Is WWE becoming WCW?

Now I do not mean to infer that WWE is taking washed up has beens and paying them a bucket load to do sweet FA but I am inferring that WWE is trying to make big with guys that the WWE universe isn’t overly interested in when push comes to shove. This will focus mainly on a management angle rather than a talent angle, but just to clarify I don’t need to see Big Show & Kane in main event matches anymore, or at least not as often as I am seeing them in main event matches currenlty.

Roman Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble and a massive backlash ensued from the general public because they didn’t feel like he should win the match to get a main event title match against, pardon me, the current reigning and defending WWE champion, the Beast Incarnate, the Conqueror BROCK LESNAR!  (So much cooler when spoken) In all honesty I don’t like Reigns, I never have even when he was in the Shield and I don’t personally like the idea of him ending Lesnar’s run as champion.

Now with Daniel Bryan returning from injury and seemingly on the way back up to the top, most people did believe that WWE should have him win the rumble match to go to Wrestlemania to challenge Lesnar for the WWE title, however with his “brief” stint in the rumble match itself the whole WWE universe at the event turned on the show which up to that point hadn’t been half bad in all fairness. The whole match was booked pretty badly in my opinion and gave the result away too quickly, but then again we all had an inkling that Reigns was going to win as we had been bombarded by internet stories that Reigns was going to go over Lesnar at mania 31, so really it’s our fault for not believing the stories.

Now onto my point, there has been a lot of talk that unless WWE want you to be a star that they will do whatever they can to kill your momentum as they do not want you to be too over with the crowds, a strange angle to take when you’re looking to make money!! Surely the more people you have over the more money they will make you, for example in merchandise sales and tickets / PPV buys or hell even WWE network sign ups. In the “Rise and Fall of WCW” documentary, Chris Jericho goes to mention that you were almost punished in WCW if you got over and your weren’t a main event talent and the likes of himself and Dean Malenko were there to just fill the card in between nWo segments.

This feels like it is now becoming a theme in WWE, the likes of Ziggler, Bryan, Ambrose and Cesaro were all over with the fans but WWE seems determined to not let any of them get over and do their upmost to bury them, which seems so stupid because these are guys who can entertain and make WWE money, which is again surely the whole point of being in business? Cesaro as an example was getting a lot of crowd support from being in the Real Americans and using his big swing, so what did WWE do, split the Real Americans and put Cesaro with Paul Heyman! Fine ok I get it, but all Heyman did was promote the fact Lesnar beat the Undertakers streak at Wrestlemania and then to make it worse they stopped him doing the move that put him over in the first place, the giant swing. WHY???

It seems like Seth Rollins is the only real exception to the rule currently with his heel turn in 2014 pushing him to the moon in becoming probably the biggest heel on the current roster, allowing him to showcase the huge amount of talent he has in the main events of a few PPVs with names like Cena and Lesnar. The future will hopefully be bright for the likes of Rollins and hopefully we won’t see WWE kill the push of another great talent.

The other major note is of course Raw becoming a 3 hour show, no one needed that really, it dilutes the show and instead of getting good matches we get maybe 1 or 2 good matches mixed in to long boring promo sequences and rubbish 2-3 minute matches. I know it brings in millions of dollars of advertising revenue for WWE but come on, quality over quantity my friend. WCW moved to a 3 hour show you know, desperation kicked in for them and look where they are now, filling a 3 hour show with a couple of gems and a load of garbage didn’t pay off for them. Just little bits like that are moves WCW made and were known for making.

With WWE chewing up and spitting out their PPV business with the WWE network, the need for increased revenue is surely at a paramount level of importance now, surely guys getting over will do wonders for your business? Ticket sales and merchandise will obviously become a big percentage of the money made moving forward and I fail to see how not promoting the talent who the fans like is a good business model! Very similar to when WCW didn’t allow the likes of Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and various others to truly climb the ladder there and to become bigger stars than they were previously in the eyes of their audience.

To conclude, these aren’t massive comparisons but you have to admit they are there and they could become even more relevant to the legacy of WWE and even Vince McMahon himself in the future. Hope lies with Steph & HHH at this stage, with NxT taking off and gaining popularity and often being deemed the best TV show WWE puts on, this template could always be brought over to RAW or Smackdown to improve the content of the shows and that would hopefully lead to more eyes on the product and more money being spent on merchandise and tickets sales, which surely is the point?

You can follow me on twitter @bigboss010 or on Instagram on bigbosstp010,

 

I’ve been Big Boss and I’m out…… Peace.

