My Issue with Stephanie McMahon

As if anyone that watches wrestling doesn't have an issue with Stephanie McMahon.  I don't know what she's like behind the scenes.  I think it depends on who you are and your position within the company as to whether you like her or not.  I know that plays a part.  CM Punk has no good things to say about her or her husband, but he left the company on a really sour note and then they did some shitty things to him after that, so no surprise there.  But I've heard others, like Mick Foley, despite the appearance on TV has had really great things to say about her.  I'm sure she's probably grown a little more power hungry as she's gotten older, but if you watch the 24 they did of Wrestlemania last year, she was one of the first people backstage to congratulate Shane and to give him a hug.  So, I'm not sure what she's like backstage.

I'm going to talk about the Stephanie McMahon character.  In the past, she was the whiney, spoiled daughter of Vince who did what she could to protect her husband and her own title, which she held for far too long.  She played up the spoiled princess and was prone to slapping people, even her own mother, when the occasion called for it.  But her mother slapped her back the night Linda McMahon announced that Stone Cold Steve Austin would be in the Rock's corner at Backlash to sort of even things out.  I didn't hate her as much back then because I knew, at some point, someone was going to get their hands on her, whether it was her mother, a stunner from Austin, or beer poured on her by Austin, she usually got her comeuppance, which is what you want to happen to a villain.

But this is the issue now:  she never gets hers.

Last year, Wrestlemania, she inadvertently took a spear, which was the only time during that entire match that Roman Reigns got cheered.  But if you look at the last few weeks, the problem I have with all of this is that, yes, HHH will eventually get his from Seth Rollins.  However, Stephanie spent the majority of last night sticking it to people and there is no satisfactory resolution for her.  Is Bayley going to fight Stephanie?  Why does she even deserve to step in the ring with Bayley who really is a great Wrestler?  Or Sasha?  Again, she's the daughter of the owner so they can do what they want, but none of those are really...what I mean is, look at all the people she shit all over in the last few weeks. There are no repercussions.  Meanwhile, on Smackdown, Shane takes AJ's side and thinks he deserves the title shot against Bray Wyatt and Wrestlemania and AJ Styles blames it on Shane and assaults him.  Shane puts his body and reputation on the line over and over again, and yet Stephanie can't even take a verbal tongue lashing without slapping someone across the face.

Remember when Randy Orton was in his phase of like tormenting HHH?  Remember when he RKO'd Stephanie.  I mean, I don't want her beaten up all the time, but there has to be some sort of repercussion for what she does.  And there isn't.  She's just allowed to be a heinous bitch and there is no one around to put her in her place (except when Shane is opposite her on screen).  All of this is leading to, I really hate the character and I hate it more that she never gets what she deserves.  Gone are the days of the villain paying for their sins.  Now they just get to torment the beloved talent and it's all fine because they're in charge and they decide what's best for business.

Sometimes, as Vince showed us over and over again in his feud with Stone Cold, what's best for business is the boss to have their ass handed to them.

Royal Rumble 2017

There are some really mixed reactions out there about the Royal Rumble, so I thought I would throw my hat into the proverbial ring.

First, the matches before THE match were all fairly decent.  The women's matches, aside from Naomi getting the win over Alexa Bliss I found to be sort of lackluster.  They were all pretty short, too. Maybe it's just because there was a stacked card or whatever, but even the title match felt short.  The Cruiserweight match felt a bit underwhelming, but putting the title on Neville is a good move.  He should have been champ from the beginning and not including him felt a bit silly.  But whatever, the title is where it belongs now, so I'm good with it.  Neville has been straight fire lately with his promos and aggressiveness in the ring.  Who knew that Neville had that sort of ruthlessness in him?

The Roman/Owens match was great.  So many spots that made me wince and wonder how people could actually do those things to their bodies and move afterwards.  You knew that Jericho wasn't going to be a non-factor.  If you were going to have that match end with Strowman, why introduce the brass knuckles?  Also, why Strowman?  I don't want to see Roman vs. Stroman.  Ugh.  Is Roman going to be the one to get the pin?  Otherwise, why do this?  I can't see you feeding Roman to Braun, but why let Roman beat Braun?  What sort of storytelling is that?

No Seth Rollins?  None?  Just a replay of what he did the night before?  I'll admit that what they did on NXT was great, but there was no payoff or set up on the Rumble and there should have been.  And tonight we'll have to sit and watch Stephanie emasculate him?  I only hope he calls her out like Jericho used to do.  He'd probably get fired...but hell, send him to Smackdown.  He'd fucking thrive there.

AJ/Cena was a great match.  I mean, the best of the night, in my opinion.  Those two guys have such amazing chemistry.  I was bummed that AJ lost (because wouldn't it be awesome to have one guy in all of WWE that Cena truly couldn't beat?).  So, now we have to see Cena with the belt.  And potentially Randy Orton vs. Cena.  WHY!?  Cena has to drop that belt at the next PPV otherwise people will shit all over WM.  Orton and Cena isn't going to sell tickets.  Been there, seen that, don't want the fucking t-shirt.

Then there was the actual Rumble itself.  I'm gonna break it down this way: the good, the bad, the oh my god what just happened?

