besides the lisp, he's never said anything interesting ever (which is why they tried Vickie for a while, but that didn't work either).

"two month hotshot bullshit"
Yes, for a typical gimmick this does feel like he's getting hotshotted to WM29. However, like I and others have mentioned above (and Masked Man alludes to throughout his article), this doesn't feel like a regular wrestling gimmick. This is personal. You mention Zeb "recruiting" Swagger (or anyone, really) which would infer a thought out, long-term build... except the elections were in November. Imagine if Linda had won, justifying the pandering to the Tea Party.... then this gimmick would *never* have existed. A long build wouldn't have made sense if Linda won her seat.

"half thought out bullshit being passed off as controversial"
Time will tell if this will end up being "half thought out", but this is absolutely controversial. Like I stated above, Vince is calling out the disconnect between Beck's message and his fanbase... and (as Masked Man also points out) this makes Beck extremely uncomfortable. My personal opinion is that this isn't "half thought out bullshit" though, just because of the sheer force of will Vince is exerting in pushing this gimmick:

- Swagger got *arrested* for dangerous driving AND drug possession.... and nothing happened to him other than the terse "he's responsible for his own actions" statement. Main Eventer Randy Orton got knocked 30 (or 60, I forget) days for synthetic weed and that didn't involve an arrest. Whether or not Swagger deserves to be involved, he was locked into the gimmick and Vince wasn't letting this one go.
- Calling out Beck first on the video promo, then SENDING COLE DIRECTLY TO HIS STUDIOS to try and corner him. There's no question Vince has always pursued mainstream attention, but (and I could be wrong) this level of provocation is unprecedented in the PG era.
- There's mixed reactions in this thread on the kayfabe-breaking promo, but I thought it was MASTERFULLY done. Quote from MM's article:

"The most impactful response to Beck, however, came not from the WWE front office but from Swagger and Colter, who recorded a new wooden-fence oratory... After shaming Beck with a litany of audience demographics, Zeb and Swagger launched back into their rant as if nothing had happened. And Monday on Raw, even when Zeb mentioned Beck, he didn't have to break character to do it. That was probably the most revealing thing about the broadcast — of course WWE was going to keep talking about Beck if it meant more mainstream attention, but they didn't need to address his wrestling illiteracy on the air. They didn't need to explain why Zeb and Swagger act the way they do, because everybody knows wrestling is staged. Beck should understand this, too, because as much as anyone, Beck knows what it is to be a performer."

There it is... there's the disconnect. There's a reason why Vince is going so hard at Beck... Because Fuck The Tea Party.


So yeah, my point to all this is that the gimmick is bigger than Swagger. Vince could have brought in some NXT guys, but they wouldn't have the built-in (albeit limp) heat that Swagger has, nor would they have the built-in "America rah-rah" in their history. Yet I have no issues with putting someone else in Swagger's place and I've repeatedly stated that his biggest attribute is basically "right place, right time." Swagger's there now, and it is what it is.

the Tea Party, because I agree, fuck them

But the fact that he didn't come up with this himself (it was reportedly pitched to him by Kevin Eck, the Kreative staffer who used to be a Baltimore Sun reporter) leads me to believe that his dick got hard thinking of all of the possibilities regarding "controversy" and the short build to WM with a champion that really isn't over and could use the supposed heat from this angle

Besides, it's not like Linda lost to a Tea Partier. THAT would make it personal.

________________________________________________________________________________________________
May this week's Internet indignation cause your inbox to flood with intimacy offers, Outraged Message Board Dude

>But the fact that he didn't come up with this himself (it was
>reportedly pitched to him by Kevin Eck, the Kreative staffer
>who used to be a Baltimore Sun reporter) leads me to believe
>that his dick got hard thinking of all of the possibilities
>regarding "controversy" and the short build to WM with a
>champion that really isn't over and could use the supposed
>heat from this angle

I was thinking about this last night while typing my response to you. Check the timeline: Jack Swagger returned Feb 1st on Smackdown ("B" show) *without* Zeb Colter. Zeb then debuted almost two weeks later on Raw. It's conceivable (although entirely speculative) that Eck pitched this to Vince AFTER Swagger debuted (possibly spurred by his failed All American American gimmick) and Vince loved it and ran with it.

In any case, whoever came up with the gimmick is irrelevant; what's important now is how committed Vince is in seeing it through.


>Besides, it's not like Linda lost to a Tea Partier. THAT
>would make it personal.

Well, she was running on the Republican ticket so it's not like she could have ran against a Tea Partier in the actual election. Besides that fact though, your logic is a bit mixed up. If she had actually run against a Tea Partier and lost, that would have *validated* the campaign funds directed towards Tea Party voters. Vince is sore BECAUSE he spent so much money pandering to the Tea Party AND lost. If the McMahon's had run the exact same campaign and lost to a Tea Party candidate then it would have at least confirmed that they were campaigning towards the right demographic... but they weren't. This current gimmick is actually somewhat similar to the smear campaign that Donald Trump is currently pushing against Karl Rove (who is notable because he spent 400 mill in super PAC funds and lost).

If you want to get deeper into it though, Linda won the Republican primary against Chris Shays, a known center-right candidate. She likely won because her campaign was geared towards the extreme right (despite her old school Reagan-ite ideals), which then bit her in the ass in the senate election.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
May this week's Internet indignation cause your inbox to flood with intimacy offers, Outraged Message Board Dude

I have no problems being wrong, but tell me why at least.

Was my logic offbase in evaluating whether or not Vince would be more angry at the Tea Party if Linda had lost to a Tea Partier vs directing campaign funds at the Tea Party demographic?

Or the possibility that maybe Swagger's failed gimmick was the impetus for Vince's crusade against the Tea Party? For the record, I'm not saying this is exactly how it happened, but the logic (and, most especially, the timing) supports what we know.

This Swagger gimmick is a brilliant stroke by Vince and the company and will lead the company to greater success, any thoughts against it are incorrect and we should just shut up and enjoy it, because it is what it is, totally.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
May this week's Internet indignation cause your inbox to flood with intimacy offers, Outraged Message Board Dude

Most every reply I've sent your way was sent without snark or agenda or attack, just debating a wrestling topic. Disagreement doesn't mean that I'm attacking you. And the reason why I said "ok, this was constructive" was because you gave a vague, snarky answer to a simple, well-intentioned question. And when you gave logical, well reasoned arguments that I agreed with, I pointed out that I agreed with your logical, well reasoned arguments. You're the one taking this exchange far more personal than I ever wanted to, and I never said you were "stupid" or sent personal attacks your way. If you took it that way, hey, my bad. I didn't think it was personal to point out some mixed logic regarding politics and I didn't intend it that way either. I follow a lot of politics myself and all kinds of shit in that arena doesn't make sense, so it's not a big deal (to me at least) to explain some shit out because I need a lot of shit explained to me too.

I'm already tired of all the bullshit with rjcc in high tech and I don't really feel like getting into it with anyone on oksports either, especially in threads that don't deal with my sports teams (where I get REAL emotional). But if people want to come at me with snark then I'm going to respond in kind.

Hate to make excuses but I have to discuss this further at a later date

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May this week's Internet indignation cause your inbox to flood with intimacy offers, Outraged Message Board Dude

Wrestling is too awesome to get grimy over.

At least it's Friday, time to get fucked up.

Where are you getting the "only Jack Swagger can pull this off" narrative from?

Certainly not from anyone I've seen post on OKP.

You must be getting that elsewhere, which makes it a fairly dead argument. Nobody here is saying it.

The "narrative" spun from that question.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
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the only one that could pull it off. It's a reach to read it that way.

Sorry, but I'm not seeing "If not this guy, then who?" as "this is the only guy that can do it" on even an implied level.

It's criminal that they won't give him a push.

And I would concur, he needs some sort of push (but the WHC at WM29 is a bit of a stretch, even if they started him with the gimmick two months ago).

http://youtu.be/cN8GMCmXXdQ?t=7m58s

Sometimes guys just need a push, or if they get some sort of shine they need a sustained push.

And who knows? Maybe Dibiase would work much better in this gimmick than Swagger, I wouldn't really argue too deep on that either.

