It's Time, Triple H

It’s been five months since Vince McMahon stepped down from WWE. That seems like a short period of time, but in the world of professional wrestling that’s an eternity. In that time, WWE’s programming has remained largely unchanged with only some minor, occasional adjustments. For example, NXT 2.0 is back to being “black and gold” NXT. RAW has a vignette that plays before the show starts. The opening segment of each production isn’t a guaranteed "promo train” with one superstar interrupting the next until, inevitably, an impromptu match is booked. Sometimes RAW or SmackDown will open to a brawl already in progress or a match about to begin, welcome deviations from the fifteen minute monologue norm.

But nothing substantive, or ideological, has clearly changed.

EDITORIALSTim KailNovember 28, 2022wwe, sami zayn, jey uso, jimmy uso, the usos, triple h, Kevin owens, wrestlemania

The McMahon Behind The Curtain

The opening segment of this week's Monday Night Raw is a light shining at us from the future, illuminating what the WWE could (and hopefully will) become one day.

In it, Roman Reigns, yet again irate at the absence of his WrestleMania opponent, Brock Lesnar, took to the microphone to air his grievances.

Brock, in Roman's words, "Didn't show up to work".

This has been the essence of his problem with Lesnar, and the basis of their WrestleMania rematch. Roman, regardless of the crowd's perpetually mixed-to-negative reaction to him, always shows up to work. He "busts his ass" for the business that's "in his blood", and, just like the fans, he's sick and tired of Brock Lesnar only showing up to work "when the money is right or the city is right". He believes The Universal Champion should be a full-time member of the WWE roster; an unconditional leader of the locker-room and the company.

THE PRO-WRESTLING RENAISSANCE

Professional wrestling is on the verge of a renaissance.

The signs are there, if you’re keen to see them.

This potential revival can be traced back to CM Punk’s "Shoot Heard Round The World". The effects of that single promo continue to radiate throughout the professional wrestling community and particularly in the WWE; namely in the current top program that revolves around Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. If CM Punk had not incorporated their names into that promo, would we be seeing them at the top of the mountain today? Had CM Punk not talked about Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in that promo, would The Authority stable exist today?

Hey, WWE, Please Hire Women Writers

Last night's Raw ended with Stephanie McMahon announcing the inaugural Women’s Royal Rumble match at the forthcoming annual pay-per-view.

This is a welcome announcement that instantaneously makes next year’s Rumble more interesting and essential-viewing. Over the next six weeks, fans will watch this match take shape, and discuss who it should bolster, how it will be structured, and what surprises may be in store. This is all good, and it’s reassuring to see the WWE do the obviously right thing.

Fans should definitely be happy, but fans should also be asking, “What happens after?”

The Inaugural Women's Royal Rumble Review (2018)

The WWE's annual Royal Rumble is many pro-wrestling fan's favorite pay-per-view, and with good reason.

It is the pop-filled prelude to WrestleMania, typically establishing the primary Championship narratives that lead into Vince McMahon's "showcase of the immortals". Unfortunately, recent Rumbles have been mired in fan discontent, with the WWE and its audience locked in deep disagreement about who deserves the "top guy" moniker, and thus a shot at WrestleMania's main event.

All eyes await, with a mounting sense of anticipatory dread, as the final four participants are revealed. There is a collective sense of "really...this is who it's going to be?" that hangs over the final minutes of the match like a grim cloud.

WOW - EP147 - Survivor Series 2017 Review

This year's Survivor Series fluctuated between "fine" and "fun". Nothing was terrible, but nothing was too memorable, and in-between existed a lot of legitimately good fun.

The basic conceit of Raw and SmackDown facing off in competition would resonate more if the stakes were clearly outlined and involved more than "bragging rights".

We might know the motivations of the characters when they're outside the squared circle (i.e. Kurt Angle wants to keep his job, Shane McMahon wants SDLive to be more than the B-show), but we don't know what an actual win in the wrestling match itself signifies. The concept of "why" any of this is happening doesn't have an instantly accessible answer beyond, "Because!"

Tim Kail's Raw Review

There are times when the WWE strikes that perfect balance between heavy-handed schmaltz and sincere, logical storytelling.