The Good:
- Tye at #10.  It was expected but it was awesome to actually hear "TEN" play over the speakers.  And the people in the arena just leapt to their feet.
- Jericho rolling out of the ring as soon as Strowman entered was great strategy.  Why stand there and get your ass kicked.
- Baron Corbin eliminated Stowman.
- All three members of New Day being eliminated at the same time
- Brock killed everyone and threw people out left and right.
- Goldberg eliminated Brock right away, setting up a match further down the line between the two, again.  Brock has to get his win back, eventually, and this is just building it into a more heated match.
- The face off between Taker and Goldberg and GB's elimination at the hands of Taker was great.
- Sami Zayn was in there a freaking long time!
- Ellsworth was killed by Braun Stroman after Ambrose tricked him.
- Luke Harper turning on Bray
- Roman eliminated Taker (admittedly I was pissed because I had #29 in the solomonster pool.  However, the stare down between Taker and Roman was great.  I liked it.  No complaints there.

The Bad:
- It felt like we went through a very long period of time where we didn't have an elimination.  I understand that they were building up the people in the ring so they could be tossed out by one of the big men, but still.  It kind of dragged.
- I don't like Strowman and I just don't give a shit about him and I'm ready for him to be off my TV.
- There were no real surprises, except #30.  I think everyone was shocked by that one.

Oh my God, what just happened?
- Roman entered at #30.  He had just lost a match against KO after Strowman interfered.  So, you throw him in at 30?  You could feel the disgust and seething of the people in the arena at the moment his music played.
- Randy Orton wins the Rumble.  And I think this is where #30 can be explained.  It had been released earlier in the week that Orton was the one to win the Rumble.  I thought, when I heard, that they were going to have their PPV hijacked once again by fans rejecting the winner.  I mean, who would have thought that Randy Orton, who has been out of the main title picture for a while, now, would be the one to win one of the biggest matches of the entire year.  However, if you have it come down to Roman vs. Randy, and giving the hatred of the WWE Universe for Roman Reigns (which I just don't fucking understand - I'll elaborate in a minute) putting Roman at #30 guaranteed that Orton wouldn't be booed out of the building.  When he eliminated Roman, people jumped to their feet because, as Bray Wyatt said, "Anyone but you, Roman".  Wylie Coyote could have been in that match and if he was up against Roman, people would have cheered.

Last thoughts:
I truly don't understand the vehement hatred for Roman Reigns.  I really don't.  The guy works his ass off, turns in some great matches (and you can say it's because he has had some great opponents, but it takes two to tango), and is basically doing what he's told to do.  As a comparison, imagine that your job is a spectator sport and your boss told you to go make some copies and you were booed for doing what your boss told you to do.  In reality, I get that people are booing their displeasure of the situation as much as they are the wrestler, but this guy is doing his damn job, and doing it well, and people are rejecting him after all this time.  Who could Roman face that they would actually cheer him?  Does he have to do a heel turn?  He goes heel and then he gets cheers?  And I know that's what would happen.  If he did a full turn and went heel, he would be popular as fuck.  I feel bad for the guy, is what I'm saying.  He's getting a bum wrap because the boss in the back sees him as a face for the company.  And why shouldn't he?  He's good looking, he looks the part of what a 'wrestler' looks like to the outside world, he's articulate when he's allowed to speak for himself, and he's part of a dynasty of wrestling.  This guy has worked his ass off to get where he is (go back and watch the episode of Unfiltered that he did and you'll find out that he was a heavy dude before he started training to become a wrestler - well over 300lbs), he's had great matches, he knows how to tell a compelling story, and the guy is a good, if not great, wrestler.  I just don't understand the hatred.

And don't get me wrong.  My favorite is Dean Ambrose as I think everything he does is exception, whether it's comedy or cutting a heated promo on John Cena where he tells him he's a part timer (because as Daniel Bryan pointed out on Talking Smack, Ambrose has wrestled more matches than anyone in that company over the last year).  He's the workhorse of the WWE and he delivers.  But I'm a fan of Roman, so maybe I'm just blind to what everyone hates.  I dunno.

I enjoyed the Royal Rumble.  I could lie and pretend like I didn't so I could fit in and be cool, but the Rumble match is my favorite and I've hardly ever seen one I didn't like.  There were some things I found to be off, but it was fun to watch.  If you were disappointed that someone you liked wasn't in the match, then that's on you, not WWE.  You built up that expectation in your mind.  WWE made no promises about all the people in the match.  There were some guaranteed entries, but it's always up in the air.  So, yeah.  I'm done.

Thoughts on Rollins vs. Roman (& Eventually Ambrose)

As I sit down to write this piece, I want to say that I am a fan of all the former members of the Shield.  I even like Roman.  Yes, some of the reason is because he's pretty.  But I just want to point out that I'm all for this feud lasting a long time.  There is something special about Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose.  The chemistry with the three of them was electric.  Even when they were heels, they were the best heels.  You hated to hear their music.  You knew that shit was going to get bad and it was going to get bad very, very fast.  And when they were the good guys, they were the Hounds of Justice.  These three guys had great chemistry in and out of the ring.  And while their careers have all take different paths (Roman straight to the top, Rollins straight to the top, and Ambrose with some peeks at the top and then valleys, peaks and valleys- his trajectory is all over the place) they're still, I feel, your top three stars in the company with the exception of John Cena.