For what it's worth, I kinda liken this current situation with Swagger to what happened with Sheamus: pushed to the moon, got the strap early (twice), then languished for a while. Sheamus eventually turned face and got big (although I personally find his current juvenile schtick pretty lame) and now he's a permanent main eventer. Maybe they view this as Swagger's chance back to see if he can sustain a main event level push? I don't know. I certainly don't have issues with people being dissatisfied with Swagger (as a wrestler) since I more or less hold the same view.

But despite Zoo's stance, I do feel that going from the "All American American" to "America! Fuck Yeah!" -Team America© IS a logical extension of his original gimmick. And yeah, despite my malaise with his character and wrestling before, I'm willing to give him another chance to see what he can do with this gimmick. No, I'm not completely sold on him in-ring yet, and no, I'm not wholly confident he can carry this all the way to Wrestlemania. Do I want to see him succeed though? I actually do (mostly because I care about the gimmick more than him).

Just screwing around on youtube, gave it a listen, and it's applicable the next day.

But I ain't REALLY riding for DiBiase. He's just one of those guys that are there, then go away, then maybe come back, that WWE never do anything with.

>And who knows? Maybe Dibiase would work much better in this
>gimmick than Swagger, I wouldn't really argue too deep on that
>either.

lol...me neither.

>Do I want to see him succeed though?
> I actually do (mostly because I care about the gimmick more
>than him).

Ditto. If they don't fuck it up, it could be gold.

as a "born on third, thought he hit a triple" millionaire heir financing the whole sentiment, just like those asshole Koch brothers.

>as a "born on third, thought he hit a triple" millionaire
>heir financing the whole sentiment, just like those asshole
>Koch brothers.

I'd buy that storyline.

Not sure where they were going with this tailgate nonsense last I heard he was doing.

Like, McGillicutty should be the big heir to the Hennig throne. They should be playing the shit out of that.

>as a "born on third, thought he hit a triple" millionaire
>heir financing the whole sentiment, just like those asshole
>Koch brothers.

nice.

>a mock michelle bachman or palin vignette with zeb/swagger.
>
>maybe drop in a quip about a "kenyan muslim" leader giving
>healthcare to illegals.
>
>maybe a mock fox news segment...kinda like when they did larry
>king/cnn/hbk as hogan.

The fact that Swagger is still on TV makes me think that this anti-Tea Party gimmick is personal to Vince.

>'cause i don't know about y'all, but zeb/swaggs breaking
>character in that glenn beck appeasement bit kinda took the
>edge off the angle....for me at least.

Actually, this elevated the storyline to me. The fact that they (and by proxy, Vince) were willing to overtly break kayfabe to push the angle shows that this whole thing has serious teeth. Whether or not Vince actually supports what Zeb is saying is irrelevant... it just seems like he's hellbent on making the Tea Party (and its most vocal advocates) look foolish.

Chris Kluwe (of course) RT'd this article out earlier:

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/wwe-keeps-pressure-on-glenn-beck

I love it.. I absolutely love it. Fuck the Tea Party. This angle is great because Vince is using the guise of kayfabe to attack the fuck outta the idiots.

He yells it wishing for the crowd to chant it and its dead silent.

Makes me laugh.

A small handful will get that, but we're talking about a rare few.

DONT TREAD ON WEED

http://www.amazon.com/DONT-TREAD-ON-WEED-Marijuana/dp/B004SYM5SE

Well played, timely entrepreneur... well fucking played, hahahah

like y2j chanting go jericho go
the sheep herders stomping and saluting the flag
foreign national anthems


"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

Click for the footnotes

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8997957/dissecting-wwe-feud-tea-party-glenn-beck

Survivalist Series: WWE vs. Glenn Beck
Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter may not be ultra-conservative, anti-immigrant tea partiers, but they play them on TV
By The Masked Man on February 28, 2013
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Here are two things you can always count on from WWE: It will always crave mainstream attention and it will always try to lure celebrities into the wrestling world. From WWE's perspective, it applies a sheen of pop-culture acceptance to wrestling's pug-nosed image, and it shows how wrestling is intertwined with the worlds of sports and entertainment. From ringside appearances by celebs — Fred Durst! Rick Rubin! Members of the Baltimore Ravens! — to the uninspired roster of guest hosts on Raw in recent years — Bob Barker! Al Sharpton! Florence Henderson! — to the higher-wattage stars trotted out for WrestleMania — Lawrence Taylor! Floyd Mayweather! Snooki! — WWE's desire for crossover appeal is constant. The trend started with WrestleMania I, when Muhammad Ali, Billy Martin, Liberace, and the Rockettes were all imported for the fragile WWF's make-or-break moment. For the past couple years, the main celebrity slot at Mania has been filled by The Rock, whose biggest claim to fame, perhaps paradoxically, is his wrestling career. Rock is headlining again this year, but is he enough to fulfill Vince McMahon's never-ending quest for cultural relevance? Could there be another high-profile name up WWE's sleeve? Could that person be Glenn Beck? Could McMahon and Beck be conspiring to combine pro wrestling and political radio into an unholy amalgam of lowbrow hucksterism?

As Beck might say, I'm just asking questions.

Alberto Del Rio won the World Heavyweight Championship in January. Long saddled with the character of an evil Mexican millionaire, he had recently turned face and found communion with WWE fans, 20 percent of whom (according to WWE) are Latino. With Rey Mysterio's looming retirement, WWE has been searching for a new ambassador to Latino fans in the United States and Latin America. They tried Sin Cara in that role, but he broke into a thousand tiny pieces, so Del Rio got the call. Now they needed to establish this new star, and what better way than by finding a vile, Latino-hating villain to serve as his foil?

Enter Jack Swagger. Swagger had been around for a while, mostly as upper-mid-card filler. His all-American visage and collegiate wrestling background pigeonholed him as a poor man's Kurt Angle. For much of his career, Swagger has been called "The All-American American," which may be a nod to John McCain's "the American president Americans have been waiting for" motto from 2008. But "John McCain" was an even weaker wrestling angle than he was a presidential candidate. Swagger seemed every bit as doomed and purposeless as McCain's ill-fated campaign. Recently, however, Swagger has evolved into something darker. After a five-month hiatus, Swagger returned in early February with a scraggly beard and newly shaggy hair hanging from his 6-foot-6 frame. He looks like a survivalist Übermensch. He had new entrance music that sounded like it was lifted from a Fox News segment about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also had a new mouthpiece in Zeb Colter, a Vietnam vet and tea-party militiaman who directed the brunt of his patriotic fury at undocumented Mexican immigrants who "steal" jobs from hardworking Americans.

It was hard to figure out what to make of this story line, given WWE's not-so-progressive history with Latino and immigration issues and its stereotype-driven treatment of race. As far back as the 1980s, WWF commentators Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan flung racial jeers at Latino wrestlers. Ventura would refer to Tito Santana as "Chico" and call his finishing move the "flying burrito." When Santana was taking a beating in the ring, Ventura would say things like, "I betcha Chico wishes he was back selling tacos in Tijuana right now!" Heenan was no better: "Tito Santana is like a cue ball — the harder you strike him, the more English you get out of him." Even in the modern era, WWE has introduced characters like The Mexicools, three luchadors who rode a "Juan Deere" lawnmower to the ring; and "Los Guerreros," a thugged-out Latino tag team (made up of two experienced and widely admired wrestlers) who drove a lowrider to the ring and proclaimed, "We lie, we cheat, we steal." John Bradshaw Layfield, whose (final) character was a conservative Texas moneyman, played the anti-Latino angle from the opposite side. In one story line, he traveled to the Texas border, found a family of crossers, and literally kicked them back to Mexico. His reward for this act was a match with Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship.1 WWE fans understand that all wrestling characters are drawn in the broadest of strokes, and that the sport tends to be an equal opportunity offender when it comes to racial prejudice, jingoistic xenophobia, and sexual innuendo. But even within that context, Latino wrestlers have had it particularly bad in recent years.

