#wwe doesn’t run their ship like aew does

[sonnykissed]

U know

[luvksj]

Yandere!Undisputed Era: Bittersweet Reunion

author’s note: happy 2022 y’all !!! i can’t believe it’s 2022 already, 2021 did go by really fast and covid still a damn pest. hope y’all are safe, happy and healthy w the people you love !!! once again, i’d like to thank you all for the support i received in 2021 for my little drabbles i write when i’m bored or couldn’t be fucked doing my uni work (that’s right, pro procrastinator right here). 

anyway, 3/4 of the undisputed era have officially joined AEW! it’s good that they’re w/ a company that cares about their wrestlers and allows them to be creative! many ex-wwe wrestlers have joined AEW now which is understandable bc AEW is just better than WWE in many, many ways. this is just my opinion btw. wonder if roderick will jump ships when his contract ends with wwe... anyways i wish nothing but the best for you guys and THEM in 2022! 

please enjoy the story 😄 also, can we pretend roderick and many others are in aew ?

pov: you escaped despite using drastic measures but... that doesn’t mean it’ll last forever.

warning: this story contains strong use of violence and cursing. if you feel uncomfortable with themes of stalkers/stalking, violence, obsession, yandere aus, manipulation, torture etc or mentions of blood, killing, death, torture, kidnapping, suicide or anything similar please DO NOT read this story!

this story does NOT depict the true personas/characteristics of Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish. this story is 100% a work of fiction and any similarities discovered is a PURE COINCIDENCE. this story is meant for entertainment purposes only. if you feel unsure about anything written in this story, please PM me. 

Oh sweetheart... did nobody tell you? Nothing last forever.

You had no way to escape them now, all possible points of exits blocked off by them. 

Struggling to grasp the situation at hand, you couldn’t understand how they managed to find you... despite using every measure possible to avoid them. 

So, how did it amount to this in the first place? Well, let me tell you...

[long flashback warning]

You hated them. You loathed them. You detested them. 

They were the reason your life was a living hell: controlling you like their own puppet forcing you to fulfill their every wish even if it was outrageous. You had to do it... no matter what. 

According to them, you belonged to them. No-one else. Every single part of you was their property from the air you breathed to the words you spoke belonged to them. 

And they had no problem in telling everyone that. From their colleagues to the higer-ups. If someone struggled to grasp that fact, they had no problem in breaking it down for them even if their teaching methods were... extreme. 

Do you know what made it worse? 

The fact you couldn’t fight back. No matter how much you wanted to fight back, you just weren’t able too. If you dare disobey them, you’d be laying motionless in the basement: covered in bruises, cuts and blood left to rot until you apologized for acting so bratty. 

You just didn’t have the physical strength to combat them. Four professional wrestlers against one you. And they knew that... which made you even angrier using your weakness to their advantage just like snakes they were.

You, Y/N L/N, were the property of the most dominant faction in NXT history. The Undisputed Era. 

Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish. The names of the men whom you hated with a fiery passion. To nearly everyone, they were total sweethearts. Kind-hearted, caring, gentle... basically the opposite of what they were to you. 

One word you’d use to describe them was demons. To you, they were manipulative, possessive, controlling, aggressive and clingy. You couldn’t go anywhere without one of them accompanying you because there was a good chance you’d try to run away and they couldn’t let that happen to their precious golden gem. 

And you wouldn’t make it far even if you tried. There were security cameras everywhere -- even inside the bathroom. Some hidden in the most unusual places. They had many connections and you’d be found before you could even step into a taxi. 

They weren’t taking any chances. You were their golden gem, the most important part of their golden prophecy. And they’d be damn if you got away. 

So for years, you endured the torture. You had gotten so used to forcing a smile that you had forgotten what it felt like to genuinely smile. What freedom felt life, what if felt like to be legitimately happy. And... it was all because of them. 

However, you finally had enough and decided to try attempt what could be considered as a death sentence if you got caught. 

With assistance from everyone you knew and could trust, you faked your death. 

You meticulously planned for this ensuring every possible situation was covered and had numerous back-up plans ready just in case. Just like them, you weren’t taking any chances. This had to work otherwise... you’d end up dead. 

[warning: mentions of suicide up ahead. please do not read if it triggers and/or makes you uncomfortable]

The plan was to fake a suicide. You would inject yourself with a drug that made you seem dead and would use prosethetic 

Then once you were deemed dead, you’d place a fake body double of yourself inside the casket and go into hiding until it was safe to come out... whenever that may be. 

It was rather elaborate, risky and many things could go horribly wrong but you had to try. You were sick and tired of being controlled and tormented by them. You could no longer just sit and watch yourself be abuse like this. It was time to fight back.

By some miracle, it actually worked. Your plan worked. It actually fucking worked.

They brought it all. They actually believed you had commited suicide... and ignoring the huge cost your ‘plan’ incurred which practically drained your bank account (rip)... it was one-hundred percent worth it.

Because this, in return, gave you something which you’ve craved for the longest time: your freedom and happiness. And you didn’t care that you were now broke, you were happily broke and FREE! Free those demonic cretins who made your life literal hell and controlled you like their own puppet. 

