Boo-man Reigns

The wild island of Samoa... that's where the savages, the canibals life - right? At least that's what one might think if he ever saw the Wild Samoans (Sika and Afa).
Well, Sika's son is, as all of you who might read this probably alerady know, no other than Roman Reighns.
A great wrestling family with star names like Peter Maivia, Yokozuna, Rikishi and Dwayn "The Rock" Johnson... there are a few of them in WWE at the moment (just think of the Uso twins).
But unlike most of the Samoans Roman seems to be too reserved.
Yes, he's young, strong, doesn't look half bad and can perform well in the ring (remember Summerslam 2014: Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton). OK, the comments on that one were split (not the first few) and yes, I agree - it was Randy who carried the match. There's nothing wrong with that. It was Rick Rude or Macho Man to carry the Ultimate Warrior's matches too (yup remembering Warrior at Summerslam in a steel cage against the Ravishing one).
But Reigns had to play his part - and he did.
There's no doubt, he could have been the top face in teh business... but for one simple fact - he's getting booed at.
And no, it's not only Royal Rumble 2015 and it's not because he's put in a spot and Daniel Bryan isn't.
People genuenly hate Reigns, as they do Cena. But Cena's playin ghte crowd with it. Reigns is still a bit too green for that.
The Shield was a great thing, but sure enough it had to break up. Unfortunately, I don't think they exploited the oportunities enough... True, it was the hernia operation that kept Reigns from the ring, but by that time Dean and Seth were already pass a major breakthrough in single's competition and Roman was left behind - and he was getting a push, although he got outshined.
Another problem is, that he couldn't be groomed. I mean, Seth would probably be in a programme against him, but with all his talent (Seth's got enough to start selling it at a garage sale)he's not one to groom. Maybe the Rock could do that... but I'm not sure either.
Now, they've given him to Big Show and possibly Kane... so maybe he'll come back more polished, but it's too late.
But his push was what made the people made!
But, getting heat from the crowd was always a good draw and by the end of an event it's only about how much money it made.
As I already wrote in my John Cena Sucks artickle, there's a whole new possibility with the babyface beeing booed upon. It's a new push, it generates new heat and WWE is being aware of it - how could they not be.
Just see how many comments there were about Wrestlemania, how the broadcast played down the intensity of boos against Reigns. I mean, it's all there to talk about - making the event a huge online trend. And as soon as you get people split over an issue, they will follow it. Up untill recently people were split when it came down to matches of crowd favorites... now they're split when just talking about one wrestler. That is optimization for WWE :)
So, does Reigns deserve to be booed at? Not really, he's done nothing wrong. But he's just got turned into a guy that the people will love to hate - and WWE didn't go overboard: Reigns didn't get the belt!

At least, that's what I think, you're always free to comment.
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Wrestlemania 31 - Sting was only a replacement!

I know, I know... I've nothing concrete to back up what I claim, but hear me out and tell me if it still sounds crazy!

Remember the eighties, when the high energy entrance music hit the speakers and everybody was on their feet to see the painted muscle-man run down the aisle to the ring?

And he took a beating, but made a comeback being impervious to pain... a true hero to the kids, who adored him, who still have found memories of him as a wrestling legend and who watched him get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.

Think about the Warrior!

He was as big as one could get in the industry, even achieving a clean victory over Hogan. But then he simply disappeared. He got in fights with McMahon and after he left the WWE/F he was basically no more. OK, he returned to WCW to form the OWN (one warrior nation), but nothing really came out of it.

WWE even made a documentary shaming the guy (The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior) and things went to courts and all... ugly business.

Yet Triple H brought him back, to the HoF, class of 2014. At the ceremony he addressed his two little girls, saying how they never got to see him in action, do his Warrior thing.

Triple H admitted, he loved to watch the Ultimate Warrior, he was like a cartoon hero brought to life, and people gathered behind him. It was like Batman jumped out of the pages of the comic!

My thoughts are, that Hunter wanted to fight the Warrior at Wrestlemania 31! It's pure speculation, but it does seem more than possible. It might have had happened, were it not for the tragic death of the Ultimate Warrior (rest in peace). It was even more eerie to hear his speech on RAW before he passed away, as if he knew...

But why did he pass away?