But there is something different about Swagger and Colter. They aren't merely the latest chapter in wrestling's unfinished treatise on Latino stereotyping. When Swagger and Colter created a YouTube channel to promote their rants, their story line found its groove. The first video was an underproduced one-shot monologue set against a wooden fence with a Gadsden flag bobbing in the breeze. It begins with Zeb turning on the camcorder and walking back in front of the camera to start talking. It was an awkward, rambling revelation titled "IMMIGRATION" and lamented the end of the American dream with all the passion of a drunken discourse in a small-town dive bar. Their description of undocumented immigrants as "greedy, selfish, criminal delinquents" is offensive, sure, but it's supposed to be — Swagger and Colter are heels. Throughout its history, pro wrestling has handled the tricky issue of race by painting racist characters as the bad guys they are, while turning minority wrestlers into heroes. This formula made the Junkyard Dog a huge star in the 1980s South. Wrestling fans know that race-baiting is part of the show. Offensive as it may be, it's part of the tapestry of sexism and homophobia and violence that takes a hundred offensive threads and sews them up into a ramshackle, modern Iliad.

People who aren't wrestling fans, on the other hand, aren't in on the joke. This is clearly the case with the tea party movement, which Swagger and Colter both portray and lampoon. With so many excitable conservative commentators (and so many on-air hours to kill), it seemed inevitable that WWE would succeed in provoking the tea party.

First up was syndicated radio host Alex Jones, who took to the airwaves on February 19 to complain that the Swagger character was an attempt to demonize the tea party by mainstream Republicans Vince and Linda McMahon. In subsequent broadcasts, Jones surmised that WWE cast Swagger as a villain because "now there's nothing worse than a white person" in America, and he implied that the departments of Justice and Defense were funding WWE's anti-American agenda. But how, one might ask, could WWE be anti-American when they put on those "Tribute to the Troops" shows? "It doesn't mean 'thank the troops,'" Jones explained. "They thank the police state, they thank the global empire, they thank the New World Order2 to get us ready for troops on the streets." One imagines WWE writers listening to this, smirking, and scribbling feverishly.

Next, the conservative blogosphere jumped to attention. Michelle Malkin snarked that the story line was "ripped straight from yesterday's headlines"3 and Breitbart.com wrote "It's hard to imagine a bigger PR blunder. Expect a mea culpa any minute now." Before long, Glenn Beck was in the mix. Beck, a blustery, conspiratorial shape-shifter with a penchant for showmanship that rivals McMahon's,4 was a near-perfect target for WWE. Beck started by addressing Linda McMahon, who twice ran for a Connecticut Senate seat, nominally as a tea party candidate: "Linda McMahon, I'm sorry you didn't win. … Now we know how she really feels." As Beck dissected the first Colter promo, he accused WWE of caricaturing its own fan base. When one of Beck's sidekicks pointed out that wrestling has always had over-the-top villains like The Iron Sheik, Beck said, "The problem is that a bunch of sheiks were not watching WWE. You're making a villain out of 80 percent of your audience who are tired of being miscast." But it's Beck's bias that shows through. Wrestling fans aren't a bunch of hillbillies. As Marc Ambinder put it: "Wrestling might not seem 'progressive' to him, but wrestling fans are young. They're of the Obama generation. They like to be on the right side of history. Actually, if you look at wrestling storylines years back, you'll see how the script matches or tries to catch up with the political zeitgeist."

Overall, however, Beck was less defiant than gloomy. "I can take it from a lot of people," he said, "but I can't take it from the stupid wrestling people." This is the quote that has been most commonly reproduced in news stories and blog posts, but Beck's comment was actually a self-critique of sorts. Look what directly followed it: "I can't take it from the stupid wrestling people, especially since a lot of the people that watch wrestling are not New York elites." Beck wasn't saying "Get off my lawn" or "Get out of my country," but instead "Get away from my audience."

WWE's immediate response was to try to lead Beck into a confrontation. They invited him onto this past Monday's Raw, but Beck tweeted that he was busy "doing anything else," so WWE sent announcer Michael Cole to Beck's production studio to shame Beck for his indifference in a weird cross between Geraldo Rivera and the D-Generation X Invasion of WCW.

The most impactful response to Beck, however, came not from the WWE front office but from Swagger and Colter, who recorded a new wooden-fence oratory. But, this time, after the promo ended, the camera angle changed, and Colter and Swagger were revealed to be standing on a soundstage in front of a green screen. They introduced themselves by their real names and explained in plain, straightforward terms how the pro wrestling enterprise works. Those anti-immigration speeches? Those were just promos, said Zeb — "a scene we record to elicit a positive or negative reaction from our fans." The substance was irrelevant. "We aren't in the political business or the immigration business," he continued, "we are in the entertainment business." After shaming Beck with a litany of audience demographics, Zeb and Swagger launched back into their rant as if nothing had happened. And Monday on Raw, even when Zeb mentioned Beck, he didn't have to break character to do it. That was probably the most revealing thing about the broadcast — of course WWE was going to keep talking about Beck if it meant more mainstream attention, but they didn't need to address his wrestling illiteracy on the air. They didn't need to explain why Zeb and Swagger act the way they do, because everybody knows wrestling is staged. Beck should understand this, too, because as much as anyone, Beck knows what it is to be a performer.


Back in 2010, Beck, speaking about his business, told Forbes that "we're an entertainment company" and that he "could give a flying crap about the political process." Sound familiar? One can only assume that Beck took this message to heart. Being a jackass is easy; playing one convincingly requires talent.

The WWE-Beck feud was so obvious that one wonders why it hadn't already happened. Immediately after Beck lashed out at WWE, rumors began swirling that Beck was in on the act, although his lack of interest in responding to WWE probably rules that out. Unlike WWE, Beck and his ilk may be self-aware in Forbes interviews, but not in their product. WWE's decision to have Zeb and Swagger break character was the most galling thing it could have done, because on some level, even wrestling fans think Beck was right. They think other wrestling fans are idiots who don't know wrestling is fake. That video was a formal acknowledgment by WWE that there's no difference between smart fans and marks anymore. Everybody is in on the joke.

Some things, however, are too real to make it into the story line. On February 19, Swagger was pulled over and arrested in Mississippi for driving under the influence and for marijuana possession. In the past, wrestlers have been suspended and even fired for similar offenses, and there was widespread assumption that the same fate would befall Swagger. But that was not to be this time, not with the attention his character was getting. When TMZ asked about the incident, WWE came back with a rather libertarian response — "Mr. Swagger is responsible for his own personal actions" — and that was that. The great irony of the situation is that for all his disgust at WWE, Glenn Beck probably saved Swagger's career.

Beck is less interested in defending his ideology than he is in defending his turf, which is likely why he refuses to help draw eyes to WWE. But that won't stop WWE from trying to keep using the situation to its advantage, and that's something Beck surely understands.

In 2011, when Donald Trump was using every opportunity to call President Obama a Muslim or a foreign national, Beck tried to express his discomfort. "The last thing the country needs is a showboat," he told Bill O'Reilly. "I would hope we could get serious candidates who could shake things up by not saying provocative things, just by stating the truth of what's going on."

"But then you and I would be off the air," O'Reilly answered, "because we're provocateurs. We do that every day." Somewhere, Vince McMahon must have been nodding his head in approval.

Punk vs Cena has got to be a Top 5 match in RAW history...

That was really something special...

I guarantee that Rock vs Cena at WM won't be as good as that match on RAW...

That's how you kick off Raw.

Guess he'll be dropping the belt soon.

What is the point of having lower tier belt holders lose clean? Two weeks in a row now.

So they've taken the US colors off him to keep all the US heat on Swag and Zeb

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

I'm all in.

If they're sure Ryback can get Mark on his shoulders, I'm in. I'm not cool with Mark losing to that clothesline. Of course, in a perfect world, Mark would just rip him to shreds in every match.

Hope they use the feud to elevate Mark Henry, not Ryback

And why job your IC champion out like that? Whew that whole segment blew.

Also, did The Shield get ahold of the format sheet? Because in their videotaped message from "earlier today," they seemed to know an awful lot about what was going to happen with The Undertaker tonight before it actually happened... unless someone's is going to point out to me that "this was mentioned on Smackdown," which I find hard to believe, seeing as Vickie Guerrero just put the match together tonight. Right?

This detail shit is important...

______________________________________________________________________________
Why, you shole told me, Imaginary Internet Message Board Debate Team Champion

(so far)

No props

No rapping

No "gay" jokes

No corny jokes at all, for that matter

No subliminals for the boys in the back to jerk off to

No bullshit

Let's see if they can keep it up for the next 5 weeks

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Why, you shole told me, Imaginary Internet Message Board Debate Team Champion

it would be his GOAT run.

I'd love nothing more than for this to happen.

In fact, I'd like the finish to be the same.