But since we're heading into Money in the Bank with Reigns vs. Rollins, I thought I would break down why I'm so looking forward to this match/series of matches, and the eventual addition of Ambrose.  The truth is, I don't think this feud really reaches its peak until Ambrose is involved and we get the triple threat we all want.  I feel like that's going to happen at Wrestlemania.  They'll give us a taste of what to expect in the long run, but I think you'll see Roman retain and hopefully, we can see a match with Rollins and Styles, maybe Dean wins Money in the Bank...the possibilities are really endless.

So, let's talk about the face aspect of both Reigns and Rollins.  Reigns works as a face for outside the WWE.  Look at him.  He's a beautiful, strong, Samoan man, "related to the Rock", and mostly unobjectionable.  No big scandals involving him, nothing to make people from the outside question the direction of WWE.  He has a hard hitting style, he's strong, and most importantly, you don't see others getting hurt by him in their matches.  The stuff that happens in his matches, tables and barricades, could cause someone to get seriously hurt.  However, you haven't heard of anyone getting hurt in the ring with Roman.  He's easily marketable to kids.  He's clearly liked by management and they see the money to be made with him.

Then there is Rollins who's a very different face than Roman.  Seth has a high flying ability that makes watching him dazzling!  He can do things in the ring that make you love watching him perform.  He's stellar on the mic.  He's good looking as well (especially since he got all thick on his time off), and fans generally want to cheer for him.  His return Sunday night proved that.  (although, how much of that was because of Rollins return and the hatred the WWE universe has for Roman remains to be seen).  The fact is that Rollins' style lends itself to being a face.  The fans will make him whatever they want him to be with or without the help of the WWE.  But there is money to be made in a face Rollins.

And as for the heel aspects of both, I'll start with Reigns again.  The fans loathe him.  They just do.  Whether it's real or fabricated by the internet fans, they don't like the push he's been given and they don't like that the WWE did it seemingly against their will.  But Roman would be a different heel than Rollins.  You could make him ultra violent.  And he really doesn't even have to cut a promo to be a bad guy.  Just have him come out and interrupt others while laying them out with a "Superman Punch" and fans will naturally boo him.  He also has the added benefit of having reinforcements if they ever want to really make a Roman Empire stable.  When he shows that vicious side of him, like with HHH and the chair shots the fans went nuts for the Roman that seemed to annihilate someone.  But since, he's been booed out of the building.  Let him be the natural heel that he can be.  Let the fans boo him and you might find that they end up liking him.  I think a heel Roman as champ could be fucking fantastic if they simply take their heads out of their asses.

With Rollins as a heel, he's completely different than Roman.  Roman puts off an air that he doesn't really need help, most times.  However, part of the charm of Rollins as heel was that he was always surrounded by people to help him take care of any problems.  Whether it was J&J, Orton, Kane, Big Show, or even the Authority, but in the end he always managed to win, sometimes in spite of the help he received.  He was pinned, a little too often on Raw in non-title matches, but when it came to the big time, and the chips were down and he had to perform to keep his championship, Rollins came through.

This dynamic is going to be fun to watch.  And I really feel like our Shield triple threat will main event Mania. There is no doubt in my mind that this can be strung along and milked for that amount of time.  Once Ambrose is thrown into the mix, it makes it even more compelling to watch.  He's also willing to align himself with Reigns over Rollins, as Rollins turned on them, but wouldn't hesitate to put Roman into the mat if it meant he could potentially win the title.  And it's never seen as a betrayal by Reigns or by Ambrose.  They know the ambition.  They probably would have understood it from Seth, but he stabbed them in the back to align himself with the Authority.

Now, my hope for Money in the Bank is that Reigns retains, Ambrose wins Money in the Bank, and Rollins ambushes both after their wins.  If you want Rollins to be a different heel than he was before, and he's right people called him weak and afraid and he was, then he needs to stand and fight.  A Rollins that runs in and ruins their matches builds heat.  And Ambrose teasing the possibility of cashing in whenever he wants, and Rollins threatening him, much the way that Ambrose did Rollins, to ruin any opportunity to cash in works.  No one is going to win the title off of Reigns but Rollins.  And it should be made clear.  Maybe Reigns even wins with a low blow or something "heel" like to get him more heat.  Not that he needs it.  At this point, he's a bonfire.  But people naturally want to cheer for Rollins.  You don't have to have a declared face or a declared heel.  Allow this to just come together organically.  The fans will dictate who is what.  Ambrose will, probably, come out of the whole thing the true face as his wacky hijinks and manic style lead towards people loving him.

So, my expectation is that next year we will see the Shield Triple Threat at Mania.  I would love to see the Shield reunite to take on the Club, but people love AJ Styles and Finn Balor, so I'm not sure how that would work.

Raw Recap 4-12-2016 - Start of the Roman Heelpire?

So many things happened in this show, that I'm going to go through them the best I can with only having had one view.

Shane announces that there will be a tag team tournament to see who the new number one contender will be for the New Day to face off against.  Also announced that Sami Zayn would have a match against AJ Styles where if Sami won the match at Payback would be a triple threat.  Then Kevin Owen's music hits.

Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens was stellar.  Both of those guys know how to go on the mic and they both looked strong here.  It didn't make any sense how JBL kept saying that Kevin Owens wasn't ready to fight when Kevin Owens said out of his own mouth that he was ready for his rematch.
I would just like to state that I like the idea of

The Cesaro vs. KO match was amazing.  Man, I've missed Cesaro!  My favorite part of this match, though, was when Owens put on JBL's hat, pointed at him, then gave Cesaro a close line from hell and gave the hat back.  Cesaro gets the win and he's the new #1 contender for the IC belt.  He got an actual win on KO.  What I can't understand is why they put the belt back on Miz?  Why not Ryder?  Why not let him have it for a little while?  But if they put it on Cesaro then I won't complain.  Dude deserves a huge push, especially seeing the reaction to him being back.