But not anymore, you were finally free and happy for the first time in a long time. 

[Timeskip: 10 years later]

It has been ten years since that faithful day. The day you’ll remember forever, the day you regained your happiness and escaped the clutches of four men who could literally be the reincarnation of Satan. 

After you ‘death’, they were so distraught that they broke up, blaming each other for your so-called ‘suicide’. It got to the point where they had to leave WWE as being here only reminded them of you and how they failed you. While they were suffering, you were living on cloud nine.

These past ten years having been nothing but a DREAM. You could do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted without being submitted to torture and you took FULL advantage of this. 

You decided to pursue your passion and become a wrestler. You’ve always wanted to wrestle but they were strictly against it, prohibiting it, stating that you’ve got them and they’ll handle anyone who hurts you. So... it was a waste of time, according to them but they’re NOT here anymore. 

Signing with WWE, you slowly worked your way up the ranks and within a few years became an accomplished wrestler with many title reigns under your belt. You also became an advocate for mental health and abuse. You didn’t want anyone else to suffer what you did. 

However, this ‘fever’ dream of yours all came crashing down one day and it caught you by surprise.

You had just finished your match, wrestling one of your dream opponents on the grandest stage of them all. You won... just. For some time, ever since Royal Rumble, something’s felt off... like something bad is awaiting you and no matter how hard you’ve tried ignoring the feeling, it comes back to haunt you. 

Today, you just felt so off your game. You felt something bad was going to happen today and despite trying to shake it off, it kept lingering like a bad aftertaste. 

During the match, you were really distracted. You could just feel their eyes glaring a gaping hole right through. Them, the people you’ve been avoiding for ten years. 

Heading to the locker room after visiting the medics and getting stitched up, this bad feeling intensified with every step. And before you knew it, you were standing in front of the locker room door, nervous as hell. You didn’t what awaited you on the other side but your gut feeling told you... it wasn’t good.

Taking a deep breath, you open the door and looked around carefully. It looked safe but you still wanted to be sure. You checked every corner, leaving no stone unturned. Some might call it paranoia but if they went what you went through then... they’d understand it’s not paranoia but safety precautions. 

The locker room was clear... maybe you were really halluncinating. You sighed, relieved but that feeling diminished when a taunting voice interrupted your thoughts.

“Hello Y/N, sweetheart.” 

[acolepro]

Welcome.

For those that know me, Adam is not a role I’d normally run to try out. But here we are and we’re going to make it blossom into a deep love, okay? That’s the goal here.

A rather small ‘go-to-info’ for my portrayal that probably doesn’t matter at all:

Austin resides in Orlando, FL.

He is currently signed to AEW until mid 2027.

He’s a gamer. (I however suck and have little knowledge of this, so if you bring it up to Adam I’m probably going to run in the opposite direction.)

Jenkins grew up with an alcoholic father whom was very disapproving of his dreams of becoming a Wrestler. (true story man) His fathers doubts only motivated him more. Unfortunately what came with this is the self critiquing that followed. Now that he lives alone, he often finds himself re-watching his previous matches to mentally note what he needs to do better on which always ends up being the longest list that others eye roll to.

His injury list as of late has been racking itself up. Adam has been fighting to get cleared and stay off the injured list, however each time one situation has been conquered, a new one has popped up or an old one has reopened itself back up. To say he is frustrated is an understatement.

Current Plots:

Exes - @xxbrittsburgh​. Adam and Britt dated during his WWE NXT run, however career ventures upon other things crept up and took over. The two remain friendly to this day. Anything seen previously on AEW programming between the two has been completely as friends to play out their story on screen. However this does not mean that Cole in any way has lost feelings. There will always be a place in his heart for the DMD.

Open Plots:

With Adam working all over the place, the opportunities for connections are endless. I would love to have anything thrown my way if anyone has some off-spring ideas! Any further Exes, Flings, Best Friends, Enemies, any other connections are totally open. 

I only ship if there is deep chemistry. If I do not have that, it isn’t fair to you.

Please feel free to DM here or Discord me if you have me for any plottings. If you like the post, this does not mean I’ll message you first. I’m a nervous bean always.

[beingallelite]

On October 2, 2019, All Elite Wrestling will officially kick off the latest pro wrestling war. It’s yet to be said how much they will lean into their new weekly live television series being a “war” with Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment—a federation which has run professional wrestling in the United States since I was in kindergarten—but the upstart pro wrestling company has a number of factors that can put it ahead of the current pro wrestling landscape.

When AEW kicks off its run on TNT this fall, the landscape of professional wrestling could shift. Or it could just make things more fun. Or they could tank, although judging by the moves Cody and company have made leading up to its television debut, we don’t see a total failure on the horizon. If you want proof, here are some reasons why.

Wednesdays could be a fire night for pro wrestling

Monday nights are an institution for professional wrestling; the WWE has been occupying that night for decades, in a number of iterations (and channels). Their second brand, Smackdown, has hopped around; it currently airs on Tuesday nights, but will be making the jump back to Fridays when it debuts on Fox this fall (it’s also occupied Thursday nights for a time). Wednesdays are interesting altogether; it’s known as the night for NXT on the WWE Network, airing at 8PM ET. That crowd, who loves the more indie-minded brand, might be interested to hop over to TNT to catch a bigger production, indie-minded federation in AEW. And since NXT is on-demand, not catching it live at 8PM won’t be that much of a trip; they’d just watch a replay later that day.