I think folks would boo the hell out of Cena...especially a psycho scared to lose his title Cena. Ahhh yes...that could work so well.

But that means they'd need a replacement top face and I don't think they have one of those. And Punk is such a great heel that I'm not ready to see him flip back to the other side.

I just hope Cena wins after being 'hurt' in some way only to have Ziggler come out, cash in his MIB, and beat him for the title. It would be insane. But I don't think WWE has the sack to do that. And the heel winning at the end of a major show era might be over.

Jimaveli

>And the heel winning at the end of a major show
>era might be over.
>
>Jimaveli

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Why, you shole told me, Imaginary Internet Message Board Debate Team Champion

Yeah, I had to look it up to remember that one. Then I saw it was the Rock screwing Cena out of a match as retaliation ending more than it was the heel winning the main.

I'm talking a STRONG heel win to end a Mania. Like Stone Cold going batshit to beat the Rock at Mania type stuff. Or at least a case where the heel going over is the story. For that one, the Rock getting at Cena was the story. And they've been WM opponents in the 2 years since. Miz meanwhile...well...

Jimaveli

>I just hope Cena wins after being 'hurt' in some way only to
>have Ziggler come out, cash in his MIB, and beat him for the
>title. It would be insane. But I don't think WWE has the sack
>to do that. And the heel winning at the end of a major show
>era might be over.
>

He's way old and still sounds like butter.

When my fiancee and I started dating, we went to dinner at a restaurant in Sarasota, Florida where Mean Gene happened to be dining with his significant other and a couple of friends. My eyes went wide as I walked in, and I could see the, "Oh shit, I'm spotted." look in his eyes. I didn't bother him at all, but it was a trip sitting four feet away from Mean Gene hearing him talk about regular stuff in that voice.

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Why, you shole told me, Imaginary Internet Message Board Debate Team Champion

Oh CM Punk, don't ever change.

this level of assholia hasn't been seen since '98-99 Jericho

DId he always do that?

Since Cena exposed him for writing talking points on his hand last year

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Why, you shole told me, Imaginary Internet Message Board Debate Team Champion

let vince get his big buyrate (wwe missed big on earnings last quarter...and revenue is down 24% YoY)....then put the belt on someone who actually works every show....eh, like cena.

Rock/Cena blew away everything on this show. I almost felt like they used their best stuff for this week, and there's still four shows left. Something like that should have been left for the go-home show the Monday before WrestleMania.

HHH had a solid promo, but it's nothing without Brock being there, or at least Heyman to play off of. And the rest of that was a waste of time. They could have found a better way to lead up to Taker/Punk than doing the same old 4-way setup they've done 1000 times. Fandango with the no-show gimmick is tired and lame. I hope when he finally does wrestle he can impress, or he'll be a jobber quick.

Swagger just laying out Duggan, Slaughter, and Rhodes was horrible. You're talking about three guys that used the American gimmick, and could have verbally went toe-to-toe with Dutch Mantell and they did nothing with it whatsoever. It was a waste of time for them to even be there, and Swagger is losing whatever steam he had coming out of the Elimination Chamber fast.

And what can we say about Ziggler? He must constantly piss people off backstage, whether it's Vince or the Levesques. Ever since he beat Cena at TLC they have completely cooled him off. At this point he'll be in another tag team match at WrestleMania instead of doing something worthwhile. For the last month he's been jobbing on every show, and it's no wonder he voiced frustration about it over the weekend to a local Cleveland tv sports reporter. Last night he jobs to The Miz for absolutely no reason whatsoever. And why waste Flair by aligning him with The Miz? If anything Flair was in the wrong corner, as Miz is going nowhere fast, and Ziggler has the potential, and could get a boost by being with a heel Flair. How they've buried him on and off in the past year and a half is criminal, as I thought they should have put the title on him at last year's WrestleMania in what would have been an epic match between him and Daniel Bryan instead of Sheamus.

There was some good (Cena/Rock was awesome, HHH's promo, Ryback/Henry staredown) but was some stuff they could have done better and some stuff that was just plain horrible. And this show felt really rushed; how can you have so many short and rushed segments when you have a three-hour show? It was a clusterfuck tonight.
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>Swagger just laying out Duggan, Slaughter, and Rhodes was
>horrible. You're talking about three guys that used the
>American gimmick, and could have verbally went toe-to-toe with
>Dutch Mantell and they did nothing with it whatsoever. It was
>a waste of time for them to even be there, and Swagger is
>losing whatever steam he had coming out of the Elimination
>Chamber fast.

zeb and wack swagger can only cut so many uncontested youtube vids before the audience is not gonna care either way. the creative team coulda had the three legends cut an ultra-babyface promo preaching about a more "tolerant america" or something. THEN have swaggs work them over and get his heat.

Much as he loves some black women, too? Where people think Cody got it from? *LOL*
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Before I get into this...Layla...*Kay Slay adlib of your choice*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IZGVGuzyRE

Oh...and I think Punk might seriously beat Taker.

>Rock/Cena blew away everything on this show. I almost felt
>like they used their best stuff for this week, and there's
>still four shows left. Something like that should have been
>left for the go-home show the Monday before WrestleMania.

Nah...they need the doubt to come into play now, because everything is set up too well for the Cena redemption win right now. Aka we all think/know he's winning. And he probably is. But they HAVE to sell the doubt moreso than the match at this point or we'll all just wait around for the 3rd AA during the match and count along to 3 when it happens.

>HHH had a solid promo, but it's nothing without Brock being
>there, or at least Heyman to play off of. And the rest of that
>was a waste of time. They could have found a better way to
>lead up to Taker/Punk than doing the same old 4-way setup
>they've done 1000 times. Fandango with the no-show gimmick is
>tired and lame. I hope when he finally does wrestle he can
>impress, or he'll be a jobber quick.

Haitch/Brock...it'll be 'physical', and there'll be 3 or so 'I'm trying to hurt you for real here' type spots, but there's no good end-game. So I guess Brock damn near kills Haitch for the win and then goes away again?

I fall for the Freebird stall job ALMOST every time. "I won't wrestle cuz you won't say my name properly" = hilarity to me. Faaaaandaaaaangooooo at least looks like he MIGHT be able to wrestle. I have no idea who he is though.

>Swagger just laying out Duggan, Slaughter, and Rhodes was
>horrible. You're talking about three guys that used the
>American gimmick, and could have verbally went toe-to-toe with
>Dutch Mantell and they did nothing with it whatsoever. It was
>a waste of time for them to even be there, and Swagger is
>losing whatever steam he had coming out of the Elimination
>Chamber fast.

I get what they see in Swagger. He's tall. He's kinda big. He can do randomly decent moves. But they seem to be missing out on the fact that this era has too many guys who can go in the ring to be wasting time on anyone who can't unless something else is there. And I just don't see Swagger as being able to go just yet, so no angle he gets is going to interest me enough to make up for the fact that he can't go, he has no moves in his list that are impressive to see, and...yeah...that's about it from what I see.

>
>And what can we say about Ziggler? He must constantly piss
>people off backstage, whether it's Vince or the Levesques.
>Ever since he beat Cena at TLC they have completely cooled him
>off. At this point he'll be in another tag team match at
>WrestleMania instead of doing something worthwhile. For the
>last month he's been jobbing on every show, and it's no wonder
>he voiced frustration about it over the weekend to a local
>Cleveland tv sports reporter. Last night he jobs to The Miz
>for absolutely no reason whatsoever. And why waste Flair by
>aligning him with The Miz? If anything Flair was in the wrong
>corner, as Miz is going nowhere fast, and Ziggler has the
>potential, and could get a boost by being with a heel Flair.
>How they've buried him on and off in the past year and a half
>is criminal, as I thought they should have put the title on
>him at last year's WrestleMania in what would have been an
>epic match between him and Daniel Bryan instead of Sheamus.

I'm lost too. Ziggler has buff Koko B. Ware and 'still hot as shit' AJ with him. He sells like his name should be Perfect HBK. And he can make just about any match with decent company well worth watching. Yeah...he must've grazed Steph's titty at a holiday party or something. That's all I have. Otherwise, this guy should be in main events doing atheltically jackass stuff and having absurd matches with everyone. I'm not in love with him punking ADR for his title. I'm hung up on him doing something crazier than that.