New Day cuts a promo about the tag team tournament and then Xavier Woods molests the rope, Big E swivels his hips in a way that makes me deeply uncomfortable for some reason, and Kofi is doing that weird jump clap that he does which doesn't really seem to go with the sex that Xavier and Big E are selling.  Lucha Dragons come out for their match in the first round of the tag team tournament against the Dudley Boys.  The part that sticks out about this is that the New Day basically steal the spotlight of the Lucha Dragons as they are standing ring side doing the "Lucha" chant while Big E wears JBLs hat.  That hat got a lot of action tonight.

Lucha Dragon's are competing against the Dudley Boys, who seem to be calling EVERYONE on their shit, lately.  First it was the ref in the match the other night and now it was the ref for calling the wrong person the legal man.  I'm not sure who the legal man was, and it doesn't matter, since the Dudley's won, Kalisto might be actually hurt, and ENZO AND CAS showed up to again put the Duds in their place.

It was a good back and forth and my favorite part was "The reason I'm here is because my mom and dad got it on.  How you doin?"  Is it just me or does Enzo look like a hyper/surrealistic future version of Howard Walowitz?  Don't know why, that's just what he reminds me of.  The Dudleys are a great first rival for Enzo and Cas.

Got a promo between Dr. Phil, Charlotte, and Ric Flair in which Dr. Phil just cut Charlotte down for cheating and going down the same path with her father.  I have to admit, as far as promos go, Dr. Phil nailed it!  Good for him!  The WOOOOing I could have done without, but the rest of that segment was pretty good.

We got some backstage between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon where Kevin threatened Sami Zayn and Shane wasn't having it so he had him removed from the premises.

Roman Reigns comes out and cuts a promo in which he repeats his new catchphrase, apparently.  "I'm not a bad guy.  I'm not a good guy.  I'm the guy."  It's a good heel move.  But then, the baffling part of this to me is that they have Sheamus, Del Rio, and Rusev come out and cut a promo against him.  It doesn't lessen the boos for Reigns, it only makes the boos in the arena louder, period.  Although, Rusev's line that he's better looking than Roman was funny.  Everyone laughed.  Even Sheamus.  We all know Roman is dreamy.  It's part of his appeal.  Which I would like to talk about now.  I understand that there is a hatred for Roman.  I think a lot of it comes from people resent the push he's received while people like Ambrose languish in tired feuds with the likes of Jericho.  However, I feel like it's a little naive of us to expect him not to take the ball and run with it.  He's doing what he's told.  You can't fault him for that.  Maybe you resent what he's being told to do, but he's selling it the best he can, and honestly, when he's not the smirking or smiling good guy and is just a Samoan bad ass it works.  I feel like, sometimes, Roman is given a bad wrap.  He's vastly improved in the ring.  Yes, he still has a few stupid moves (I just get tired of watching him cock his hand and I find the man sexy, I can't imagine what people who despise him think of it), but he's come a long way.  Is he there yet?  No.  But I think people keep expecting him to be the Rock or Stone Cold or HBK.  The truth is, when those guys came up, there was a period where they were really able to do what they wanted to do because Vince was taking any and all ideas.  It's not like that anymore.  Everything is so scripted.  They're trying to make the hero they think we want.

However, he's been showing shades of heel, here and there.  There is less smiling.  There is less smirking.  He even brushed off Sami Zayn and AJ Styles when they came out last week.  He's different as Seth as a heel because Seth was constantly running from a fight because that's just his strength as a heel.  But you could see Roman as being the heel that starts shit and then beats people down for it.  And he could have a faction, but his faction I feel like would be more of a DX faction in that they don't run away from fights, but they start and end them.

Which brings me back to what happened Monday.  Roman challenges the three members of the Lads and suddenly Bray's shit interrupts.  It was BIZARRE to see Wyatt and Roman on the same side, but rather refreshing.  They clear the ring and face off against each other.  Roman looked as confused as I was excited.  And I was excited.  We'd never seen Bray and Roman on the same side.  Apparently, Shane agreed as he interrupted and said "I'd like to see more of that!"  and scheduled the main event as Roman and Bray vs. two members of the Lads.  It was certainly different.  And Solomonster has said before that Heel Roman vs. Face Bray would be different and probably awesome, and I tend to agree with him.  The set up between them was nice.  I enjoyed this part of the show.

Natayla vs. Charlotte was a good match.  I keep expecting Bret Hart to come out, but I'm not sure how his health is, but then Flair is 900 years old and he's still out there.  Natty looked strong and she won but by disqualification of Charlotte.  So, I guess this is set up for Road Block.

We get the Usos against...I don't remember.  I really don't remember.  Usos won, but the important part of this was that Gallows and Anderson debuted, much like the Outsiders back in the 90's.  They beat down the Usos, the crowd was into it and confused at the same time.  You could see the people that knew who they were and the people that didn't.  This all leads to an interesting road.  You have a potential for Gallows and Anderson to team up with AJ and stomp the holy hell out of Roman.  It would just make AJ more over, but it would make for an interesting dynamic when Balor finally gets the call up.

