The best guy they've developed in NXT as opposed to being mostly developed elsewhere and made a star of sorts elsewhere is either Tyler Breeze or Big E. Where are they at on the cards? This company is completely incapable of creating their own stars, or once they have people that have talent, pushing them to go anywhere. I'd love to watch El Generico/Sami Zayn. I don't watch NXT because I'm not a WWE Network subscriber and I'm not going to give the company any of my money, and the vast majority of people that watch WWE don't either. WWE writers, controlled by Vince, treat NXT as a meaningless minor league sideshow based on what is said on Raw. If you have an issue with that, drive up to Stamford, Connecticut, and take it up with them. So yes, Sami Zayn definitely needs to get out of NXT and put put on the main roster and pushed because Raw is total shit. All they have at the moment is a Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus feud that's not doing much and is not being helped because Hunter and Stephanie think they're the real stars of the show.

[Edited on January 14, 2016 at 11:27 PM. Reason : .]

1/14/2016 11:11:05 PM

Quote :

"I don't watch NXT because I'm not a WWE Network subscriber and I'm not going to give the company any of my money"

Same here. Though I'll probably watch it if it ever gets a TV deal. Only time I go out of my way to watch anything outside of RAW (fuck a Smackdown) are free PPV streams, whenever I'm interested in the event (usually the main ones, sometimes other PPVs).

1/15/2016 8:41:44 AM

NXT is also on Hulu, including the Takeover specials.

I think there's an important distinction to be made between what the office thinks and what the audience thinks. Hardcore fans generally love NXT and many often prefer it to the main roster. Casual fans have no idea that NXT exists, so they don't see call-ups as minor leaguers.

I also don't think that comments made on the air affect audience perception as much as booking and work does. Michael Cole spent months calling Daniel Bryan a geek and a loser, and the audience didn't buy it because they could see his talent. They've tried and tried to nerf Owens and the crowd is still with him because he does stuff in the ring and on the mic that connects. So yes, I think presentation matters in the positive, but outside of some insane punishment booking, even the ideas of the office can't keep a talent out of people's minds.

Breeze has been booked very poorly, but Big E? He's tag team champ, former IC champ, and in the most entertaining segment on any given night. Hell, he's so over he's even in danger of being overexposed because they trot New Day out there on every show and tell them to fill time. New Day is getting a new piece of merch every week. Big E is doing fine.

1/15/2016 4:27:35 PM

Rumble tonight. Who ya got?

1/24/2016 1:27:21 PM

It's 2016 and Hunter is champ.

It's because they don't have any other heels that are over enough to lose to Reigns, but whose fault is that?

1/25/2016 9:16:44 AM

are you kidding me? this is why I stopped watching after Punk bailed that sinking ship

1/25/2016 9:52:13 AM

bring back WCW

1/25/2016 10:05:26 AM

Mania doesn't look very exciting so far

1/25/2016 10:13:21 AM

^^46 year old man books himself to win the world title? Brother, this is WCW.

1/25/2016 11:03:27 AM

Help us Seth Rollins, you're our only hope

1/25/2016 11:03:49 AM

Biggest pops of the night were for Ziggler, Zayn, & Banks. Reigns got booed from the jump. They're gonna have to stop doing big shows in Orlando.

1/25/2016 2:23:02 PM

AJ Styles got a pretty big pop too

1/26/2016 8:36:59 AM

^^^Rollins got to come back with a new finisher though, kind of hurt his momentum when they took it away from him, and I know this was mentioned before but man they were booking him like a total schmuck


anyway watched the first hour last night and main event, I'd say the best match was Owens ziggler of what I saw, aj styles (didn't know he was that small) debut match was meh at first but got better as it went on

1/26/2016 7:26:03 PM

They've given up on Ziggler.

Watched just the Rumble tonight. Highlight of the match was Brock Lesnar. The man can have a 30-minute squash match with the Social Outcasts and I'd still watch.

Triple H's career is made, he's the COO of the company, married to the boss' daughter, he's the top heel that never wrestles and is always in a suit, he even thinks he's the only heel over enough to lose to Roman Reigns at Mania to give him that face push, and yet he still feels the need to win the match clean over up-and-coming babyfaces that could really use it. Sure, Roman Reigns will get his win at Mania, but he sat out half the match just like Miz which was really counterproductive, and then Ambrose who shows a lot more babyface fire than Roman ever has, loses clean again. Now they're going to have a triple threat at Fast Lane where the winner faces Hunter for the title at Mania. Between Lesnar, Ambrose, and Reigns, Reigns is 3rd place to the crowd. For how often Roman Reigns is pushed as the next Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena...why do they book him to fail so often?