That elusive sweet spot may just be the purest representation of the WWE's perspective on professional wrestling; an over-the-top family saga wrapped in spandex, fireworks, and an assortment of colorful heroes & villains that occasionally results in genuine expressions of pain, joy, surprise, and psychosis.

One such moment occurred on the November 13th, 2017 episode of Monday Night Raw when Kurt Angle and his tearful "son", Jason Jordan, were interrupted by a grim & determined Triple H.

The Art of Wrestling Is In The Details

The pro-wrestling community does a lot of debating about "no-selling", "dick flips", and "beach balls" these days.

But what about the roll-up?

What about how a wrestler uses their eyes during a pin?

What about the little, fundamental details of professional wrestling that get buried under high spots, hand-gestures, headbutts, entrances, memes, and chants from self-obsessed audiences? I'm certainly guilty of falling prey to the analysis of these popular topics (see my article from two weeks ago).

Your Negative Perception Of 205 Live Is Not Reality

On Tuesday night at 10:50 pm, I was quietly screaming at my television and pumping my fist with restrained desperation. I was "quiet" and "restrained" only because my wife was peacefully sleeping next to me, and I did not want to wake her. While words didn't actually escape my mouth, I could feel myself shouting, internally, "To-za-wa!!!". Akira Tozawa was making his "comeback" in a 205 Live main event match against Ariya Daivari. It was a number one contender's match to determine who would face Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship at SummerSlam. So it mattered.

It seemed to me that all of the conditions were right for enjoying some fun, psychologically sound professional wrestling. I had tuned in after a long day at work, and I was winding down towards sleep, reclined in my bed, Tweeting along with fellow viewers, insulated in a warm bubble of pro-wrestling goodness. All was right with the world from my vantage, and Tozawa and Daivari were telling me a reassuring bedtime story about the power of perseverance.

Stop Lying To Me, Babyfaces: Or Why WWE Heels Always Win

Whether it's Triple H pontificating about the value of hard work or The Miz describing, in minute detail, how meaningless the Intercontinental Championship was on Dean Ambrose's shoulder, heels consistently make accurate and even inspired observations about life and their opponents. Heels tend to speak with confidence and certainty, and, more often than not, they're proven right. They say they're going to win and they win. They lose, and they talk their way out of it through snarky humor or they immediately retaliate (demonstrating cunning, resiliency, and decisiveness). Or they vanish off television for months after their loss, and so their loss is forgotten.

The Anatomy Of WWE Backstage Segments

I haven't watched a full episode of RAW in over three months.

I catch up by way of clips on Twitter and I skim through Hulu's already abridged version. I spend most of my time perusing the promos, the skits, and whatever vignettes there may be, cramming the broad strokes of the larger narratives so that I might be able to pass whatever WWE-quiz comes my way. Altogether, after also checking up on SmackDown, I've condensed my WWE-viewership into about thirty minutes a week (unless there's a pay-per-view and then that duration naturally increases).

The result is that I'm a much happier human being, and I'm probably a lot easier to be around. I don't obsess about booking decisions. I don't bicker with anyone online. I don't care about anyone's criticism of my criticisms. The imagined judgements of some phantom "real pro-wrestling fan" have vacated my mind, replaced with a sense of peace and the ability to interact with pro-wrestling in a healthier way on my own terms.

You Will Keep Booing Roman Reigns And It Will Change Nothing

If you still boo Roman Reigns, nothing will convince you to stop booing Roman Reigns.

It doesn't matter if the WWE books Roman Reigns in a manner that "emphasizes his strengths and hides his weaknesses", it doesn't matter if Roman Reigns adds fifty death-defying moves to his repertoire, it doesn't matter if Roman Reigns journeys back in time and works the indies for fifteen years before coming to the WWE, and it doesn't matter if Roman Reigns starts cutting promos with the eloquence and depth of a classically trained Shakespearean actor.

No matter the objective improvements in Roman Reigns' performance or the improvements in the way WWE books him, and no matter how well-reasoned an argument in Roman's favor may be, you will go on booing.

And that's fine. I've accepted this. Keep booing.

No energy should be expended by anyone (least of all Roman Reigns fans) in an effort to convince you to change your mind. You are entrenched in your perspective and you're just going to keep digging in.

The Writings