I'm going to end up skipping some stuff because by this time I had taken my meds.  I did manage to stop what I was doing and watch Sami Zayn vs. AJ Styles, which to me was the match of the night.  These two guys delivered everything you could want in a match.  It was well paced, it had some high flying action.  The crowd was into BOTH guys.  AJ got the win, which means that the match between Roman and AJ stays between Roman and AJ.  But Sami put on a helluva show.

Ambrose vs. Jericho.  We've known it was coming since SummerSlam last year, but I like this.  Ambrose vs. Jericho on the mic will be awesome and the two guys can go.  I really wish the Ambrose Asylum stuff would end.  Do we really need to be reminded that people think he's crazy?

The last match, Roman and Bray vs. The Lads, I don't remember much of.  I do remember that I was surprised that the Wyatt Family took so long to come out there in the first place.  Bray and Roman get the win and then I don't remember what happened.  Sorry.  Anyway, over all I would say a pretty decent Raw.  We got some matches we haven't seen before and it was enjoyable.  

Wrestlemania Review

I realize I'm waaaay behind, but I use the excuse that I've been sick and moved and so I haven't had the time to devote to this the way I want.

First, let me start off talking about the Raw before Wrestlemania.

Boring.

Alright, and now on to Wrestlemania itself.

Pre-show matches you had Kalisto vs. Ryback (which I didn't see because it was advertised that the first two hours of the pre-show would be on USA.  Only the last of the two hours was on there and I missed the Ryback vs. Kalisto match (which when I went back and watched it, I didn't miss much).  Kalisto won, as he should have.  I would be nice to see someone like Baron Corbin (I'll get to him in a bit) go after the U.S. title.

The first match I actually watched was Team Diva (Natayla, Paige, Eva Marie, Brie Bella, and Alica Fox) against team B.A.D. and Blond (Lana, Naomi, Tamina, Summer Rae, and Emma).  Personally, I never thought team B.A.D stood a chance, but it would have been nice to see Emma and even Lana get a win here.  But no, they're promoting their horrible show that I wouldn't watch if you paid me.  And you don't have the kind of money to pay me.  Anyway, I just want to go on record and say that Lana's kick that she landed on I think Brie was flawless.  I want her legs.  Like, who did she sell her soul to in order to get legs like that.  She looked gorgeous.  They all looked gorgeous.  But team Bella went over.

The Dudley's vs. the Uso's was boring.  Don't really care about either team.  Uso's won, got a beat down, then put the Dudley's through the table.

One of my favorite matches of the night was the first up on the actual card and that was the ladder match for the intercontinental title.  Zack Ryder, Stardust, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Sin Cara, and the Miz.  Some of the guys in this match took some hard bumps that hurt me to even watch.  I'll admit that I was pretty sure that Sami Zayn was going to win that belt.  I just thought it was the logical conclusion to having him take it from Kevin.  However, they got me.  Zack Ryder?  And then his dad ran into the ring for a really beautiful moment.  Good for Zack.  But it only makes sense that they took it off him the next night and gave it back to Kevin Owens.  Wait.  That's not what happened.  The Miz won it.  What?  Why?  Ugh!

Then there was AJ vs. Y2J.  Again, I just knew that AJ was going to win, and lo and behold, HE DID NOT?  But it all goes back to what Scott Hall said about Sting:  Vince will never get behind someone he didn't create.  And they kind of owed Jericho one after the "Fandango Incident".  I think this was crap, however, AJ did win the following night to become the number 1 contender for the world title.  If they're going to turn Reigns heel, it's best to turn him against AJ than Dean.

I'm going to get the order mixed up, but I'm calling them as I remember them.

The Women's Belt was changed!  (YAY!)  It looks more in line with the man's championship belt but it's red (could be pink but it looked red).  Anything is better than the fucking butterfly.  Anyway, Sasha comes to the ring with her uncle Snoop.  Becky comes out...by herself.  And Charlotte has the Nature Boy.  Snoop should have at least stood ringside and tried to foil some of Flair's shenanigans.  I hated how this match ended because it felt like it should have been Sasha's moment.  But Flair is real tight with HHH and I could see him pitching this.  Especially after the stuff with Reid Flair last year.  It would have been a way to make nice.  I don't think she keeps it until Summer Slam, though.  I would also be ok with Becky taking it between now and then.  A transitional champ, but I think once you get it on Sasha it will be hard to get it off of her until Bayley shows up.

New Day vs. The Lads.  When I saw Xavier I immediately thought of Guku from Dragon Ball Z.  His hair was amazing.  But the Lads going over the New Day was eh.  And they didn't even defend the titles!  But the highlight of this was after the match.  When HBK's music hit, I jumped up from my seat.  Then Foley, and then the glass broke for the Rattlesnake Stone Cold.  I felt like I was in my teens again and the greatest thing to ever happened had just happened.  It was amazing.  Shawn can still deliver sweet chin music better than anyone (Dolph).  But when Austin started dancing I knew Xavier was getting a Stunner.  Nothing good comes from Austin dancing.

Battle Royal - why was Shaq there.  Was that really a match we needed?  However, I do love that Baron Corbin won.  He's the perfect person for that as it builds him up.  Feed him some jobbers and then let him take on someone like Kalisto for the U.S. belt.

Then we had the Rock's segment with the Wyatt's where he had a 6 second match with Rowan and Cena returned to break it up.  I love the Rock, but I feel like the Wyatt's could have done with an actual match.

The first of the three main events, Brock vs. Ambrose was a let down.  I don't know why this match was so short, but it looked like it could have gone longer.  Ambrose sold the beating.  But it was unrealistic that no one was bleeding.  Otherwise they would have interrupted it every ten seconds like they did Samoa Joe and Finn Balor -- which pissed me the fuck off.  I feel like this match could have been more violent.  As it was, Shane vs. Undertaker was more violent.

And speaking of Shane vs. Taker - the match was slow, but once it got outside the ring, those guys delivered.  Especially Shane.  What you give to this company that belongs to your family is amazing and I only hope that they appreciate it.  I love the little pat on the cheek that Taker gave to Shane before he tombstoned him in the middle of the ring.  It was like "Good job, kid."

Then there was the main event.  I really thought that the Rock was going to interfere, but that didn't happen.  Instead, we got a pretty basic match, the crowd booed Roman (and I feel bad for him at this point.  He delivers. He puts on good matches.  I just don't really understand why people dislike him so much).  When he speared Stephanie, they cheered him a little because people like seeing her suffer.  But he pinned HHH in the center of the ring clean.

Raw Review - 3/21/2016 - Roman Reigns Promo the best part?

I know this sounds crazy, but looking back on last night, I would have to say, that my headline says it all, doesn't it?  First, I get that it wasn't the best episode of Raw they've ever done, but the crowd was so dead.  They didn't pop for anything, with the exception of Dean Ambrose and, to some weird extent, Roman Reigns.

Opening with Steph berating the people and talking about how HHH wasn't there, not because of the beating he took last week but because he had "corporate responsibilities".  BLAH.  I'm sick of Authority opening promos.  Anyway, half way through, out comes Reigns.  He's not doing any of that smiley bullshit he had been doing.  He cut a succinct and to the point promo about how he's going to beat up her husband in her arena in her ring.  She goes to slap him, and bam, he stops her.  We haven't seen anyone pull that move since she tried to slap Sting and it didn't work out as planned.  I also kind of love how he was shushing her, shaking his head.  There was no smile.  There was just a bad ass Samoan standing tall.  It makes him look strong and also puts Stephanie in her place.  They can't hurt her anymore, but they can make her look petty and small.

So, that worked.  The people didn't seem to boo him as much as they usually do.  Keep booking him strong, let him speak as little as possible, and at Mania have him just go on a tear and then flip everyone off when he wins.  Then Monday, turn him full fledged heel.  Cuss out the audience for hating on him.  It's just a short hop, skip, and jump away.

Dean Ambrose was, of course, another highlight.  I love the little vignettes of him just hanging out places and then an old time hardcore legend shows up and gives him a new toy to use.  I love Terry Funk telling Dean "If I had a son, I'd want him to be just like you.  If I had a daughter..."  and then he turned around.  That was funny!

Kevin Owens is dynamite.  AJ Styles is Phenomenal.

It also feels weird to like The Miz.  I don't want you to make me like him.  He's much better as a horrible, smarmy heel.  Fix this!

I knew they were going to do a ladder match, and I guess Ziggler and Miz could be made to have a reason to be in it...????  But Ryder?  Stardust?  Sin Cara????  Sami Zayn will have a helluva weekend if he can stay healthy during the Nakumura match at Takeover.

Y2J vs, AJ is heating up nicely.  Y2J does some excellent heeling during this match.  He's just amazing as a heel.  Hardly anyone around to touch him.

And let me say this, I thought this was almost over when we got to the promos from the legends about Shane and Taker.  I was like, wow, this really went fast.  No idea there was another hour and a half left in this show.

Vince added a stipulation to the Taker match (and cut a promo about Taker being his bitch!) that if Taker loses he won't wrestle anymore.  I would be willing to say that if something funky happens with this match, like Taker backs out of it or something, Shane will put Taker in some kind of role or not allow that stipulation to stand.  Anyway, I just hope there is a good place to go with this.  I think we all agree that we don't want to see Taker lose again, but we certainly don't want Shane gone again.  It's hard to decide who to pull for.  Nostalgia says Taker, but everything else in me is screaming Shane.

And then we had the weirdest segment in the entire show:  The New Day promo against the League.  This might have worked if Barrett hadn't looked like he was laughing during not only the League part but also during the New Day's promo.  It was kind of hilarious.  And you could see that he was laughing at Rusev who decided to dump a bottle of water all over his chest and then under his arms!  It was WEIRD.  But Barrett was doing all he could to keep it together, only it wasn't working.  And I think all of this feeds into Renee Young saying that every time she has to "interview" Barrett, he does everything he can to try and make her laugh and they hardly ever get through a segment without them both laughing.  I love Barrett, and to me he was the best part of this because he was just laughing all the way through it.

I don't like the New Day as faces, though.  The promos they could have had with Cas and Enzo would have been amazing.  And you can't bring Cas and Enzo in and make them heels.  However, if you have the League win the belts off New Day, then Cas and Enzo would be perfect foils for them.

All in all, a crap Raw, mostly.  The Roman Reigns segments were the best parts.  It was totally weird.