The crowd did like A.J. although the post-match commentary I listened to did make frighteningly clear that "uhh...Vince McMahon has a hard-on for big guys...and A.J. Styles is noticeably smaller than Chris Jericho". Hope he can become over and have interesting feuds and doesn't fall into Pointless Midcard Hell within 6 months as so many guys do.

Expected/Suspected Mania card:

Triple H-Roman Reigns for the title
Bray Wyatt-Brock Lesnar
Undertaker vs. ...Braun Strowman???
Kevin Owens vs. either Sami Zayn or A.J. Styles
Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks

[Edited on January 26, 2016 at 10:05 PM. Reason : /]

1/26/2016 9:49:56 PM

I really hope they can give Charlotte & Sasha the 15-18 minute match they deserve on a four hour show.

Did anyone watch the preshow? I watched it before Raw last night and the crowd was going NUTS for Sandow. The entire match was spent chanting for/reacting to Sandow by the entire crowd. His reactions were almost as good as the big ones on the actual Rumble show.

1/27/2016 12:34:21 AM

odds and ends:

-Sami Zayn's last match in NXT will be Mania weekend vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
-Samoa Joe may get called up to the main roster, they're debating it, Finn Balor though will probably be staying in NXT so he can be the face of the brand
-Sheamus is injured with arm tendonitis
-TNA has started giving wrestlers big money contracts guaranteed and what they're doing (or hoping to do) is being a booking agency hiring out the wrestlers to indies and other groups; so the wrestler is guaranteed to make x regardless of how often he works, and TNA is looking to make money on the contracts by hiring out the wrestlers
-Lucha Underground debuted their second season last night on the El Rey Network. Here's a trailer for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOaZ2tbDhis
...And Lucha Underground wrestlers were on ESPN Tuesday. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14656680
-Smackdown tonight is in their 4th week on USA Network, and tonight is the show's 4th straight DQ finish in the main event

[Edited on January 28, 2016 at 5:37 PM. Reason : /]

1/28/2016 5:28:36 PM

now Del Rio is injured, so for the record, the League of Nations is down from 4 men to 1 - Rusev

1/29/2016 9:42:09 PM

Bret Hart has prostate cancer.

2/1/2016 12:20:28 PM

sad day

2/8/2016 1:30:22 PM

GNSP

Daniel Bryan Danielson

2/8/2016 1:51:02 PM

what's Byron Danial doing in the Impact Zone?

2/8/2016 2:41:30 PM

^ they won't let him go anywhere else, he can retire but he's still under contract to them, it's what WWE has been wanting their old guys to do (and why it took forever for Mysterio to get out when they were done using him)

2/8/2016 3:11:03 PM

well they tricked me into tuning into RAW for the first time since Punk quit and they're making this Daniel Brian thing look like a complete work. he's not out first, Steph is playing it for cheap heat. about to turn it back off

2/8/2016 8:06:19 PM

He's dead, Jim

2/9/2016 9:22:12 AM

Bryan/Punk could have been the new Austin/Rock. Sucks that we can't have that now. Makes me remember this moment a little over 2 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ml6S9m9oAM

2/9/2016 9:55:27 AM

Sad part is, I don't think WWE ever knew how to utilize Bryan to his full capability. By the time they seemingly figured it out, it was too late. Not gonna blame it all on one side or the other. Just sucks. Feels like we were all robbed. He was about the only reason I care to watch wrestling nowadays. I'm just not interested in Reigns & Vince's fascination with oversized meatheads who have no charisma.


Give me Ambrose, Cesaro, Rollins, Styles, Wyatt, Ziggler, Owens all day.

[Edited on February 9, 2016 at 10:39 AM. Reason : .]

2/9/2016 10:31:01 AM

Sat in the front row for Punk/Bryan at Over the Limit 2012. It was fantastic, but I would've appreciated it a lot more if I could've seen two & a half years into the future.

2/9/2016 12:26:38 PM

who would have thought 4 years ago that Punk and Bryan would both be gone and HHH would be world champion? aside from the McMahons

2/9/2016 2:32:40 PM

Watching the speech now. He was the most real person in the business I think.