>There was some good (Cena/Rock was awesome, HHH's promo,
>Ryback/Henry staredown) but was some stuff they could have
>done better and some stuff that was just plain horrible. And
>this show felt really rushed; how can you have so many short
>and rushed segments when you have a three-hour show? It was a
>clusterfuck tonight.

DVR makes every show so different than before for me. I eventually fast-forward through anything undesirable and roll with everything else. I start watching during the 2nd hour or so I can easily ff any lameness I see.

The key now is Rock being able to go in the ring by April. Cena's winning, but I want something like a heel turn...it doesn't have to be Austin WM 17 style but it would be nice to have psycho Cena doing 'I'm strong' moves to folks into tables, off of ramps, etc.

Jimaveli

WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of William Moody, aka Paul Bearer. Moody made his WWE debut in 1991 as the manager of The Undertaker and went on to become a memorable part of WWE over the course of the next 20 years.

Our deepest condolences go out to Moody’s family, friends and fans.


"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

.

Now I'm feeling old. One of my childhood favorites. I remember him as Percy Pringle when he was in World Class. Paul Bearer was so great.

Could someone tell me when the New Age Outlaws came back?! I'm so far removed from wrestling as of late, I need to catch up! I do know that my boy, The Rock is the champ :)

RIP Paul Bearer :(

>Could someone tell me when the New Age Outlaws came back?!

I wouldn't be shocked if they were given some air time in the next few weeks given how well they worked last night (relatively speaking), but that was a one time gig.

>I'm so far removed from wrestling as of late, I need to catch
>up! I do know that my boy, The Rock is the champ :)

Rock as champ is there solely to bridge Royal Rumble to Wrestlemania and generate buzz, RAW ratings and PPV buy rates during that time. Most importantly, he's being used in an almost enhancement capacity for Cena and his road to redemption after a pretty terrible year for him.

I like this current run of Rock as champ, even if he's not wrestling outside of his PPV appearances, but don't get too invested in that being long term if you're getting back in the mix.

>RIP Paul Bearer :(

Agreed.

Rhodes Scholars challenge them via twitter or backstage or something after the NAO match this past Raw. Not sure if they are going to fight this week on Raw or what...

Remember when Cody/Sandow broke up as a team?

LOL.

I wouldn't mind a fun old v. new tag match at WM with NAO and Rhodes Scholars. Sandow and Cody deserve to be on the card and they really don't have anything else going on right now.

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

I hope that match does go down at WM though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J5ztNaCIJQ

This has been online since November 2011 and I somehow missed the whole thing. Two pissed off country hicks from Ring of Honor swinging around a truckload of dead chickens like it's nothing. This is the biggest WTF I've ever encountered in wrestling.

Those guys can cut some promos.

I posted a couple on here back then and some guys wanted to crap on them.

Terry Funk ain't wear no mouthpiece:
http://youtu.be/ELOn2amIn_w

Violent people:
http://youtu.be/jUlRekPamp4

Yall Mad?:
http://youtu.be/U0RIAVg8hng

Day 1 (considered the best one they've done):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S9oWIpl7So&feature=share&list=PL0FC6E7571C8BE71F
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They know chicken.

I follow Jay on Twitter, and about 75% his tweets are chicken-related. Funny as shit.

https://twitter.com/jaybriscoe84/status/306790522427686912/photo/1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHtKkrKlghY

Apparently the d&b is there to avoid copyright takedown?

In any case, fantastic match by both, despite the booking. Hopefully this means that Cesaro is going to move past the U.S. Championship and get into a feud with a main eventer sooner or later.

Did Sin Cara win by countout?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_XR7vIFmD4

GREAT finish.

And a gif of the sunset flip power bomb:

http://i.imgur.com/lkgciSc.jpg

Presumably changing his gimmick as well.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2013/0307/560970/el-generico-competes-without-mask-at-nxt-sho/

Didn't see THAT coming *rolls eyes*

Typical Hogan/Bischoff swerve bullshit, although it looks to be a nice-sized crowd in San Antonio for TNA

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Why, you shole told me, Imaginary Internet Message Board Debate Team Champion

the one time I got somewhat invested in TNA...i knew the results...

you can just tell that Bully Ray was the pres...

oh well...guess we gonna see Hogan vs. Bully in no time...probably at the June PPV...i don't know if I can convince myself to go to it...maybe if its cheap...

Tickets will probably be extremely cheap. I'll go out of general curiosity of how subpar TNA really is.

I flicked to TNA on thursday night and Im looking at these dudes outside the ring just shaking my head...

having bully ray as the good guy vs them was at least a little switch up... what a pathetic reveal

when heels are heels. They cheat when it is time. They think they are the best. They are delusional and focused. And they always do the 'what would a jackass do right here' thing. Punk displays his mastery of this at least once weekly.

Jimaveli

.

That's a guy who loves his job.

Well damn! At least I got to see the NAO entrance :)

Brock came in and f@cked up everyone...

I will be watching WM :)

tryin to catch up for WM... that ish is dumb Goldberg >>>>>>>

All it took was a can-you-top-this finisher-off on poor Drew McIntyre.

RIP Drew McIntyre

First, Punk is a fucking artist. Future heels should be taking notes. He, Vince, and the WWE brass, obviously, have really done wonders in elevating him to the Pantheon table.

His matches are routinely the best of the night this side of Ziggler or Bryan****. He's proven he can hold his own with anyone up to and including The Great Run on the mic. His heel persona is absolutely brilliant; he combines the brash arrogance of a modern kid who knows he knows it all with the effortless savvy of any old school icon you can muster. He's the kind of heel who generates the best brand of heat with the simplest gestures.

****Which brings me back to my header. Punk, Bryan, and Ziggler are every bit as good as Eddie, Benoit, and Angle. Not to me, not "in my opinion", I'm stating that as a proclamation of fact. I dare you to disagree. Each is a phenomenal performer with a grade A persona to boot. Truth be told, the only real difference is the reluctance of the brass to give Bryan and Dolph a prolonged presence in the WH/WWE title picture.... so far.

Punk isn't Austin or Dwayne, lets just make that clear. He's Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart; a guy who doesn't exactly push the merch and ratings meter the way Dwayne/Austin/Hogan and to a lesser degree, Cena does, but remains the company's best overall performer.

A Bryan vs Ziggler match is an absolute treat to see on a weekly show, because it's a PPV quality match. The fact that both men are undervalued at the moment is truly a boon to the die hard fan, since it's unlikely we would get a match like that on cable tv if they were both entrenched in the title picture right now. As an aside, Big E is a quality bodyguard even if his finisher gobbles dick. He's shown himself to be an entertaining voice the few times he's had the opportunity to use his voice.

Those three are my MVP players, but beyond them, the WWE really has a wealth of quality talent on their hands.

-Sheamus, no matter how much people decry his corny personality, is as a good a big man as you can ask for. He's not the Hulk Hogan/Diesel type of big man of yesterday, he's an energetic machine with a set of spots and mannerisms that make his matches exciting. We always talk about the great technicians who can carry anyone to a good match, but anybody who is being honest will struggle to find the last bad match Sheamus had.

-Del Rio is an example of the WWE making a terribly rash decision that worked out better than expected. Sure, he's nothing more than a shill toward the Latino community. Yes, he turned on a dime. Somehow they found the perfect voice to use to get him over the right way. On the surface, leveraging "The people" is a cheap way to get him over, but acknowledging his past transgressions and noting his success as a direct result of his change strikes the perfect chord to make him a credible face. Nobody likes Jack Swagger, however while you could argue his ability and effectiveness in pulling off this particular angle, I don't see a valid argument that it hasn't worked wonders in pushing Del Rio further as a credible face. Would the whole thing work better with a greater talent running the Tea Party gimmick? That's an obvious answer with an obvious caveat: Del Rio is a winner in this whole thing, even if Swagger sucks.

-The Shield. All three men show considerable potential. Some say Rollins and Reigns aren't good on the mic, but I disagree; Reigns is solid if unspectacular, and Rollins definitely has chops with room to grow. Neither is bad on the mic, and all three men have proven to be superb performers. There's a bright future to be had here, and I personally guarantee the WWE will bat at least .333 here because one of them is bound to break out. My money is on Ambrose and Rollins both being major players in the next few years, while Reigns is the one I'm on the fence with. He can be Batista or he can be Tyler Reks, and to be it's a tough one to call. I lean toward Batista potential personally.