Plus, with no other established pro wrestling on that day, AEW’s got a wide-open field when it comes to wrestling-related competition on television.

Cody is Dusty Rhodes’ son

Dusty Rhodes was not only one of the biggest pro wrestling stars of the 1980s, but he also helped book the NWA during his heyday, as well as the early ‘90s at times. He was so famous (infamous?) for his booking that the term “Dusty finish” was coined to describe Dusty’s tendency to have matches end where a winner’s hand was raised, only to be informed that due to something small, they lost. He’s a legend in the game and judging by how Cody cuts promos before matches, but for the old school “big match feel” of his modern-day bouts in AEW. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and with Cody settling into the role of star on-screen and creative mind behind the scenes, those Dusty influences should will help dictate the feel of the storylines and, more importantly, the tentpole matches and shows will make AEW a true force.

Wrestlers won’t have scripted promos

If you grew up in the era of The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and the other best talkers in the squared circle, you were treated to promos that were basically improv. Back in the day, pro wrestlers were given a few bullet points, then let their personalities turn them into entertaining speeches that would not only tell their opponents how they would be beating their ass, but letting fans know where, and how to see it. As WWE grew, they shied away from that aspect, making their superstars stick to scripts when it came time for cutting promos. Usually, this practice has lead to embarrassing segments, or stars sounding more wooden in the ring because they are much better when they aren’t memorizing lines. Moxley himself spoke about the ills of this practice, and rumors of guys like Kevin Owens being allowed to come up with their own material during promos is seen like the WWE is trusting in his performance.

In AEW, they have made it a point to say that they would be allowing their stars to cut unscripted promos. People like Chris Jericho and Cody will have a field day with this, as will MJF, who has become a true phenom on the mic.

Wins and losses will matter

One of the biggest problems many have with today’s WWE product is that it doesn’t usually matter who wins or loses; it’s a common occurrence for a title-holder to regularly lose to a challenger, only to then demolish them in a title defense. The “even Steven” booking of this era can be mind-numbing, as it’s hard to tell what the pecking order of the roster truly is. All Elite has made it a point to specify that wins and losses will matter and that the ranking of their talent roster will help determine who’s being given title shots.

The ramifications of this should be felt immediately; instead of just watching a match, waiting for high spots or moments to cheer, AEW’s going to foster a sense of unpredictability with their programs. If every win and loss matters, that can make most matches must-see television, keeping fans in suspense throughout a program. It’ll make AEW feel closer to real-life professional sports than any form of pro wrestling has been able to.

Tag team wrestling will be on full display

It shouldn’t be a surprise that tag team wrestling will be put on a pedastal in AEW; the world-renown Young Bucks are a part of the federation’s executive team. That said, it’s something that the WWE lacks; they have solid teams like The New Day, The Usos, The Revival, and others, but they have neglected their tag team divisions for long spells. On Day 1, AEW will be kicking off a tag team tournament that is set to eventually crown the first AEW Tag Team Champions. It’s something that’ll help differentiate their product from the WWE, and with teams like the Lucha Bros in competition, it will set a new standard in professional wrestling.

Access to talent

This is where things will get interesting. During the Monday Night Wars of the 1990s, one of the wildest games to play was seeing which stars would defect from the WWE to WCW (or vice versa, with some ECW thrown in the mix). The nWo storyline was initially based on WWF (at the time) stars returning to WCW to wreak havoc. While the amount of ship-jumping might not be that rampant (we’d assume the WWE has learned a lot from that war), the possibility of AEW’s pluses allowing pro wrestlers more freedom in a less-strenuous environment could be intriguing to WWE superstars who are up for contract renewal and just unhappy with the current product. This also translates to former WWE stars—Jim Ross currently has an active role in AEW, and guys like Bret Hart and Diamond Dallas Page have already made appearances on AEW-branded pay-per-views. Two of their biggest acquisitions, Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley, got their biggest looks in the WWE, and have quickly been pushed to the top of the AEW card.

With a few more key signings and surprises, AEW could continue to pull WWE fans over to see their favorites get to express themselves in a new environment.

The "fresh" factor

Ultimately, everything AEW does right now is newsworthy, for good or ill. Lucky for them, they are saying all of the right things for fans looking for an alternative to the WWE and making a number of interesting decisions. As you can see, they want to make their diversity known from the beginning, be it signing wrestlers from the LGBTQ+ community like Nyla Rose and Sonny Kiss or working with the OWE to bring more Chinese performers in front of an American audience. AEW is leaning into being different, and that's going to be successful for them...in the beginning. They are still learning, and are willing to amend the six month-to-one year's worth of storyline plans they have mapped out already.

It's up to Cody, the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and company to now execute on the tools they've laid out to achieve ultimate success.