2/9/2016 5:22:11 PM

report out there that Wade Barrett gave notice

2/16/2016 5:30:30 PM

more important report: enzo & cass are debuting at fastlane

2/17/2016 12:43:22 AM

Good night...sweet child

2/17/2016 9:10:02 PM

This is awesome. Joey Ryan proposes to his real-life girlfriend that he's wrestling in the middle of a match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gnkulDND9rE

2/21/2016 10:31:32 AM

[Edited on February 21, 2016 at 2:39 PM. Reason : ]

2/21/2016 2:38:08 PM

LOL

2/21/2016 5:28:18 PM

your WrestleMania main event is officially now Triple H vs. Roman Reigns

the Bray Wyatt vs. Brock Lesnar match has been changed reportedly to Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar

and good luck to anyone that can figure out what they're doing with Undertaker

2/22/2016 6:26:55 PM

SHANE O MAC

2/22/2016 9:27:20 PM

That was a phenomenal beginning and end last night

2/23/2016 1:50:15 PM

Can't believe they are going to go with Reigns winning the title in Dallas. The fans in AT&T stadium are going to reject that shit like you won't believe. I'm talking garbage in the ring, massive booing rejection. And booking Trips to win won't do them any good either. They are going to shove RR down fans' throats come hell or high water. And no DB, Rollins, etc. to save them this time.

My prediction, and perhaps one angle that might possibly work/help...Rollins comes back in Dallas to help RR win the belt, turning face, and effectively reuniting Shield at WM.

[Edited on February 23, 2016 at 1:58 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on February 23, 2016 at 1:58 PM. Reason : ..]

[Edited on February 23, 2016 at 1:59 PM. Reason : ...]

2/23/2016 1:57:13 PM

Shane vs. Undertaker.

Can go two ways:

1.) Can be awesome

2.) Can be complete shit

There's no in-between.

2/23/2016 8:58:13 PM

Shane owns WCW, so he forces Sting to wrestle Taker in his place.

2/23/2016 10:17:34 PM

watching the Shane McMahon angle from last week, the silver hair works best for him, but you can compare him to Vince and tell Vince is heavily using the Rogaine and Just for Men

...and Roman is still a shit backstage promo

[Edited on February 29, 2016 at 11:19 PM. Reason : /]

2/29/2016 11:19:32 PM

Shane vs Undertaker with Stone Cold as guest ref?

3/1/2016 7:09:49 AM

Given 15 minutes, Charlotte v. Becky v. Sasha will be the best match on the show.

3/1/2016 2:22:28 PM

Actual testimony from the Hulk Hogan-Gawker suit today:

Quote :

"In the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker trial today, the story that’s gotten the most mainstream attention is another oddity. This time, it came from a playback of deposition testimony (he wasn’t live on the stand) former Gawker writer and editor A.J. Daulerio, the co-defendant of Gawker Media and founder Nick Denton. Here’s the exchange: Q. So it’s fair to say that whether he suffered emotional distress or not that played no part in your decision about whether and what to publish? A. Correct. Q. Is it your view that any celebrity sex tape is newsworthy? A. No. Q. What sort of celebrity sex tapes would not be newsworthy? A. I couldn't say specifically. Q. Well, can you imagine a situation where a celebrity sex tape would not be newsworthy? SETH BERLIN (Gawker Attorney):: Objection, cails for speculation, but you can answer. A. If they were a child. Q. Under what age? A. Four. Q. No four-year-old sex tapes, okay. [Then continues with a new question.]"

Yesterday, Hogan had to say on stand that Hulk Hogan and Terry Bollea have different penis sizes.

Hogan is a sleazeball as anyone that's watched wrestling for a length of time knows, but Gawker are a bunch of asshats.

[Edited on March 9, 2016 at 8:25 PM. Reason : ;]

3/9/2016 8:24:14 PM

I really, really hope they back off the idea of a multi-person match for the IC title and let Zayn/Owens have a regular match. Couple with the Nakamura match, Zayn could have an incredible WM weekend.

3/9/2016 10:45:48 PM

jericho almost always seems to know what he's doing, he's funny as a face for like three weeks then knows when to switch to heel so he's at his best

3/11/2016 1:49:27 PM

he wasn't funny at all this time, but the turn was done well.

props to wwe for making a shirt for a team that existed for two weeks.

3/12/2016 12:16:48 AM

It's a collector's item now.

3/12/2016 8:37:26 AM

If you'd told me Enzo & Cass would outperform Sami Zayn on a special where Brock had the worst match...

3/13/2016 12:04:08 AM