- Also, I heard that Luke Harper was injured last night during the dark match.  That's terrible.  Another one down.  Ugh.  And of the four, I like Harper the most!
- Cesaro will be back soon, so that's good!

Photo credit goes to: http://www.dailywrestlingnews.com

The only thing for sure about the Stinger is that nothing's for sure

In the late 90s, my cousin Alana was watching WCW because she loved the Macho Man Randy Savage and WWE because she loved Shawn Michaels.  I am two years younger than her, but I find that now, as I look back on my childhood, I was heavily influenced by her on things I liked.  I liked the New Kids on the Block, the Ghostbusters, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and eventually wrestling all because of her.  (Can you tell I grew up in the late 80s early 90s?)  I remember watching a ppv match, long before all of this, with Alana and my Aunt Barbara in which Hulk Hogan faced off against Earthquake.  I can't tell you now, for the life of me, what ppv it was or why we were watching it, but we were.  Sorry, getting sidetracked.

So, because of her, I watched wrestling.  This was right around the time, in WCW where Scott Hall and Kevin Nash had come onto the scene.  Given that I didn't watch WWE and had no idea who they were, I didn't understand the impact of what was happening.  But I remember watching the heel turn by Hulk Hogan in which he leg dropped the Macho Man.  I was hooked from there.  But I didn't really like the NWO, even though they were cooler.  I was very sort of black and white in my good vs. evil thing.  The NWO was bad.  WCW was good.  So, as the NWO started adding people and continued to feud with the Four Horsemen, I was indifferent to that.  But the fake Sting bit with limo sticks out in my mind.  All while I'm watching WCW I knew Sting was a good guy.  It seemed unfathomable to me that Sting would turn into a bad guy.  I mean, he was Mr. Hero, to me more than Hogan was.  I didn't grow up a Hogan fan, but I remembered watching Sting matches every now and again when he had the blond flat top and the face paint.  Sting was the perennial good guy.

Back to my story, when "Sting" turned and leveled Luger, I never believed it was really him.  First of all, they never actually showed you his face.  The body type was similar, but when you look at the fake Sting, the nose was different.  And I remember Luger and the Nasty Boys and several others roaming through the parking lot looking for Sting.  Then at the War Games match, he came out, leveled some people, and then walked out.  After that, on Nitro, Sting gave his last promo for a whole year.  And he said, and I will never forget this because I used to quote it to Alana when she told me he was going to turn to the NWO, that "The only thing that's for sure about the Stinger is nothing's for sure."

And in that year, we only got sporadic spots with Sting in the rafters.  We had a Nitro in Birmingham that my Aunt Barbara took me and Alana too and we were RING SIDE!  It was amazing.  And Sting, much like Roman Reigns does now, came down from the crowd, climbed in the ring, and it was the happiest moment of my life.  I was in the same building with Sting.  The Sting I loved!  He was silent, he didn't have to say a word.  His presence was enough to scare the shit out of the NWO and I loved it.  As someone who hated the bad guys, I was thrilled to see someone standing up to them and not getting punked out.  He started coming into the ring and putting his back to his "former" friends like Luger, the Steiners, and even the Giant.  He would give them the bat, hold his arms out as he put his back to them as a test of faith.  If they hit him, they would become his enemy.  Everyone seemed to know that.  While this would occasionally happen, the NWO kept telling people how Sting was with them.  My faith was never shaken.  Sting would not be with the organization that made him stop wrestling in the first place.

Looking back on it now, what Sting did with his character was game changing.  He went from this wild man in the ring, with plenty of skill.  Instead he went to become this menacing presence, a vigilante for justice.  And he started to make it very clear that his aim was Hogan.  The bat pointed in his direction became infamous.  And everyone knew that when Sting got his hands on Hogan, the one that had seemingly started all of this mess, there would be Hell to pay.

Enter Starcade!  I managed to talk my dad into ordering this ppv for me because by this point I was totally and completely obsessed with wrestling.  Alana was still a Macho Man fan and so when he joined the NWO she followed.  But I stuck with Sting.  And so, this match, which had been building for over a year made me so excited I could hardly stand it.  I remember wanting all other matches to be over and just to see Sting get his hands on Hogan.  When the intro for Sting hit, I  remember that I had literal goosebumps!  That little piece about how a man seeks revenge all called back to The Crow and it was intense to watch.  Sting standing across the ring from Hogan, Hogan basically taunting him, and there was nothing WCW could have done to make that match as good as we had wanted.  Oh, yeah, except to have Sting win clean.  Which he didn't.  It was a wonky ending, but Sting ended up with the belt, and the WCW ran out and cheered.

After that, some weird things happened with Sting joining the NWO Wolfpack, and I can't even say anything about that because I had a NWO Wolfpack shirt just because he was on it (remember when they used to sell those shirts at Walmart?  I owned a Kevin Nash one, too).  But eventually, I lost interest in the product, whether it was because I was growing up and moving on to college, whatever the reason, I stopped watching.

However, Sting was still my favorite.  I even took my nephew Landon to see a TNA match in Huntsville just because I knew Sting was going to be there.  I was more excited to go than he was!  And Sting came out of the crowd from the entrance beneath us and at 31 years old I was freaking out.  The teenager inside of me was so happy I could hardly breathe.  Landon, my wonderful nephew who humors me sometimes and watches wrestling with me, sat with me while we watched videos of old Sting matches and how he had the bad, and the one with the vulture, and where he came up out of the ring, and lets not forget the multiple "Stings".  He was excited (to be fair, his favorite is the Undertaker).

