Imagine we’re by a campfire; you, me, and a few other campers. We’ve been hiking all day, and now we’re sitting down together to eat and drink and talk. The moonlight splinters against the forest canopy, falling to the dirt like strands of silk. Twigs and leaves snap and rustle in the dark beyond our campsite, reminding us that we’re not really alone. The campfire-light holds us in a warm, orange bubble, as we pull apart bits of jerky and laugh as gram crackers and marshmallows and chocolate dissolve in our mouths. A bottle of Jack passes from mouth to mouth, and that’s when the stories start.
Read MoreTwo weeks ago, on this website, I proclaimed that I would not be watching or writing about Monday Night Raw again until January 5th, 2016. Without malice, I needed to step away from WWE and regain some perspective rather than harp on the same few criticisms every week.
Read MoreThis week’s RAW, right from the start, demonstrated the value of deviation.
One of the most consistent and entirely accurate constructive criticisms leveled at WWE’s three-hour broadcast is that the show adheres to its formula at the expense of offering unpredictable, exciting content for its regular viewers. This is a good constructive criticism that comes from respectable minds and respectful fans - not just from an angry internet contingent who behaves like an unruly, spoiled child. The people who offer this criticism are sympathetic to the difficulties of creating a massive “Sports Entertainment” spectacle like Monday Night Raw; they simply want the show to be as watchable as possible.
Read MorePut your four fingers away.
On Friday, 2K Games swept the rug out from under the very consumers who've continuously thrown hard-earned cash at them over the years in an announcement regarding the state of female wrestlers in their upcoming WWE 2K16 title. In that statement it was confirmed in no uncertain terms that Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley will absolutely not be included in the latest entry into the wrestling franchise.
Read MoreThe only thing anyone will remember about this episode of Monday Night Raw is that Triple H danced with New Day. And while a small smile might have cracked on my face when Triple H started dad-dancing, the fact that this is the only moment to really entertain people and get people excited is something we should all be ashamed of - WWE and fan alike.
Ten seconds of dancing, on a three hour "Sports Entertainment" show is shameful.
Read MoreThe best critique I can offer this week is that Sting should have been the guy to physically push the button on the trash compacter that destroyed Seth Rollins’ chocolate statue.
That's how horribly innocuous this RAW was (save the quality match between Sasha Banks & Paige).
The fact that Sting wasn’t the guy to push the button to destroy Seth’s statue snatches the power of that moment away from Sting. He had a nameless trash-henchman put the final exclamation point on the sentence he’d been writing all night. Any satisfaction the audience might experience at this climax is inevitably less than if Sting had jumped down and punched the button himself.
Read MoreFor the first time in quite some time, I watched RAW in the way the WWE wants me to watch it.
After a weekend dedicated to recording and editing two podcasts, a prototypical 9-5 American Office Monday, and an accumulation of sleep debt that’s in default, a cartoonish, insane, comical, absurd, and completely illogical athletic extravaganza was exactly what I needed.
One follower Tweeted me in agreement that they’d “had about enough reality for today”.
Read MoreOn a show overflowing with experienced pro-wrestling talent, in a company designed to create “WWE Superstars” (which are, unavoidably, a particular brand of pro-wrestler) Stephen Amell, star of the hit comic book-inspired TV-series Arrow, was the most captivating part of the show.
That should never happen. An actor should not be able to come on RAW and show the roster how to perform.
I write that with the utmost respect (and genuine thanks) for what Amell gave me last night.
You entertained me.
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