-Ryback. His limitations are showing, but to me one thing is inarguable to me: He really can be as effective as they want him to be with the proper booking. I'm not a believer that everyone can be a big time player with the proper booking, but I believe Ryback is a guy who is worthwhile in the right scenario. Yes, he gets plenty of flack for being Goldberg Lite. No, he's clearly not ready to run with the ball yet. Yes, he's weaker than advertised. I still maintain that the best and most natural scenario for him would have been a road to Wrestlemania with a "Rocky III" story with Brock Lesnar in the Clubber Lang role. That's a money match that would give him the chance to solidify his stance. Some argue he's not ready to be in the ring with a guy like Brock, but I counter with the Rocky III scenario being the cure all for that. Make sure the WM match is an all out Hossfight that Barry Windham and Arn Anderson would jerk off too, and all would be well. Point being, there's still untapped potential to be had there.

-Rhodes Scholars. Both guys are future, credible WWE/WH champs. Count on it. Sandow in particular will be a big time player for years to come. He may very well be the next Triple H. Their current gimmick is absolute gold, and tonight's promo was a fine example. They have the charisma, the look, and in ring ability to go very, very far, and they will get there.

-Cesaro is essentially Santino with size, an impressive physique, and a startling in ring intensity that will combine to make him a major player in his own right. He's funny, he's entertaining, he's original, and he can work his fucking ass off. Hopefully we'll get to see Claudio vs Tyler Black at some point. Not to mention, Chris Hero is waiting in the wings.

WWE mismanages a lot of these guys. That much is inarguable. I do contend that not all is as it seems though; for instance, I firmly believe they will pull the trigger on a Dolph title run in the near future. I don't perceive him as being buried like the chicken little flock currently permeating the IWC; the desire to see him with the strap is strong and they WILL capitalize on it. Remember Punk's long chase of Morrison for the ECW title? Does anyone remember how riveting it was in that final match? Granted, they didn't drag it out as long as they are with Ziggler, but they definitely let us marinate on it for quite some time before pulling the trigger. When they finally did, it stood as one of the best moments of the last decade on ANY show, PPV's included. I think Dolph will follow a similar pattern.

Still, despite the incompetence of WWE's disjointed booking practices, there's plenty to love about the WWE's current roster. It's not the attitude era, but nothing ever will be. The point is, whether or not the WWE exercises good stewardship with the talent at their fingertips, it doesn't mean the talent isn't there. There might be a list of things to hate about the WWE, but there's certainly a lot to love and look forward to. The ingredients are there, even if the cooks aren't.

Only bit of umbrage I took was in comparing Cesaro to Santino, although I get your point with him.

I'm just holding out hope right now that Cesaro's losing streak is an indication they want to remove the U.S. championship from him in order to push him into a feud with one of the main eventers.

If Tensai tried to deadweight him like he did Ryback, he'd still get neutralized. Plus, that giant swing spot with Miz into the barricade a couple weeks back was phenomenal.

I don't think his strength is even his "strength". Like Bryan, the dude can work with anyone and make everyone look good (points to Sin Cara match from SD last week).

He's too funny and easy-going to ever work as a straight heel. He did comedy heel in ROH and the indies, but comedy heel doesn't really work in WWE, at least not for long. Which is too bad, because this match is fantastic: http://youtu.be/bhxeECwCa7c

I wrote this a few weeks ago for no real reason, other than I'd been youtubing a bunch of Cabana matches and was irritated that he wasn't on my TV on a weekly basis. I'll post it here:

The plan to get Colt Cabana massively over in WWE

Step 1. Early in an episode of Raw, the backstage camera happens upon Colt striding through a corridor and bumping into Kofi Kingston, who greets him warmly. Kofi and Colt are exhanging pleasantries when Kane and Daniel Bryan walk up; Bryan shouts, "yes! Yes! Yes!" and hugs Colt, then introduces him to Kane, who shakes Colt's hand and says something Kane-like. As this is going on, Natalya walks up, squeals, and gives Colt a peck on the cheek. Kofi and Bryan do a "nudge nudge wink wink" thing, then everyone goes their separate ways and Colt resumes striding, now smiling.

After commercial, Michael Cole reveals that Colt will be joining Jerry Lawler and himself on commentary for some portion of the evening, and Colt, already seated, exchanges heartfelt greetings with King, and they make a few harmless jokes at Cole's expense. Cole takes the ribbing good-naturedly, then professional wrestling ensues, and the trio commentate the next two or three matches in as intensely likable fashion as possible.

At the end of these Colt-commentated matches, with at least two matches left on the card, Cole announces Colt has to catch a plane, and thanks for coming, great to have you, and so forth. Colt departs, and the show resumes as normal.

Just before going to the commercial break before the last match, featuring CM Punk and a babyface to be named later, Colt, hurrying backstage with his travel bag, and looking pressed for time, physically bumps into Punk, who is pacing and muttering to himself. Punk at first reacts angrily, but his anger evaporates when he discovers it's Colt. They look each other in the eye, smile, and Punk says, "brother." They embrace.* Cut to commercial.

Colt returns to Raw the following week, this time as a full-time commentator working a three-man booth. He frequently, during commentary, gets King to tell old Memphis war stories and the like, and impresses the smarks with his knowledge of wrestling history. This setup continues for about a month, and during this sequence of shows he grows increasingly critical of Punk's heelish tactics and what seems to be his growing obsession with power. This strains the onscreen relationship between Colt and Punk, as evidenced by Punk glaring at the announcer's table during matches and following more or less the same course he took in his feud with King last year.

This culminates in Punk demanding Colt come to the ring. Colt does, reluctantly, and immediately tries to defuse the situation with his happy-go-lucky persona. Punk will have none of it, and cuts a promo on Colt that claims Colt is only there in WWE because of him, and that he'd still be working crappy indie shows in BFE, Iowa if it weren't for his juice. This goes on for a while, and Colt sells deep sadness and betrayal, until Punk finally demands that Colt "bow down to me." Colt refuses, astonished at Punk's gall. Punk replies, "bow down to me or I will MAKE you bow down." Now Colt changes demeanor: he stands up straight, puffs the chest, no smile, and slowly shakes his head no.

Punk throws a quick right at Colt's head, but in a feat of strength catches the punch and holds it there, still shaking his head. "No, Punk. I will never bow to you." Slowly Punk's knees give, until suddenly Colt releases the fist, turns, and begins to climb back out of the ring. But before he can, Punk comes from behind with something like a neckbreaker, then attempts the Anaconda Vise, but Colt manages to reverse it before it's fully applied, and a quick demonstration of technical wrestling ensues. Just when it looks as though Colt has the battle won, Punk cowardly scoots out of the ring, leaving Colt standing triumphant but troubled. End of show.**

Early in the following Raw Matt Striker locates Punk for a backstage interview. Punk tells Striker that Colt needs to switch the slacks and blazer for his wrestling gear, that he's a coward for staying in the booth, and that if Colt won't bow, Punk will destroy him. This again duplicates the Punk/King feud of last year, except that Colt actually poses a credible in-ring threat.*** Cole and King tiptoe around this subject for the remainder of the show, with Colt (needless to say) quieter and more contemplative than usual.

Conflicting stories that Colt will or will not become an active wrestler are spread on Twitter in the hours after the show. That he is indeed going to wrestle is suggested when he's missing from the commentary booth on the next Raw opening, and is then confirmed 45 minutes into the show with a backstage vignette of Colt tying his headband, already dressed to wrestle.

No official match is announced yet, however, as Cole and King note for the TV audience, and they sell confusion about what's going to happen. But soon Punk comes to the ring and tells a story about a time when, on a long road trip back in the day, he and Colt had their one big blowup, which ended with them grappling in a cow pasture in BFE, Iowa for hours on end, with neither man able to gain an advantage, until they both collapsed from exhaustion. Punk tells the audience that while he and Colt hugged it out and were best buds the next day, that for years that night had been gnawing at him, like unfinished business, a loose end. Tonight, Punk says, they finish that fight: no loose ends. And Colt's music hits.

The match goes only a few minutes before Punk, sensing he'd underestimated his old foe, gets a DQ and skedaddles. This leads to calls for a rematch at the next PPV. Which of course is booked, and the match they have is, essentially, a 45-minute greatest-hits package of their old matches in IWA and elsewhere, with Punk eventually victorious but Colt heightened in defeat. This thrills the smarks, of course, but also establishes Colt as the primary force of Good in WWE, displacing the semi-retired John Cena.