As I started watching wrestling again somewhere around the beginning of 2014 (because of Daniel Bryan) I knew Sting was still with TNA.  However, he did, finally, sign with WWE that year.  I remember being at work and watching that clip of him showing up to WWE's panel at Comic Con.  It was amazing.  I was so excited.  And the thought that we might actually get to see him compete in a WWE ring was thrilling.  The dream match of everyone who ever watched wrestling could actually come true.  We could see Sting vs. the Undertaker.  But that looked less likely as the Undertaker went into seclusion after his Wrestlemania match against Brock Lesnar.

Fast forward to Survivor Series 2014.  Like everyone else seemed to be, I was convinced the Authority was going to win, by any means necessary (cheating).  When Ziggler hit Rollins with the Zig Zag, I thought that he might actually pull this off.  But when HHH entered the ring, I knew all hope was lost.  I was bummed.  But just as Scott Armstrong was getting ready to hit the three count, that crow sounded.  Keep in mind, I'm in my room, door closed.  My parents are asleep across the house from me.  When the crow sound hit, the room went dark for half a second, and then the music sounded...I JUMPED OUT OF MY CHAIR SCREAMING!  STING!  OMG IT'S STING!!!!!!!!!  I was screaming so loud my parents could hear me in their room with their door shut.  My dad even called my cell phone to see what I was screaming about.  No one could understand.  The part of me that always loved him was having a panic attack!

I didn't watch the match he had at Wrestlmania to be with HHH.  I don't think anyone did.  Bray Wyatt or Taker would have been better.  But the build up, the mind games that occurred was all perfect.  It worked.  That match was built up much better than the main event.  To be honest, I didn't know if Sting would still be able to go.  But he could.  And he did.  I think the inclusion of the NWO into the match made NO sense considering Sting's height of popularity was when he was AGAINST the NWO.  To have the NWO come to his rescue...I get what they tried to do.  The WCW vs. the WWE.  But how do you have Sting's first WWE match as a loss, especially at Wrestlemania.  And against HHH?  He didn't need that win!  I even saw an interview with Scott Hall after that match where he was questioning the decision of Sting losing.

"So we’re all in there again, and I’m next to Hulk [Hogan] on the ring apron and Triple H is going over the match and then he goes, ‘OK, he’ll break the sledgehammer, then I’ll hit him with the sledgehammer, and cover him, 1-2-3." 

I looked at Hulk, and Hulk looked at me, and I was thinking, “Sting, what kind of lawyer do you have, bro? You’re coming in the door doing a job? You weren’t even guaranteed to go over?'”

 Obviously, guys that were friends with HHH even thought that it was weird that Sting didn't win that match.  But as Scott Hall also said "Vince is never going to go with something he didn't create".  This actually makes a lot of sense if you look at what is happening in that company right now.

Anyway, onto the set up for Night of Champions.  Seth Rollins is a helluva wrestler.  I watch him and I'm like "This guy is so good".  I feel the same way about Dean Ambrose.  But the set up of his match with Sting was great.  It was the old school vs. the new school.  It was a tried and true veteran and he goes out there and has a much better match than anyone thought he could and with one of the best in the business.

Then there's tragedy.  First, I'm shocked he took that bump through the announce table.  It looked terrible when he took it because it looked like his head bumped off the monitor.  But then the first buckle bomb he took, you could tell something had happened.  With the way he kept opening and closing his hand, it just didn't look right.  But the second one, I told my dad then and there that he was actually hurt.  And I have to hand it to Seth Rollins because he sold it like the great heel he was, but even I could tell there was genuine concern on his face.  It's one thing to accidentally break someone's nose, but for someone to lose the ability to use their body is terrifying.  I can't imagine how badly he felt, and everyone said as much.  But Sting finished the match and Rollins went over.  They said that Rollins was standing at the ambulance after the match apologizing over and over again.  Sting has even gone on record and said that it was his own fault about how he landed into the buckle bomb that was the problem, that nothing Seth did was a cause of the injury.

And now, he's being inducted into the Hall of Fame.  I wish it was by someone other than Ric Flair, because I just don't like Flair and I feel like he'll find a way to make it about him.  But I think it's about time, though.  Yes, Sting went to TNA where he was arguably the biggest name they had for a long time.  But I think, of all the things he's done, that period in the 90s, The Crow gimmick, will go down as one of the best changes that a wrestler could ever have.  He was more over than almost anyone at that time.  Seeing him, even being teased with the possibility of him being there was enough to put people in the seats.  WWE can try to play it off all they want, can try to tarnish Sting by allowing his only two matches in WWE to have been losses, but during the height of Sting's popularity the WCW was crushing WWE.

With all that being said, it is a sad day for me.  I always hoped that he would be able to come back, just one last match.  But his health is more important.  I know that.  His legacy, outside of the WWE, will probably stand the test of time.  I mean, it's twenty years later and I remember watching him walk to the ring at Starcade and the goosebumps like it was yesterday.

Sting is my favorite wrestler of all time.  Others will come and go and impress me, but a part of my adolescence was dedicated to my love for Sting.  I only hope will always get the recognition he deserves for what he's done for the wrestling industry.

Scott Hall Quote from Scott Hall on Sting - Inquisitor
Photocredit to ringsidecollectibles.com