UFC 183 – “The Spider” Anderson Silva vs Nick Diaz (Middleweight fight)

Ok, I’m back, this time with another UFC main event fight review. Before we get started you can follow me on twitter @bigboss010 and on instagram as bigbosstp010.

This fight has intrigued me as I have never seen Silva fight, only heard how good he is via reputation, however he is currently 39 years old so will be interesting to see how he gets on against a younger opponent who has been more active. Nick Diaz I have seen fight before and he is really good and gets into a character which adds to his entertainment value in a sport that has very few sellable characters.  I am really looking forward to this I must admit and thank god I managed to get my BT sport sorted before this event, just from the announcements the crowd are ready for this fight, they are electric.

Round # 1

Off we go, Diaz starts baiting Silva early with some trash talk but Silva doesn’t go for it and connects but Diaz keeps up the talking and even drops to the floor and lies down taunting Silva, who doesn’t look impressed, Diaz follows that up with a lean against the cage wall too. Diaz knows how to get the crowd reacting! Soon the ref gets on Diaz to actually fight and they start throwing punches and kicks. Eventually Silva turns it around and starts doing some taunting himself. Both guys get some great kicks and punches with Silva getting a great high knee in. That ends round 1 in great style with some great kick attempts from Diaz. Both guys do a bit of talking at the end.

My personal opinion on that round would be very close but I think I’d give it to Silva for some great punch and kicks, plus that massive knee towards the later half the round.

Round # 2

Not as much trash talk this time as the round kicks off, think Diaz may have done a little too much in round 1 and knows he needs to be careful. Diaz really going for them leg kicks on Silva, a fair few getting some good connection and Silva not doing a good job blocking them. Diaz goes for a takedown but misses. Some great exchanges with punches and kicks from both guys, Diaz being a little smarter this round but Silva has hit some big combinations and with the end of the round they both do some more trash talking. The crowd are really into this fight, chants in abundance.

I don’t know with this round who I would give that too, I feel like it has to be Silva again just due to some of those combinations he landed and he just felt more of the aggressor in that round too where Diaz despite ditching a lot of the trash talking and taunting didn’t pull it back.

Round  # 3

Anderson comes out swinging this time with some kicks. Diaz starts trash talking and taunting again but this time Silva backs off to draw Diaz back into the centre of the octagon instead of taking any bait from Diaz.  The talking’s over as they starts getting some serious exchanges with Silva again hitting some great combinations on Diaz that bust him open above the eye. Diaz lands some great punches on Silva at the end of the round but Silva appears unpahsed, Diaz isn’t looking as good as he has in previous rounds there.

I have give this round to Silva, he just didn’t take the Diaz trash talking and just landed so many strikes and had great octagon control and aggression. Easy to award that to Silva.

Round  # 4

Diaz is looking beaten up, his side is bruised to go with his busted up eye but is already being quite aggressive this round as he goes back to the leg kicks. But again Silva has some great control in the octagon trying to keep Diaz against the cage. At the end of that round I still think Silva has the fight in the bag really.

I’d give it to Silva still based on control and aggression; he just takes hits but lands some better ones.

Round # 5

I didn’t think this would go the distance but may still surprise me. Diaz goes right back to the taunting and trash talking, Silva again doesn’t react just keeps his pace. Crowd are going mad for Silva. Diaz showing so much more aggression this round, following Silva around to get those shots in on Silva. As the round comes to a close both guys really have been very aggressive in the final round, both wanting the finish I think but sadly the fight goes the distance.

I’d actually give the final round to Diaz simply for sympathy mainly but he did get some great shots in and was so much more aggressive I think in that round however I think it was a little too late.

The Decision

The judges award the fight to Anderson Silva, good call from the judges there and the crowd are very happy about it too. Silva breaks down and starts crying, Diaz comes and picks him up and congratulates him and tells him not to cry! What a fight though!! I was surprised this fight didn’t go to the ground to be honest, as both guys are ju jitsu black belts so I expected more than 1 takedown attempt but still was a great fight and really entertained.

Well thats the UFC 183 main event fight. Thanks for reading and joining me. I do plan on watching the Feb 28^th UFC 184 as Ronda Rousey defends her Bantamweight title against Cat Zinagno, which I am super stoked for and cannot wait to see that fight. Hopefully will write up another review.

Again you can follow me on twitter @bigboss010, I’ve been Big Boss and I’m out..... Peace.