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ZIGGLER VS. STYLES, EXPLAINING BROKEN MATT, WHY WWE CENSORS ITSELF AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2016-12-23 10:01:00

Ziggler vs Styles for the title? Gee, I wonder who will win? Do you think that maybe someday that Creative will get tired of giving us the same old stuff over and over, or are we doomed?

To be fair, I don't believe we've ever seen Styles vs. Ziggler before, so by definition, they are giving us something new.

What is all you know on the Tyson Kidd neck injury regarding the severity of it and how it has been handled by WWE since day one through now?  Do you feel WWE has treated Tyson Kidd fairly?

We know he was injured and remains under contract.  We also know that the company will not clear him to return.  While the situation is sad, we can't say the company treated him fairly or not becase you are asking too grand a question.  Is it fair he's not wrestling?  I don't even think WWE would say it is.  Is it fair WWE is keeping him out to prevent him from getting hurt?  That depends.  If you are a wrestler who just wants to wrestle, probably not.  If you look at it from the perspective of the company is protecting him from fiurther injury, one might say that letting him get hurt again would be the unfair result.  It's obvious there is a massive strain between the two sides and I wouldn't be shocked to see it end up in a courtroom at some point, but until it does and one side publicly comments, it's hard to say what it and isn't fair.  I don't think either side would argue this, however: What happened to Kidd is unfortunate and sad. 

If someone were to ask you what the appeal of "Broken" Matt Hardy is, what would your answer be?  Would you point to the unique nature of the character?  I ask because I don't find him very appealing.  Normally don't watch TNA but tried watching Total Nonstop Deletion based upon comments.  I stopped the stream after about five minutes.  I found Hardy's voice grating and the concept of a child "wrestling" to be absurd.  Yes, it's different, but it didn't entertain me personally.  I don't deny the value of "the Broken One" and the viewership he's gotten for TNA, just not my cup of tea.

First of all, if it doesn't appeal to you, nothing I say is going to change that.  That said, if I was explaining Hardy to someone who wasn't a pro wrestling fan, I would tell them to think of a tongue in cheek comedy character that you might see in an action film who's a little left of center or to watch the segments the way you would watch say a Sharknado type film.  You have to let reality loose a little and enjoy the ride or else it won't work.  Hardy brings some charisma and comedy to a world that has been all too black and white and by doing so, adds a fresh coat of pain.  The appeal is that there is an insane, larger than life character that is entertaining and who brings about him a madness that allow for some lunacy and for reality to be a little upended.  Pro Wrestling used to be filled with an endless amount of those but they have lessened over the years, so Hardy stands out because he is against the grain becaue he's doing a gimmick any time he's in the public eye that is a fully fleshed out character that he's enveloped himself in.  It's fun and if you aren't going to let yourself have fun with it, well, then it's never going to work.

I haven't been seeing a lot of info on Lucha Underground ratings. At this point, season 4 has yet to be announced. How has the average viewership been holding up? I understand that El Rey is still a fairly small network, and I don't expect LU to even have TNA numbers at this point, but have they been ranking in the top cable 150? How does it fair against the other programs on the network- is it one of, if not THE most-watched? Is El Rey happy with the numbers? In your opinion, what's the best course of action to helping the show grow? 

Nielsen doesn't cover the El Rey Network numbers, as least to the best of my knowledge.  I never hear numbers for any of the network's original series.  So, it's impossible to gauge how it's doing, but I do get a sense that in terms of feedback from our readers, it's dropped this season.  The promotion is slated to do a fourth season but there has yet to be an official pick-up nor any taping dates set.

Do you know why WWE scripts things to happen on their shows, only to censor them on their website? I've noticed this lately with Charlotte's "apology" to Ric and Natalya's confession to Nikki that they're scripted to use the word "b**ch", but when the highlight is posted on their website, the word is bleeped, or the video is edited in a way where that portion is removed.

To prevent the material from being flagged as inappropriate for all ages.

 

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