[hazyheel]

WWE Smackdown Live 6/11/19 Review

We started with a rendition of Miz TV. Miz had a new shirt of his dad having his fists up at Wrestlemania, and I guess he was being forced to host this edition. He was reading off of a literal script for Shane. He kept saying best in the world wrong for a laugh, but it wasn’t much of anything. Shane then came out with Drew McIntyre and Elias. Elias was the musical guest, and the crowd chanted you suck at him. Miz called out Shane for having only tainted wins, which Shane didn’t seem to care about. Mcintyre talked about how he would beat Roman at stomping ground. Miz pointed out that McIntyre is wasting his potential by being Shane’s lackey, which makes a lot of sense. Shane and Miz started to hurl insults at each other, and nearly came to blows. Shane challenged Miz to a gauntlet match. If he could beat both Elias and McIntyre, then he could fight Shane. 

So, we went right into the matches, starting with Miz vs. Elias. This was the match where I noticed that Miz doesn’t do the corner dropkicks like Daniel Bryan anymore, but he does corner knees. Interesting way to make the move his own, and to transition into a face role. Miz quickly took care of Elias by dodging an elbow drop and hitting the skull crushing finale for three. 

He then fought Drew McIntyre. Miz was actually brutally beating down McIntyre for a lot of this match, such as a super stiff baseball slide and a brawl on the outside. At one point, Miz went for the skull crushing finale, but Shane distracted him, so McIntyre could get the Glasgow kiss, and then a claymore for the win. 

After that happened, Shane said that he would still fight Miz. There was actually a bit of back and forth until Shane locked in a triangle for the win. 

Grade: B-. I wasn’t sure about putting this whole segment on the positive side, but I think the matches were mostly fine, and the heel work from Shane at the end there was really good. So yeah, I’ll give this a B-. I normally don’t like the style of heel that Shane is, smarmy but also not quite good enough at being smarmy. But this was probably his best work, challenging a beaten down Miz like that. I liked it, especially how happy he was that he is now 3-0 over Miz. That record is bullshit and shouldn’t exist, but at least it’s because Shane is being a dick. 

Backstage, Ember Moon talked to Fire and Desire while she was playing on a switch. They told her to focus on a real life superhero like Mandy Rose, and then smacked the switch out of her hand and left. Moon was pissed and threw some stuff.

Then we had the Planets Tag Team Champions. Daniel Bryan said that there would be a title match, against a couple Jobbers holding cardboard titles. But before they got going, Heavy Machinery came out to interrupt. Heavy Machinery said that they were ducking the challenge for the belts. So, Daniel Bryan said that if they can beat the jobbers, they will get a title match. Heavy Machinery won quickly with the compactor.

Grade: C. Yeah this was an inoffensive squash match, but I’m also rewinding the grade a bit because Heavy Machinery was off TV for so long and are now just getting a title match. That is BS, but they are certainly the team that should get it. 

Backstage, R-Truth and Carmella were talking about how terrible being the 24/7 champion was. He said that he pinned Jinder on a plane 49,000 feet celsius, that was funny. Carmella heard someone coming, so she told Truth to get in a box. It turned out only to be a production guy, but the case locked and Carmella had to leave for a match with Sonya Deville. So she left, and Jinder showed up and tried to open it, pretending to be Carmella as he did, So this was the 24/7 shenanigans of the evening, and I was into it. 

So we came back to the match between Carmella and Sonya Deville. At one point, Carmella locked in the code of silence, but Rose put Deville’s foot on the rope to break things up. She chased Rose around, but Deville caught her with a brutal knee to the stomach for a near fall. Carmella then threw Deville out of the ring, and gave both women a suicide dive, hitting Rose with an extra superkick. As Carmella went back in, Deville hit a step up knee for the win.

Grade: C-. Lots of interference, and it was not wrestled the best. I really don’t care much for this feud, and it seems just to be a placeholder before fire and desire break up. So not a great match, and I think it’d be much better if Carmella was actually involved in the 24/7 championship picture.

So then we had Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross backstage. Bliss told Cross that a bunch of people were being mean to her on social media, and that Bayley liked one of them. She said that Bayley is the same as everyone who calls Cross names. She told Cross not to hold back during her match with Bayley. I like how Bliss is manipulating Cross here, it is good. I wish it was someone who wasn’t supposed to be a crazy person, but its fine.

Then we the return of Big E, ahead of the 6-man tag later on. New Day cut a promo and they joked about how if Big E had a title run for every time that he returned, he would be Charlotte Flair. Kofi said it was a booking joke, and Woods cut him off by talking about their match. They talked about how Kofi has beaten all of their opponents at one point or another. Ziggler interrupted, and talked about how Kofi cheated to beat him at super showdown. Kofi just said that it was revenge for Ziggler kicking Woods earlier in the match, but then Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn interrupted. Zayn and Owens said that it was injustice, and I found it was difficult to disagree with the heels here. Zayn said that the rules are more important than who the fans like. Zayn called the fans hypocrites, and I kinda get where he is coming from. Big E then put over Kingston and defended him, and Kofi told him that he won’t have any more excuses after the steel cage match. 

Grade: C. Everyone could talk in this segment, but it was very filler, and the heels were being perfectly reasonable. A heel promo that really makes the good guys look like the bad guys are a problem. Ziggler has every right to be mad, Kofi did cheat. So it’s difficult to say he is in the wrong.

Then we had Bayley backstage, being asked about Bliss manipulating Cross, and Bayley just didn’t care.

Then we had Aleister Black continuing to offer an open challenge. He had someone open the door, and shout out of it, saying that the door is wide open. Black is so much better than this. 

We went right into Bayley vs. Nikki Cross. They were brawling right at the bell. At one point, Bayley went for the dropkick under the corner on the outside, but Cross trapped her behind the apron and beat her down. Bliss did get involved minorly at one point, distracting her and allowing Cross to get a cradle for a near fall. Bayley got the win with the elbow drop, staring right at Bliss when she did.

Grade: C+. Match didn’t have much to it, but I did like how Bayley looked right at Bliss when she hit the finish. Other than that this was a nothing match.

Jinder went back to get Truth out of the box, but it was gone. Truth was still in the box, and he was getting shipped to LA in the box. 

24/7 stuff: B-. Not nearly as funny as the stuff on Raw, but still good. I like this gag, and it’ll be resolved on monday. 

Then we had Apollo Crews being interviewed about the attack from Andrade last week. Zelina Vega showed up to run him down, and told Crews to stay away from Andrade. Then randomly, Chad Gable was there taking notes. I-I don’t know why.

And into the main event, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler vs. the New Day.  A lot of fast paced action here, and oddly enough Kingston was normally the one on the backfoot. At one point, Woods went up for the limit breaker, but Ziggler crotched him on the top rope. On commentary, Graves emphasized the fact that the face commentators are always okay with the faces cheating, which I though was quite interesting. At one point, Kevin Owens hit a moonsault for a near fall, and I would love to see that move enter his arsenal more. Big E had a huge hot tag during the match, destroying Ziggler with suplexes and a splash. Ziggler blind tagged in Zayn, who held Kofi for a superkick. Kofi dodged so it hit Zayn, and Kofi nailed Ziggler with a trouble in paradise, followed by another one to Zayn for the win.

Grade: B-. Fast paced action and a good pickup for Kofi. I might’ve preferred to see Big E pick up the win, but I will never argue with making a champion strong. Good stuff here, and the match of the night. 

Also, something I noticed that happened tonight was that on commentary, they keep mentioning how WWE is the only “cross cultural” sports entertainment company in the world. So that is them taking pot shots at AEW. 

Overall Grade: C+

Pros: nothing overtly good, but i thought that Graves gave a good commentary performance. 

Cons: Heavy Machinery hasn’t been on the show; carmella vs. deville; filler promo

[duhragonball]

Sorry about all the weird asks you been getting, Here is an actual question: What do you think of Bray Wyatt's current fiend character?

Technically, this should be addressed on the wrestling blog, but I get them mixed up myself all the time, and let’s be real: duhragonball > buttdawg >>> imatlasarrestmeplease.  

In any case, I don’t have strong opinions about The Fiend, because I stopped watching WWE in October 2018, before The Fiend’s debut.   I think I have a general idea of what the character is supposed to be, but it’s probably not fair to judge it on hearsay.    So take this with a few hundred grains of salt.  

From what I understand, Bray Wyatt sort of dropped off the map for a while, then returned at... was it Summerslam ‘19?   I think it was.    He came back as the Fiend, who’s sort of like when Mick Foley switches from Mankind to Cactus Jack, only in this case The Fiend no-sells everything and he’s super strong.    Also, the Bray persona has become like this Mr. Rogers pastiche, and may not fully understand the Fiend’s actions.   

I have no idea how this Firefly Funhouse thing works.  I watched a pirated video of the John Cena “match” at WrestleMania 36, mostly because I wanted to understand what nWo Cena was supposed to be about.    I still have no idea, but I’m a huge nWo mark, so I was satisfied to see John rocking the black-and-white, even if it makes no sense.   

Actually, let me talk about nWo Cena for a minute here, because that’s been on my mind for a while, and I think it does sort of tie into Bray’s WWE career.   Okay, so for anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about, Cena and Bray had a match at WrestleMania 36 which was like some sort of Twilight Zone thing where Cena kept quantum leaping into different eras of wrestling history.   He found himself in the Hulkamania era, then he relived his own debut in 2002, and for some reason he was on the set of WCW Monday Nitro, circa 1997.   There, he was wearing an nWo shirt, indicating that he was supposed to be a member of the legendary heel stable, the New World Order.   

What struck my fancy about this was that I saw John wearing the shirt and for a moment I imagined how cool it would have been if Cena really had been part of the nWo.   The group had this amazing start in the summer of 1996, but by 1997 it was running on fumes, and in 1998 they had absolutely no idea what to do with it.    After that, they just kept breaking up and reuniting over and over, trying to recapture the old magic.   There were a lot of problems with the nWo, but I think the biggest one is that there was no clear identity of the group.   Somtimes it was a bunch of cool dudes having a violent party, and other times it was Hulk Hogan’s personal cult.  Other times it was just Hall and Nash wearing matching shirts.    It didn’t matter in the early years, but when the group got older and the older members moved on, there was nothing to define what was left.   

