A lot has been going on in the world of WWE both with storylines and in real-life. I’ll try to sum it up as much as I can so here I go:
It seemed like a year ago, CM Punk took the world of wrestling off of life support by doing the promo of the century. About two months later, it seemed like it all fizzled away like a flat bottle of pop. It seems the same problems that were in WWE two or three years ago, are still here and now, there are even more. Last week, when I am watching Raw 1000, I was excited (for one night) to be a wrestling fan. All of the DX members minus Chyna returned and it made me feel like I was in 1998 all over again. I felt like doing the crotch-chop and saying “Suck It” like friends and I use to do during recess in 7Th grade. Everything was going great until the last few minutes of the show.
Apparently, the writers and management thought it would be a fantastic idea to turn CM Punk heel. Just a year into this “frenzy” that everyone, including myself was into, they decide to pull this. Punk has a DVD coming out soon as well as being on the cover of the new video game, why have that guy be the bad guy? There are so many problems with all of this, that I am afraid I am going to be forgetting a few things after finishing this article. But after this past week’s show, I am convinced that management and the writers are idiots. They are never patient with any talent whatsoever. Instead of giving time for a talent to develop, they pull the plug on potential too early and let the ones with no potential go too long. I just believe that with CM Punk’s character change, it will hurt the company in the long-run. I thought this was unwarranted and it’s not just being selfish as a fan. I just think it is good for business that Punk stayed a face.
In addition to this, another disaster has occurred with Abraham Washington. On Monday night, he was on the mic and said “Titus O’Neil is like Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado. He is unstoppable.” This was just horrible on many different levels. Reports say that action is being taken with him so I am guessing a suspension and/or fine is on the way. Another thing is frustrating me and maybe it’s just me, but the social media garbage that WWE is shoving down our throats every show. Why can’t we fans just watch wrestling without 359 references to social media sites? I understand it’s a different day and age but I do find it annoying and not just wrestling, but other sports as well. It just gives me another reason to not ever have stuff like Facebook or Twitter.
The last thing I am going to mention is the $500 million loss (Yes. That’s the correct estimate.) that Vince McMahon has had on his company. The source is the Stamford Advocate and it said that Vince McMahon has lost that much money in the last two years because of the WWE stock declining from $18.64 per share to $7.86. That’s over a 50% loss. Horrible. You know what has caused this? If you said value of the product, you are correct.
When Jim Ross was in charge of talent in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, some of the best talent I have seen in my lifetime was on display. Even the mid-card guys like Val Venis, D’Lo Brown and others were valuable pieces to an excellent roster. I have stressed many times that the roster split in 2002 messed things up but at the same time, John Laurinitis was taking over soon after. WWE announced that he resigned from his job citing fatigue recently. I can’t say he’s a bad guy but the mis-management of this talent shouldn’t all be shouldered on him. It should also be on the writers for not helping these guys out and letting them reach their full-potential.
Triple H is now the guy in charge of scouting and signing talent. Whether or not he has his own guys to help out is unsure of. I am not really a fan of his but it seems like he is doing some good things with the minor league talent as well as the wrestlers in the Indy leagues. This is a mess that could take years to clean up. I still feel that WWE has a ton of talent that is misused. I won’t go into specific examples but let’s say some to these “young guys” that were suppose to be big stars years ago aren’t young anymore. Just like other sports, every wrestler has a clock on the primes of their careers. You can see a guy like Chris Jericho who is obviously, no longer in his prime but can still wrestle with the best. That being said, he only has a few years left in him.
In conclusion, with this huge loss that McMahon has taken, he needs to quit screwing around with politics and focus on wrestling. I think the idea of the WWE Network sounds great. However, it doesn’t look like he will have the funds to cover for it nor the support of cable/satellite companies. If Vinny Mac is worried about his money, he needs to put a better product on TV. Enough of this garbage. Let the young guys be who they want to be just like he did in the 1990’s when the company was desperate. I feel like it’s time for the young guys to step up. However, it’s hard to do when your bosses are holding you back of doing something great. To be honest, it worries me as a fan and therefore, I think the WWE is in trouble. Again.
Falls Count Anywhere 
August 1, 2012 at 6:20 PM
Well said Fro. My compliments.
The only reason I can come up with for Punks turn is that he’s going to face the Rock at the Rumble, or maybe Survivor Series, and they want the heel vs. face dynamic. STOOOOOOOOOOOPID!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, sometimes Vince thinks it’s still 1978, and you can’t have face vs. face matches…ever. This is not new. Remember Shawn Michaels heel turn on Hogan. Michaels switched back to face the second the match was over. The good news is that the Rumble is still 5 months away, and the fans may make Punk a face by default.