*If Paul Heyman is still managing Punk at this point, he should remain just off camera, or silent in the background, until the embrace ends and Colt walks off, smiling, at which point Heyman should give an interesting Heyman-like look to Punk.

**If The Shield are still vaguely attached to Punk at this point, this is an appropriate time for a beatdown.

***No offense, King.

I'm really just looking at the particularly offbeat brand of humor they both utilize. They both play up their status as foreigners to humorous effect; they each come across, personality wise, as a personable hot dog vendor from New York. The kind of guy who cracks jokes and hands out baloons to the kids.

Santino is the guy that simply won't take shit from people. He'll stand up for himself and fight if need be. He'll fight just enough to protect himself.

Cesaro, on the other hand, is the guy that will snap and kick the living shit out of you for a minor offense, fuck your wife in the face, tell her to spit on you after he busted in her mouth, and let you keep the hot dog, free of charge while telling you to have a nice day.

So while there is a common element to their persona, it's very much a low common denominator. The differences between the two are massive in the end, but to me they're like alternate reality versions of each other. Either that or brothers where one was breast fed until he was wife and raised as a complete mommas boy, and the other was raised by his father who just got out of a Russian prison and spiked his kids juice box with HGH.

I know that was colorful and long winded. It's kind of an intriguiging way to look at them though, because I'd personally write them as tag team champs for a solid year under that premise before Cesaro grewtired of carrying Santino, beat the piss out of him, loses at a B ppv, and then sets his sights on Cena for his main event turn. It would be comedic gold, the matches would be fantastic, and it's a fresh take on the 'odd couple' premise they've used time and again. With these two, the parts would actually be a natural, believable fit. That duo would merchandise well during their tenure and be easy fan favorites.

>
>-Sheamus, no matter how much people decry his corny
>personality, is as a good a big man as you can ask for. He's
>not the Hulk Hogan/Diesel type of big man of yesterday, he's
>an energetic machine with a set of spots and mannerisms that
>make his matches exciting. We always talk about the great
>technicians who can carry anyone to a good match, but anybody
>who is being honest will struggle to find the last bad match
>Sheamus had.
>

definitely don't love his persona, but i was watching his match thinking the same thing: I can't remember the last bad match I saw him have. I'm always entertained when he's in the ring.

How purposely over the top he acts, knowing he's a lot more believable an actor than the average superstar, yet brings it down to their level just for the sake of knowing he's at a point where he doesn't give a fuck and can do whatever he wants?

For example, last night's segment with Vickie and Brad Mad-dox when Vickie puts him in a match with Kane.

Which laws will determine the winners at WrestleMania 29?

(click the link for footnotes)

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9049089/the-unwritten-wwe-rulebook-which-laws-determine-winners-wrestlemania-29

On Feb. 25, John Cena and CM Punk squared off in a match that would determine WWE champion the Rock's WrestleMania opponent. Punk had previously lost the WWE championship to Rocky at The Royal Rumble, while Cena won the night's namesake match and solidified his spot in the Mania main event. Punk then lost in his rematch at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view the next month. That should have settled things; despite interference from Vince McMahon (on the Rock's behalf) and the Shield (on Punk's), there weren't sufficient grounds for a rematch, and so, according to the rules of WWE story lines, Punk's time atop the card seemed to have run out. Rock and Cena would have a rematch of their "Once in a Lifetime"1 bout from last year's Mania and Punk would shuffle on to something else.

In all sports, there are codified rules and unwritten rules. There are rules that govern contractual stipulations and the legality of moves. But in pro wrestling, those rules are mostly for show. The rules that matter are the ones that govern the codes and customs of wrestling's longstanding unreality. These laws are formed by both tradition and fan expectation. Case in point: The Law of the Free-Per-View states that in any period in which there are five or more weeks between WWE pay-per-view events, there shall be an episode of Raw that shall serve as an interregnum in which major events are hyped and pay-per-view-caliber matches are given away for free. And so the night after his loss at Elimination Chamber — with a major episode of Raw in the offing — Punk was thrust back into the headline narrative. He challenged Cena to a match for the WrestleMania spot, and Cena accepted. It didn't take a genius to see where this was headed. When Cena and Punk fought on Feb. 25, a draw felt inevitable. Call it the Law of Threes: If the no. 1 contender is up for grabs in the weeks before a PPV, then the eventual title match will be a multi-party affair with all petitioners involved. The Punk-Cena match was a minor masterpiece. The high point saw Cena use a rare Hurricanrana, while Punk unleashed a (real-life) illegal piledriver.2 Everything seemed to be heading directly toward a three-way match at Mania, but then, surprisingly, Cena won.3 Instead of conforming to fans' expectations, WWE was treading water — they were teasing a three-way match because they knew what expectations that match would bring. To borrow a notion from legendary promoter Bill Watts, the rules of wrestling are important for fulfilling expectations, but they're just as important because of the way breaking them affects audiences. Or, you know, maybe WWE was just deferring to the Law of Cena: When in doubt, Cena wins.

WrestleMania 29 will feature the Rock-Cena Super Posedown Part Deux, and Punk has been shunted off to face the Undertaker, which I would describe in detail except there's not much to explain. There was a four-way match to determine Taker's opponent (between Punk, Big Show, Randy Orton, and Sheamus), but nobody doubted for a second that Punk would win and take the spot. The Undertaker is riding a 20-match win streak at WrestleMania, and if his legend wasn't sufficient to earn him the most significant opponent available, the immutability of his win streak demands a high-caliber opponent like Punk who can keep the outcome of the match at least a little doubtful. It's the Law of Streak Legitimacy: The Undertaker's WrestleMania opponent shall be the highest-profile wrestler not encumbered by another feud. The past two years, Taker has fought Triple H, and before that it was two years of Shawn Michaels — two guys with whom he had great matches, but whose chief attribute was the expectation that if anybody could beat Taker, it would be a guy with just as big a WWE legend (Michaels) or a guy who is married to the boss's daughter (Triple H).

For his part, Triple H has recently returned to TV after a several-month hibernation at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. He's back in denim and leather for the Mania run-up, and he has reignited his feud with Brock Lesnar, the NCAA champion turned WWE wrestler turned MMA fighter turned diverticulitis sufferer turned WWE wrestler who was last seen "breaking" Vince McMahon's hip. Before that, he was "breaking" Triple H's arm — twice.

The top three matches at WrestleMania, in case you need help with the math, feature four part-time wrestlers. In theory, I don't object to this — it's great for hype and great for the ever-nostalgic wrestling fans who love seeing these living legends. But in practice, the appearances from the Rock, Lesnar, Undertaker, and Triple H make Mania feel like it exists on a separate plane from the rest of the year's action. It's like the Heat beating the Thunder in the NBA Finals and then having to face the original Dream Team for the "real" championship. (Which sounds awesome. How has Simmons not already suggested this?) Except unlike basketball players, wrestlers don't get old; they just get leathery. Nobody lowballs Undertaker's chances on account of his age, nor is the Rock's skill dimmed on account of his years away from the ring (and the awkward incompatibility of his Michelin Man muscles). Call it the Law of Popularity: In-ring ability equals hype times salary.

That law doesn't necessarily spell out victory, however. With the Rock and Lesnar hanging around on vague, minimal-appearance contracts, Triple H always looming in the corner office, and Cena and Punk ensconced on a level above all of their cohorts, these guys will probably be running a round robin of superstar squabbles at big PPV shows for the next several years. Furthermore, in pro wrestling, some laws trump all else, and the outcomes of many big matches, no matter how evenhanded the pre-match hype, are so obvious that the matches barely need to happen. But they do, of course, which brings us to the First Law of Pro Wrestling: Good eventually triumphs over evil (unless outside forces intervene, or the time limit expires, or a judicial authority determines good didn't actually win, or evil is just too popular to depose at some particular moment). In certain companies in certain eras — like Sammartino's WWWF run or Hulk Hogan's era of WWF dominance — good wins on a quarterly or monthly basis. In others — like Ric Flair in the NWA — evil is so entrenched that the story becomes the ongoing quest for comeuppance. Even with Flair, the First Law applied. Good would eventually triumph, even if it was in moral victories that didn't end with the title changing hands — because if not, then why even watch?