There are, naturally, speculations. He was supposed to be done in by the illuminati. Search for it, there's a whole "report" of it on youtube (hmm, maybe I should start posting links to stuff I'm talking about).

But what do I think happened?

I think he started preparing for his return to WWE, to Wrestlemania 31, for one final fight, his retirement spectacle. But his body wasn't able to cope with it.

OK, call me crazy if you wish, call me uninformed - as I haven't read the coroner’s report (nor am I sure I'd understand it all, if I did) - but that's what I believe. He started training, and just maybe took a little something to make the training more effective... and the sadness fell to the rings worldwide as a great legend passed away.

And what to do in such a case? When you can't get the Ultimate Warrior back to ring?

Get Blade runner Rock's tag team partner, Blade runner Flash, to face the Terra Rysing at Wrestlemania 31 (thank you Keyfabenews.com for running that lovely article about these two characters facing off - had a great laugh).

So yes, there was no Warrior left, so who's left that could possibly fill the shoes of such a legend but his former tag team partner - Sting!

Many people guessed and hoped for Sting facing the Undertaker, which would have made much more sense. Just as his Triplenes would be better fitted against the Warrior as an opponent, but we will naturally never know.

However, next time I'll talk about another thing that did occur at Wrestlemania (playbutton) 31 and we might know about it as it still goes on and on and on... people's reaction to Roman Reigns!

Keep following!

The Madness of a Macho Man!

OK, I know I said I'll be writing about Roman Reigns and why he's being booed at, but I think that with Randy Savage entering the Hall of Fame this year, I'll cover this first, as I guess that the WWE Universe vs. Reigns would in a way resemble the Cena Sucks train of thought too much at this point, plus I still want it to develop a bit more (it's possible that Wrestlemania had the positive impact on the Samoan star that the creative writers were looking for).

So this year, finally, Macho Man entered the WWE Hall of Fame. Finally! I cannot repeat this enough. He deserved to enter the Hall of Fame a long time ago. The things he had done for the industry are just incredible.

He was able to learn the business from early on, with his father Angelo Poffo being a wrestler, who (to quote Hogan's HoF introduction speech) always wore canary yellow tights. He was also a very religious man and the man who held the sit-up record of 6033 sit-ups within ten minutes. And he was also a chess player (so who ever says that you either use your body or your head - a quote from Rocky - is here by proven wrong).

And Randy had his younger brother with him in the business as well. Sure, you'll say that The Genius was no prominent figure in WWF (it was when the F word was still in use), but hey - I still remember Leaping Lanny Poffo and the Frisbees he threw (I simply loved that gimmick... being a kid and all and always trying to get a Frisbee off the neighbour’s garage - and here was a guy just throwing them away at the public). And never forget that before joining the WWF the Poffo brothers were quite a violent tag team, breaking announce tables and taking it outside the ring long before extreme became awesome.

So no wonder Macho injured the Dragon with the ring bell - he was taking it outside the ring (Ricky Steamboat is another story that I'll cover at one point or the other - especially since he's one of few guys to always portrait babyfaces) and allowed for the legendary match, many still consider the greatest wrestling match in Wrestlemania history (well, there's been better matches, but this was among first great ones).

But Randy's contribution to the industry was not only the matches... it was his approach to them. When George "The Animal" Steel talked about it, he said he was offended that a relative new comer came up to him with a thick script of how the fued and match will play out. But look at George's matches from before - and look at his match with Macho Man! I mean George vs. Kamala was a 12 minutes of stare-down, with a few foot stomps. No match, no fighting - still entertaining - but I mean, how would you feel today if two guys would just be seizing each other up, not doing anything and ten minutes and one move later the match would be over?

It was Macho Man who was putting energy into matches from the first time he entered the WWF ring, right down to the last time, when he jumped from the commentary into the ring - to get "kicked from WWF," only to continue in WCW with excellent matches against DDP long after Vince decided not to give him a program with the Heartbreak Kid.

Want to see a match, which probably features the most in-ring talent gathered in a match? Find yourself the tag match between Sean Michaels & Ric Flair vs. Bret Heart & Randy Savage.