I’ve never seen what WWE saw in Washington. Wasn’t he a part of that abortion ECW that Vince thought was a good idea? He sucked there, and he and his “Prime Time Players” suck on the main roster too. Personally, I hope he gets fired. No loss there if that happens.
There is really no excuse for that stock loss. I’d hate like hell to be around Vince these days. He is one miserable S.O.B. on stuff like that. But he is also to blame for it. Bottom line, the buck stops with him. He IS the boss. I agree that the product is at fault here, but who OK’s it? Vince does.
They have talent, but there is just too much rehashing old gimmicks and storylines. Have you heard the charts of “Goldberg” during every Ryback match? It’s there, believe me. The John Laurinitis stuff with John Cena and CM Punk was crap. Once again, we have the evil heel authority figure feuding with the top babyface. How original. They have no idea what to do with these guys.
Triple H sucks at talent evaluation. Sin Caras internet name is “Botch” Cara. How many times has he come close to crippling himself or someone else in the ring? This may have something to do with WWE and their trainers because I never read one thing about a botched Mystico move. Maybe I missed it, because I never bothered looking up AAA stuff. But I never saw it. Jericho is done after August 14th for a while. He’ll be finishing up commitments and obligations for Fozzy for a some time. I expect some kind of injury angle to write him out of storylines until he returns. And his next return better be a hell of a lot better than his last one!
Don’t expect Linda to drop politics any time soon. I see something a bit more sinister in her running over and over again. Something like she could try to shield WWE talent of steroid allegations. I don’t know why else she would want the damned Senate seat. Despite the $500 million loss, they have more money than they could ever spend. She doesn’t need to work. And I don’t buy into her being “civic minded” or some other garbage like that. Is she just bored or something? I doubt it. Something else is motivating her to run.
August 1, 2012 at 7:05 PM
you guys are right on!!! I have gottent bored with watching RAW and now just view it occassionally – sad since I loved it when I was growing up The product isn’t the same as in the 80’s or even early 90’s.
August 2, 2012 at 10:45 AM
I’m going to start by saying I watched the Olympics instead of RAW (I’m unreasonably intrigued by them, but no matter). RAW is sitting on my TiVo, and I’m not sure I’m going to watch it this week.
Great post, Fro. The Punk turn is odd, but I agree with Chucky that it’s to build to the Rock match. But if they HAVE to do that, I think it could have waited. Punk is the kind of guy that people still like even when he’s a snarky jerk, so why mess with it?
What Washington said is absolutely, completely unacceptable. It’s things like that that people latch onto and say, ‘hey look, wrestling is really trashy.’ Wrestling does not have a good public image, and even one low-card guy can make that a lot worse.
But aside even from that remark, it’s kind of embarrassing to be a wrestling fan right now. And if we’re all honest, we’ve dealt with some bad product, so to be able to embarrass me this much is tough work – at the very least, I am not a proud fan right now. Right now, wrestling is bad. For a while now I’ve rolled my eyes through half an episode of RAW, but got rewarded with a few good matches (Kofi, Ziggler, etc.) and some guys doing dynamite promos (Punk, even Cena at times, etc.). Now there’s a lot more bad than good, and it makes me not want to watch. There are some great guys but they don’t always get to show what they can do. Instead, they push guys like Tensai down our throats (sorry I hate him). (In fact, these are the exact same reasons I stopped watching TNA/Impact Wrestling, but that’s another story.)
I have been keeping a very loose eye on WWE stock. I remember when I first looked it was well over $13, and I’ve been shocked at recent numbers. And I have to agree that the stock is down because the product is bad. The stock market is confusing, but that’s the base of how things should work. Bad product, company is worth less.
Alienating people like us who have watched for a long time, thorough good and not so good, is a problem. The things that redeemed the shows to me are dwindling, and we’re the hardest ones to lose. The “Tout” crap is awful, and they push Twitter too much. I USE social media – they’re gearing towards my generation and a bit younger, probably – and I think they are doing this wrong.
August 2, 2012 at 10:49 AM
I should add, too, that SmackDown has been on my TiVo this entire time, and I haven’t watched in months…that used to be a better show, but now I don’t even want to see what it has turned into…is it as bad as I think it is? Or should I give it a shot?
August 2, 2012 at 12:20 PM
Being the loyal fan I am, I still watch Smackdown constantly. That being said, it’s just like Raw where I tend to not be home until later in the evening so I can save more time by fast forwarding through all the garbage. 15 years ago when I would record wrestling on my VCR for when I wasn’t home, I would watch from start to finish. The times have changed and my attention span for this bad of a product have been reduced.
Tensai use to be cool when I was younger. When he was teaming up with Test and Trish was their manager. He was actually pretty good back then. It’s not always the wrestling that’s the problem with these guys. It’s the character they are told to play.