The second law of wresting is Reciprocity: In a series of two matches between equally significant wrestlers, whoever loses the first match will win the second match. (Variation: Moral victory substitutes for actual victory.) According to these laws, Triple H is going to beat Lesnar.4 Lesnar beat Trips last year at SummerSlam, and he has rung up such a record of wrongdoing with his various maimings of Triple H, McMahon, Shawn Michaels, and Cena — and, this past Monday, of the New Age Outlaws — that his defeat now seems inevitable.

(Two other lesser laws cancel each other out here. The Law of Persistent Smark Complaint, which states: Triple H, because of his backstage influence, always wins in the end, despite what's best for the company; and the Law of Best Business, which states: Old-timers in general, and Triple H in particular, will lose to a star with greater future moneymaking potential, even if fans would presumably prefer said old-timers to win on the night in question. Of course, the latter may be subsumed by the Law of Dusty Rhodes, which states: Wrestlers with creative control are always blinded by their egos and may not choose to do what's best for the company.)

So can Lesnar win? I think the odds are low, although it's possible that WWE has specific plans for him — like immediately facing Cena for the title — that would necessitate an unconventional win. But that seems unlikely. Lesnar's schedule is such that WWE will probably save his rematch with Cena for another megacard. Moreover, WrestleMania is the perfect stage for a feel-good Triple H victory — especially in the eyes of the WWE deciders, whom Triple H has come to unsubtly represent. According to the Rules, Triple H only loses next month if there are specific plans for him to beat Lesnar in the future, and with two guys as occasionally present as they are — and the story line hinging on leftover animosity from their last match — it seems unlikely that WWE would push Lesnar's comeuppance off for another year. Logic dictates that Triple H wins.

Similarly, the Law of Reciprocity dictates that Cena is going to beat the Rock because the Rock beat him last year. Of course, there are other laws at play here. For example, the Law of Unstoppable Celebrity: In pro wrestling pay-per-views — especially WrestleMania — celebrity competitors don't lose matches.5 Also, the Law of Laying Down on Your Way Out: A wrestler always loses his last big match before leaving a federation.

Losing is part of a wrestler's job description, of course, but losing at the end of a run is a matter of honor. There's a case to be made that the Law of Unstoppable Celebrity could override the Law of Reciprocity, but not coupled with the Law of Laying Down on Your Way Out. The Rock was initially scheduled to appear at WWE's post-Mania pay-per-view, but he was later yanked from local ads before being inserted back in this week. Regardless, it's hard to imagine WWE wasting Cena-Rock III at an off-month PPV, and it's even harder to imagine him defeating Cena and continuing as a champion in self-imposed exile between now and whenever his movie schedule allows him to return. Cena has to win to legitimize his two years of freestyle paeans to the Rock's legend, but also because he represents the victory of the current product over the past (even if today's WWE has lower ratings than it did during Rock's heyday). Logic dictates that Cena will win because he's the WWE, and the WWE always wins in the end.

Which brings us to Undertaker-Punk, which is governed by the Rule of the Streak: The Undertaker doesn't lose at WrestleMania. Ever. Although meta-fans have clamored for the streak to end to a deserving up-and-comer who can coast off the accolade — Dolph Ziggler or Wade Barrett or, in years past, Punk himself — those pleas fall on deaf ears. WWE won't let anybody end the Streak unless it's sure about Undertaker's conqueror, and WWE's never going to be sure about anybody who is small-time enough to substantially gain from the win. Take CM Punk. His two losses to the Rock and his lengthy title reign cement his permanence. Punk will be Punk whether or not he loses to Taker, and, in the tradition of many top-tier villains before him, a loss complained loudly about is as good as a win.

The only possible hole in this argument is the Law of Best Business, if the Undertaker has decided to retire. As the preeminent locker-room leader of the last two decades, he will likely be happy to lose on his way out just to prove that he cared more about the industry than about his legend.6 To my mind, even the Undertaker's legendary streak isn't as invulnerable as it was last year. Even if he loses, Taker still has a 20-0 stretch on his résumé. (Even if Punk boasts that he made Taker 20-1, the collector's edition DVDs will still say "20-0.") But although I think Punk could win, almost nobody else thinks so, so I'll defer to groupthink. Logic dictates that Taker wins because Taker always wins.

Will the good guy win all three main-event matches?7 WWE has long abided by two countervailing rules: the Rule of Sending 'Em Home Happy (At a big show, there must be a feel-good moment at the end) and the Law of Balanced Victories (In no pay-per-view shall either heroes or villains win uniformly across the card).

You can turn it over in your head a thousand times, and it sure looks like Cena, Undertaker, and Triple H are destined to come out on top. But, to borrow a phrase from the Miz, Really? Even in a scripted world, how can you have an event for which everybody knows the ending in advance? Here's one way to crack the code: If the world heavyweight championship match between Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger — which feels like a show-opener at this point — gets bumped to the prime-time section of the card, my guess is that it'll be there because WWE wants to give Swagger (or Dolph Ziggler, cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase) a surprise win and get a heel victory during the main-event portion of the night. If not, bet on one of the main-event bouts breaking the all-heroic, all-obvious monotony. Even if that happens — even if we get a surprise finish — it'll be done precisely because they've made it seem so impossible for that to happen. It'll be a bombshell we all know is coming.

In the end, it won't really matter who wins and loses, because at WrestleMania, the real victor is always WWE. Every year it crams the masses into anther NFL stadium and sets another attendance record; every year it turns the Mania host city into a kayfabe Epcot Center, a wrestling fantasy land of autograph signings and indie shows and overcaffeinated boys in BarbershopWindow.com T-shirts. But as always, the WWE will remind us who's running the show.

At the end of the night, if Undertaker, Cena, and Triple H are left standing, it won't just be because the rules dictated it — it'll be the three scions of WWE set redundantly atop the heap. It's a reminder from the ghosts of WWE past, present, and corporate that the laws we live by are written and executed by WWE.

"Or, you know, maybe WWE was just deferring to the Law of Cena: When in doubt, Cena wins."

http://i.imgur.com/56lILQk.gif

This is a long article that painstakingly illustrates the glaringly obvious.

Masked Man's articles on Grantland have always leaned towards pulling in casual fans instead of catering to the hardcore fans.(like his Deadspin columns).

With this column, I just appreciated his attempt at explaining wrestling's time-honored rules (and their willingness to break them).

It's not necessarily new material, it's just poking fun.

At least, I shouldn't be.

I thought Shield vs Orton/Sheamus/Show was already booked for WM, but per Smackdown apparently not. Ryback instead of Show makes sense for alignment, but now Show doesn't have a match and we're not getting Ryback vs Henry (the only unpredictable match at this point, honestly).

So Henry, Show, Jericho and Dolph don't have matches... although I think we can probably pencil in Dolph for a cash in. Ugh.

(Sidenote: Anyone else down for another thread for the stretch run to Mania? This unwieldy post is 400+ deep now).

Something happens tonight and Ryback ends up challenging Henry instead and Big Show slides in as partner.

That puts Henry and Show in.

Looks like Dolph will be taking on Kane and Bryan with Langston after the last few shows. Probably an opener which allows for him to cash later.

I saw Jericho against someone but can't remember who now.
Miz, Jericho and Barrett three way for the title after last week?




----------
I Love That Dirty Water...Boston Your My Home

I was just surprised by what transpired at SD just because I thought the Shield match was already booked since the Raw after EC.

As for Dolph and Big E vs Hell No... not sure how I feel about that. They were teasing the breakup for a while, and I figured it'd be a great payoff to resolve their feud at WM as a nod to how great they've been together. Or, if they're wrestling together as a tag team, put them in against another legit tag team. It'd be great to get Dolph a match, but I have no desire to see him in a one-off tag match against the tag champions.

Damn, Drew McIntyre died for nothing.

You're right though, it does make more sense to have Ryback fighting The Shield. Show's been a great heel the last few months, not really interested in seeing him turn face just to help full out the card.

Was pretty amped to see Ryback and Henry square off, but w/e. No reason they can't pick it up again the night after Mania.

(I'd welcome a new thread as well)

The build looks like that IMO.

Either Henry and show get added to the 6 man tag match to make it an 8 man, or Henry/Ryback square off with Show stepping to replace Ryback.