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I probably missed it in a hotline somewhere during the madness of the holiday season, but have you guys covered the reason why Marty Scurll didn’t follow the rest of the Elite out of ROH? Did his ROH contract not end at the same time? Or is he on the outs with the rest of the guys? Last I heard, they were all on the Jericho cruise claiming all for one and one for all and they’ll move as a pack.
Scurll’s contract has not expired yet, thus he is not free to sign with AEW.
What are your thoughts on Asuka winning the belt from Becky and do you think they did it so that Becky could enter and win the rumble and challenge Ronda at Mania or am I giving them too much credit.
Second question first, that HAS to be the reason that they did it. If it’s not, they have lost their collective minds. The match for Mania is Ronda vs. Becky. Right now, it’s the leader for Main Event status in my opinion. I liked the way that the got the belt off of her. She never really lost it, Ronda cost her. So that set up their match. And Charlotte has a claim to the belt as well, which sets up her vs. Asuka. They gotten that one right thus far. Of course, now Becky faces Asuka at The Rumble so we will see where they go from there.
Do you think there's any chance that WWE will do a Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton rematch at WrestleMania? Their match in 2016 at Summerslam was absolutely brutal and ended prematurely due to Lesnar busting Orton open and giving him a concussion. I could be wrong, but I don't remember WWE ever going back to truly finish the feud. Given that Orton and Lesnar were both in the Class of 2002 and that the rivalry never quite ended, do you think there's any possibility that they might go back to it in an effort to draw money at their biggest show of the year?
I don’t see what the point would be. It doesn’t fit in with the current storylines at all.
I watch a lot of UFC PPVs, and because they are unscripted, they do something that is very different from the WWE — their stars aren’t on every PPV. In their case, it can be several months before you see the same guy or woman headline a show. Don’t you think the WWE can reduce some of the burnout amongst their writers and wrestlers if they started working their PPV offerings differently, they can create new stars and spread out storylines a little better. You have four world champions between the men and the women and you can start elevating the other titles better and create a more meaningful #1 contender match for either brand. Is it the case of the WWE worrying too much about people not watching a show of the top person isn’t headlining? And didn’t they create that problem?
Here is the problem, the burnout isn’t due to PPVs. It’s due to overexposure on TV, which far more people watch than PPVs. WWE earns more revenue from TV rights at this time than they do from the next three generators (house shows, merchandise and The Network) combined. That ratio will get even larger in October when the new TV deals kick in. Since they need to generate ratings, and fill five hours of first run TV every week, they take an all hands on deck approach to the talent. I don’t see that changing.
I am aware of the "fresh start" Vince McMahon declared being a lot of riding hype-train (that's what the company does after all; they have to sell the product to the masses) and I am certainly willing to give them time to improve, if the problems were truly addressed so my worries after two throwaway shows between holidays and just one regular show in 2019 aren't really growing thus far, however ... when talking about a needed fresh start, why include Smackdown?! Tuesdays are usually a fun time & while not everything is enjoyable to me, the blue show seems to have a much directer approach, far more logic and seems just more compact (of course they benefit from only having to fill 2 hours). The hottest female star (and arguably the hottest all around at the moment), the most worked out new character in the new Daniel Bryan, the will to take a chance with Mustafa Ali fo example, an existing (!) and very fun tag team-division (with nothing but good teams) and a strong midcard on top. I'm not saying the show is flawless, but it does offer a lot and a lot of that, at least to me, is really fun to watch. What is your take on this? Am I the only one? Just enjoying supporting the underdog?
I enjoy Smackdown more than Raw pretty much every, single week. I believe part of that is that Vince McMahon focuses more on Raw, and less on Smackdown, so we get more fun stuff on Tuesdays. I hope it stays that way when it moves to FOX in October. As for why they include Smackdown, well they were trying to shake things up and get viewers back so they did it on both brands, whatever “it” turns out to be.
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