I’ve only been watching New Japan for about a year, but I’m already impressed with how Bullet Club has managed to avoid the same problem.   Let’s face it, they’re a baldface ripoff of the nWo concept, but they have defining characteristics that don’t just rely on a specific person.   Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) was a founding member, but he’s been gone for years.   Then AJ Styles was their #1 guy, and he left.   Then Kenny Omega was their leader, and I showed up a few months after he left.     I thought the BC was doomed to decline after that, but then I saw how dominant their new leader, Jay White could be, and then they replenished their ranks with KENTA.   Generally, Bullet Club is a gaijin stable, so that sets the tone for their act rather than any single person.   If a Canadian leaves, you just get a New Zealander to replace him.   But with the pandemic keeping most of BC out of Japan, they adapted again and brought in EVIL as their new top guy.   It’s impressive to me, because NJPW figured out a way to make the nWo an evergreen angle.   They can sell those T-Shirts for the next fifty years.   

But I still miss the classic nWo, and I liked the idea that in some AU, John Cena might have formed his own nWo revival around 2011 or so, and they could have done it right.    Imagine someone with Cena’s prestige and longevity doing a heel stable like that, and when his time is over, he hands it off to another big star who can carry the torch.  “If only they had John Cena,” I thought to myself.  “He could have righted the ship.   He could have fixed it.”

Which brings me back to Bray Wyatt, because the vibe I get is that Bray’s fans seem more focused on what could be, and what might have been.   Bray’s entire WWE run feels like a running effort to fix Bray’s entire WWE run.   He started as Husky Harris in NXT, then they brought the entire NXT roster out as a new heel stable, the Nexus, and had them run roughshod over WWE, except they were mostly too green for that role, and they kept losing big matches to Cena and Orton.    Then CM Punk took over Nexus and they became his faceless sidekicks, and then they vanished altogether when Punk moved into his Pipebomb era.  

Then Husky came back as Bray Wyatt, and everyone loved the gimmick.   I never cared for it personally, because I never saw much of Waylon Mercy, and I’ve never watched “Cape Fear”.   But people loved it.   But he kept losing the big matches.   Then he comes back as The Fiend, and now he’s like invincible or something, and it seems like he’s finally on track to get the success people wanted him to have before.  

Only, I don’t think it’s worked out that well.   They made him invincible, but they don’t seem to know what to do with that.    This led to that Hell in a Cell where Seth Rollins got “disqualified” in a no-DQ match.    They literally couldn’t decide how to end the match, or who should win, so they just stopped it for no reason.    That’s a long-term WWE problem.    Vince can’t make up his mind, so he just doesn’t put anyone over.    He didn’t want Seth to look weak losing to the Fiend, even though the Fiend is literally a monster, and he didn’t want the Fiend to win the title because he’d eventually have to lose it later.    Except the Fiend did win the title eventually, only to lose it to a 50 year old Goldberg in Saudi Arabia.   So Vince’s efforts to protect the Fiend at HiaC were ultimately pointless.    

I’m not sure where the Fiend character is now, but I think he may have turned face, and Alexa Bliss is his girlfriend?  Sith Apprentice?    I see people saying she’s possessed?   Well, whatever, I like what she’s done with her hair lately.   Every time they revamp Bray, I always hear fans suggest that they’re finally going to have Sister Abagail debut.    No one even knows who or what Sister Abagail is.    She’s just a name Bray used to mention during his creepy promos, and I think Randy Orton desecrated her grave one time.    Wrestling’s pretty great.  

Here’s the thing, I’m 100% in favor of a real, live SIster Abagail character.   I’ve written a 600,000-word novel about a background character in Dragon Ball Z, and at least thirty chapters were devoted to the Shockmaster.    I remember in 1997, when everyone thought Kane was dead, and then he finally showed up and set everything on fire for the next twenty years straight.    I still want to know who the Black Scoprion really was.   If Sister Abagail turns out to be an on-screen character, it’d be amazing.   Maybe Alexa Bliss is supposed to be turning into Abagail somehow.   She needs to dress up more like a ghost, though.   

The problem is that--right now-- there isn’t a Sister Abagail, so until the real thing is introduced, it’s just a hypothetical that everyone can pin their hopes and dreams on.   “Oh once they pull the trigger on Sister Abagail, Bray will finally get the push he deserves!”   “Yeah, that last Fiend match wasn’t so hot, but it’s all building up to the big payoff when they finally bring out Sister Abagail.”   “Sister Abagail will fix it, she can right the ship.”  

What I’m worried about is that one of these years Bray’s going to retire from wrestling, hopefully on his own terms, but his fans will still be waiting for a dream storyline, long after his actual career has passed them by.   I guess there’s problems with his run, mostly systemic problems with WWE’s booking philosophies and indecision, and fans are praying for a miracle to fix it all, like John Cena in an nWo shirt.   And even if they did bring out a Sister Agagail, it would never live up to the fans’ expectations.    It just feels like everyone’s setting themselves up for a disappointment.  

