Nia Jax spoke about Simone Johnson and more.
Mick Foley talked about The Undertaker continuing his career and more. It's a lot easier for fans to say they'd turn down a big payday when they're not in the shoes of these older wrestlers.
Sonya Deville was on Fox Sports' John Ramos Show.
WWE did another "Dream Match Mania" episode for Backlash. This episode featured The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton vs. Batista, and Sasha Banks vs. Bayley.
Big Show, Mandy Rose, and Adam Cole will be on the Backlash Watch Along. I'm curious if/when we'll see Show in the ring again.
Smackdown drew 2.02 million viewers this week, which is bizarrely being viewed as a strong number driven by AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan. It's still the fourth lowest audience of the FOX era and lower than four of the past five weeks.
Drew McIntyre promoted Backlash.
Randy Orton responded to criticism of his WrestleMania match and more. Frankly generations of fans have been conditioned to think a good match is 25 minutes or more of fast-paced spots, and anything that doesn't fit that is panned.
Shawn Michaels discussed Edge vs. Randy Orton and more. Most matches shouldn't try to be the greatest match ever. Every card needs its up and downs.
Nia Jax spoke to TalkSport about injuries and more:
- Nia in the men's Rumble was definitely a bit unexpected but done well.
- The story was that Dean was going to be punished or buried or whatever by facing Nia on the way out, but it was felt that would only make fans rally behind him more.
The Undertaker spoke to TVInsider about "The Last Ride."
Chris DeJoseph commented on his WWE tenure coming to an end.
Dustin Rhodes responded to Howard Stern not knowing about AEW.
Chris Jericho spoke to WhatCulture. Amazing to hear him admit he'd want Roman in AEW given how much that crowd hates Reigns.
Joey Janela is on the Doughboys podcast.
NJPW taped matches in California with American wrestlers. Former MLW Champion Tom Lawlor joined Jeff Cobb, TJP, Rocky Romero, Mysterioso, and others on the card.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com question:
1. There's a lot to unpack here:
1.a. I really hope he's not implying the business needs another Attitude Era. It could benefit from something that successful, yes, but not recreating a style from 20 years ago. There's a reason music, movies, etc. don't look and sound like they did in 2000.
1.b. It's convenient to not remember Rock had a writer he worked with closely on his promos. Obviously things were a lot more free-flowing then, and I also think it would benefit things if they were more free-flowing now, but making it all about having writers vs. not having them is a gross oversimplification.
1.c. He completely ignored the sixth person in that match, Rikishi.
1.d. I'm on board with the notion that the business needs more dynamic characters who aren't robotic in their delivery. Frankly some of that responsibility needs to be on the trainers and recruiters who are emphasizing athleticism at the expense of larger-than-life personalities.
1.e. Heyman tried pushing Seth as a babyface. The fans turned on Seth, so Heyman went in a different direction. It's insane to ignore why Seth's character changed to what it is now.
1.f. Heyman chose to develop young talent rather than using the likes of Edge, Orton, etc. every week. I understand and appreciate why he did so, but this analysis is really skewed to put all the blame on Vince.
1.g. And who booked the Lana angle, as a somewhat successful way to get eyes on the product? That was all Heyman.
1.h. Heyman was given enough leeway to change the look and feel of Raw. The deck was stacked against him, but it's ludicrous to think he hadn't made changes.
1.i. All this said, I think Paul Heyman was mostly on the mark in putting in place changes that were designed to build things long-term. It took years of declining ratings for Vince to hit the panic button, and it was going to take years to turn things around. I don't expect Prichard will be able to wave a magic wand, either, but it is possible he clashes less with Vince than Heyman did. At the end of the day, Vince is going to put out the show he wants as long as he keeps making a lot of money to do so.
More wrestling tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment