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You had inside information that Punk would be the fifth man when you wrote your column last week, right?
Incorrect! What I did have was about three decades of Paul Heyman’s booking so I looked at all of the things that WWE had told us in the storylines and went with the person who made perfect sense for the spot, and that was Punk. I love great booking, always have.
Am I missing why we are supposed to now like Roman Reigns? Another heel in his ruthless faction deposed him. While away his “Wise Man” and cousin get brutalized and doesn’t immediately stand up for them upon his return - which would have been a heroic babyface thing to do. Roman was more concerned about his Tribal Chief position than seeking revenge. Now, Reigns is being ungrateful and toolish to the Usos and Sami Zayn; making them appear dumb like 1990 Sting for their loyalty. Lastly, Seth Rollins seems like the only smart one with a memory longer than an amoeba. The way this is booked, I want the new Bloodline to smash cocky Roman, his simp cousins, and kiss ass Zayn. Am I the only one not feeling Roman’s face turn?
As I said in the column from last week, which I guessed you missed and can read by clicking here, Roman is NOT a babyface. Yet. The fans are cheering for him and a lesser booker would probably just act like Roman had turned, but he hasn’t. His character is complex and they would never take that easy out. But, what we are slowly seeing is his character slowly, subtly change and become a better person. I think he will eventually BE a babyface but right now, he is not. That’s what makes following the story so much fun.
I just watched SmackDown and I had to write in! Does ANYBODY and has ANYBODY ever done storytelling better than modern WWE? The Women's WarGames story with Jade's injury, the amazing Cody Rhodes-Kevin Owens segment, and the ending with Heyman and Punk! Did you enjoy all of this too? Amazing!
I love what WWE is doing right now, love it. To me, it’s The Gold Standard of booking for sure.
With WWE moving to Netflix, do you see any concerns after the Paul - Tyson Fight? The streaming didn't go as planned and many people were unable to watch the fight due to the servers being overloaded. Can you imagine or think that the WWE might have slight issues with people being unable to watch RAW live? What will also happen to "The longest running television show in history"?
I don’t think WWE is concerned at all. Worst case scenario Netflix has issues and people can’t watch the show cleanly live. WWE still gets paid. With that said, the amount of viewers for the fight was massive and WWE will never get that many for Raw. Plus, Netflix has the NFL coming up next month so it will be another event that they can air and learn from. They know what they are doing. They will make the necessary adjustments and be fine.
Another question comes from PLE/PPVs: Are there plans to stream those too on Netflix? What is the future of the WWE Network? Will it convert to a library whilst Netflix is providing the Live programming?
Since you said “whilst” I am guessing you are outside of the US. As time goes by and existing deals outside of the US expire, yes the PLEs will be on Netflix in various countries. In the US, Peacock has the rights until March of 2026.
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