And that’s one of the reasons why I quit watching WWE.   At some point I realized that there just isn’t going to be a light at the end of the tunnel, a big match that somehow makes up for all of the dumb ideas and bad finishes I’ve seen over the years.    I’m all about AEW and NJPW now, and those promotions aren’t always perfect, but they are a lot better about meeting my expectations.  

I guess, when all is said and done, my big opinion on the Fiend is that I hope Bray lets his WWE contract expire and shows up someplace else.  He’s a great talent, no denying that.   I just don’t trust WWE to do right by him creatively. I think they want to push him, but they don’t know how to push guys anymore.   

[hazyheel]

10 Ways WWE can improve their weekly TV

WWE has a bit of a problem on their hands: the other major wrestling promotions around the world are making a serious run at their product. New Japan has proved on several occasions that they can sell out buildings in the United States, and their incredibly powerful alliance with Ring of Honor, RevPro and CMLL gives them a huge talent pool to work with, without overexposing them. Lucha Underground (if it is staying afloat) is an interesting alternative to a lot of main stream wrestling due to its unique style of storytelling. Impact Wrestling has been improving steadily since the beginning of 2018, and they are becoming a bigger threat every year. And of course, AEW is premiering next month, and indy fans are already saying that they will revolutionize the wrestling business, and could even bring a new form of the Monday Night Wars. Now, I don’t know how accurate that is, but WWE needs to be concerned about these other companies. The reason why I took a week or two off of WWE in March was because I was watching the New Japan Cup, and I couldn’t even stand watching Raw or Smackdown because of the high quality of wrestling I was watching every day. That is a serious problem that I couldn’t watch their programing because I knew it would be a lot worse than a competitor. It will be a while before WWE falls to another company, but they need to get ahead of the curve on this. Several companies are coming for their position as number 1, and the first step to defending their turf is improving Raw, Smackdown, and hell, even NXT and Main Event. 

1. Make Raw 2 hours again: this point has been beaten to death, but that is because it sooooooooo needs to happen. A 3 hour show is incredibly difficult to watch every week, and we end up watching a bunch of low card matches that we do not care about, and the people that we do care about get overexposed because they need to be on the show every week. 205 Live and NXT work really well, because their talent does not wrestle every week, which gives them a sense of specialness and mystery that is not present on the main roster. So, why two hours instead of one like the “developmental” brands? Well, those brands simply couldn’t sustain a monthly pay per view schedule with that little air time. It works perfectly for the bi-monthly schedule of NXT Takeover, but they could not do 12 big shows a year. So, a two hour show for Raw, where all of the important storylines and title scenes are addressed in each episode, will be enough to craft good stories.

2. Form some stables: this is a very New Japan style, but there is a reason it works. Forming some large stables in WWE would give a tangible reason to put lower and midcard guys on the show. Put them in a big, multi person tag match when they need to fill time. This creates the option to have feuds between stables, allowing for actual reasons for interesting feuds on the undercard, without matches getting too competitive. It also provides relationships between wrestlers, a necessity for interesting storytelling that is not used nearly as much as it should be. In a bigger tag match, it allows for lower card guys to wrestle possible main eventers. It even would help for pay per views, giving an organic style of match to put on the pre-show: a fun 6 or 8 man tag between stables, possibly with big stars on the teams who don’t have anything real to do at the show. It shows good wrestling without showing off major storylines for free. Moving away from the booking for a bit, putting these less popular wrestlers on the show more in a capacity that fans may care about means that they have less of a reason to jump ship to another company. There are a lot of diverse benefits to creating a larger atmosphere of gang warfare, not unlike the way things were in the late 90′s

3. Clean up the announce team: another point that has been beat to death, but I am so damn sick of a three person team. There is better chemistry in a two person booth, again creating a relationship for fans to enjoy, while allowing the commentators to have organic conversation without feeling the need to chime in. Renee Young and Corey Graves have great chemistry together, and it pains me to say that Michael Cole gets in the way of that, often. He is just redundant on the team. The same goes for Byron Saxton and Aiden English. Saxton sucks, so Tom Phillips and Corey Graves would be a fun and refreshing commentary team without Saxton desperately trying to get Graves to respect him. Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuiness work great together on NXT UK, so there is no reason why they can’t on 205 Live as well. As for NXT, I actually like the team they have, but Nigel McGuiness doesn’t really need to be there. Percy Watson and Mauro Renallo would be fine on their own. Also, going in a bit of a random direction, the main roster commentators need to take a page out of NXT’s book of announcing a match or two for next week, to get fans excited a week before the match even happens. I always liked that, but it is really just a random suggestion. A two person booth genuinely works better. And though I criticized Michael Cole, that does not mean that I don’t have an idea for him outside of commentary.

4. Very professional General Managers: Drake Maverick, William Regal and Johnny Saint are phenomenal in their performances as GM. Smackdown and Raw really need something like that. This is where Cole comes in. He, as a professional babyface, would be a welcome change to the constant annoyance that is the presence of an authority figure at every turn. Cole could run the show from behind the scenes, appearing for important segments but nothing more. I think that the McMahons have far overstayed their welcome, although having them around for a few weeks at a time to abuse power is a pretty good idea. But in between those stretches, Cole has a good idea of how to come across as an authority, and he has a subtle charisma about him that would benefit him in that role. He isn’t the kind of guy WWE would want to shove down our throats, and that is the kind of GM Raw and Smackdown need right now. 

5. Fewer non-finishes: these are just infuriating, and they happen all the time. Now, not every count out is necessarily a non finish, but DQ’s tend to be, and they are maddening. I would even lump in the distraction-roll-up finish in here too, because that is waaaaaay overdone. I mean, shouldn’t the faces of the company start to realize what their rivals are doing by playing their music? I hate when the heroes just look dumb. Non-finishes is mostly just a lazy storytelling crutch, and they should be fazed out for competitive matches with actual booking.

6. Better main events: I am just kinda sick of rushed together main events that don’t end up meaning anything. WWE is normally pretty decent with this on Smackdown, but Raw’s main events seem to be repetitive and boring. Why watch a throwaway match like Baron Corbin vs. Rey Mysterio when there was a tag team championship match earlier in the night? That seems ass backwards. WWE needs to respect their belts more, and that includes those in the midcard. If there is a championship match on the card, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be the main event. It will give the final match of the night a sense of stake, and it will elevate the belts. The tag titles are never in the main event slot, and they would get a huge bump for being in that top slot on Raw. Better booking of the main events, in ways that aren’t so repetitive and pointless, will help the shows overall.

7. Keeping track of wins and losses. Because then, we will be able to understand how people are progressively moving towards a title belt. Keeping track of the wins and losses in this manner will give the audience a real sense of where things are going. It will make random title matches and open challenges feel a bit more like a great opportunity, because anyone could challenge even if they aren’t on the list. It will also be an interactive thing with the fans. It will be easier to show people on the rise as they go from contender 5 to number 1. It will just be an easier way to book Becky Lynch’s meteoric rise to the women’s championship, because people could follow it. It will make things feel like a real sport, and that is a good thing in a product that feels oddly in between a sport and soap opera.

8. Weekly press conferences with the on screen GM’s. Speaking of making things feel more like sports, this is a very interesting way to progress storylines. Gm’s come out for a little press conference things, and fake reporters ask questions in kayfabe about certain stories. For example, if there was an attack backstage on Raw, a reporter can ask about it, and the GM can talk about what he or she will do, such as keeping them apart for the night, or booking them in a match. This will be an interesting way to keep on screen authorities involved in the shows without really shoving them down our throats all the time. We don’t need to see someone like William Regal every week, because he will show up on this show and talk about the various feuds. It could also be a great way for champions, or controversial superstars to have a place to cut a promo. It will feel very professional, and interesting, to see the champions speak about their various feuds and such. And yes, an extra hour for fans to watch on the network could be tedious, but given that we are rolling back an hour for Raw, I am not too worried.

9. Use stipulation matches correctly. WWE is very weird about how they book stipulation matches. A few years ago when I started watching, they would not often book a stipulation match, but when they did, it could be anything from a no DQ match to a cage match. This era was around 2011-2012. Then I stopped watching, and I picked up again in early 2017. And boy was there a change on TV. They do more stipulation matches now, but almost all of them are multi-man matches. They happen about once every 2 weeks, whether it is on Raw or Smackdown. And I am not opposed to things like this happening, I just don’t think we need it as often as we are getting it. A good example of a triple threat was on the Smackdown after Elimination Chamber 2017. Now, if you don’t remember, Bray Wyatt won the WWE championship in the chamber that night, and it was only 2 weeks after John Cena beat AJ styles for it at the Royal Rumble. So, on Smackdown, Cena wanted a rematch, and AJ wanted a more fair rematch than he got the sunday before. So, they booked a triple threat main event. That makes sense. But last year and bleeding into this year, they have been throwing together multi-man and multi-team matches to fill out the card and get a lot of bodies on the show. And I understand that impulse to do that,  but it devalues those types of matches and makes them feel a lot less special. When they happen in New Japan, it feels like a huge occasion, because the happen so infrequently. So, if WWE wants multi person matches to feel interesting and special, we can’t have them every two weeks. But at the same time, throwing in a different type of stipulation every once in a while spices things up.

10. Make NXT a real brand. Triple H has already gone on record saying that he wanted to make this a reality, so why not go for it? Given the crazy amount of talent on each roster, having a third brand that is equal but different would really help. If a superstar is too overexposed on the main roster, draft them to NXT. Down there, they feel special, and can get their mojo back. Same goes for 205 live, if a superstar is a cruiserweight. But say someone like Finn Balor or Ricochet or Johnny Gargano just do not work on the main roster, 205 live will give them a fresh start. Now, I get that is disappointing to a lot of people, but given the quality of 205 Live lately, it would only make it and the superstars better. Then they can do some interesting things with titles crossing brands and such, maybe even an NXT vs. Smackdown show or something. It is just interesting.

So, that is how I would improve WWE tv. Not all of these things need to go together, although some of them do, but each one of them would definitely help. Hopefully, WWE can start to implement these and make their shows even better.