I mean, everybody always talked about Hulkamania and how Hogan was always fighting monster heels... but it was the Macho Madness that really made Hogan shine! For once there was no monster giant heel (like Andre or Bundy) nor was anybody putting people in a stretcher (like Earthquake or Psycho Sid were doing)... there was even not anti-American character (like the Sheik or Slaughter). It was Macho Man, who accused the Hulkster or eyeing Elisabeth (and I guess most people were - she really was a beauty and Randy's real life wife that he did get over protective and jealous about at times), but that made the story into something people could relate to!

Macho, along with Snuka, were the two fliers at the time when wrestling was quite static. Randy was an energetic head on colourful character that did not seem like a cartoon, but like something out of this world in a form of an almost average human. He wasn't among biggest guys in the industry, but he made it believable that he could beat anybody... and it never hurt him to lose to anybody either. That's why he wasn't beyond doing jobs and putting people over - he just made sure that he came out looking better for it, even after a lost match (just remember him and Warrior in a career ending match at Wrestlemania - one of the best matches I could think of).

Savage really did set the bar for most of the wrestlers to follow. So if you weren't 7 foot tall or over 500lbs you fell into the category of the Macho Man and had to prove you can perform on that level of intensity and in-ring speed - not to mention the other stuff he did. Choreographing the matches to perfection, always trying for something new, but still suiting the characters in the match (think Warrior with 5 shoulder blocks after his standard finisher didn't work). Think of him on the mic commenting other people in the ring. That's about as close as Vince came to finding a substitute for Ventura. And think of all the promos Randy cut. Now they were way out there - even if compared to the Ultimate Warrior (OK, guess I'll have to cover the Warrior next, since I'm mentioning him so often - and I really think the Warrior also relates to Wrestlemania 31 even though he passed away about a year ago today).

I mean - Macho was living the industry and made it grow in and out of the ring, in front of the camera or with no camera in sight (just listen to Marty Jannetty telling how Macho saved the Rockers from getting arrested). So it really was about time, to pay respect to him and have him enter the Hall of Fame.

So until next time - when I explain how I believe the Ultimate Warrior should have been fighting HHH at Wrestlemania 31, and some other time, when I cover Roman Reigns being booed, keep following!

John Cena Sucks

Now let me take you on a little journey... a journey to the past of WWE.

Remember guys like Hacksaw Jim Dugan?

Did anybody ever hear him ever get a boo?

He was a babyface and people loved him. There was no split crowd. When he gave out his Ho-oo, everybody repeated it. When he started the USA chants, the whole crowd - even outside the US - was chanting with him.

When he was up against an anti-American wrestler, there was no chance in hell you'd ever hear anybody chanting anything against Dugan.

Fast forward to Wrestlemania 31... John Cena vs. Rusev.

Rusev - an anti-American Bulgarian Brute, the hero to the Russian federation and a guy constantly humiliating the crowd... and people cheered for him. Just imagine, how much the crowd must hate Cena to support Rusev.

And it wasn't the first time. The crowd even supported Rusev against Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble, because they wanted anybody to win, except Roman! But that's something I'll come back in another blog, when I'll cover the Roman boo-ers. Now it's the Cena Suck-ers.

The crowd has been pretty much against Cena for a long time. Never have a even imagined a crowd getting so rough against a WWE babyface as was the case of the fight between Rob van Dam and John Cena. I mean, really, "Die, Cena, die!" chants, and they weren’t the worst the crowd threw at him.

There are several questions that must be asked:

a) Why does John Cena suck?

b) Why is WWE showing a guy the Universe hates down their throats?

c) Why isn't this rage the fans have with the top face of the company causing any damage to WWE?

d) How does John Cena handle it?

So does John Cena suck and if so, why?

Pure and simple - he doesn't! He's a cartoon like character. A wanna be white rapper, a wanna be real hero in a kayfabe sport with results known in advance, a wannabe people's choice that people hate,... He's everything people simply love to hate.

This would be a clear case to make him a heel - but that wouldn't work then, would it?

I mean, you're supposed to hate heels and love faces, but ever since Steve Austin came to the scene, everything we knew about wrestling in the late seventies, eighties and up to mid nineties changed.

It's like Superstar Billy Graham being a heel champion with a long run. Before him, champions were always good guys, fair, sporting... and if a heel got the belt it was just to drop it soon to the next all American boy.

Or like Jesse "The Body" Ventura on the mic. Before him commentators were cheering for faces and never defended any cheating of the heels... nor were they ever exposing the cheating of the faces... Jesse turned that around and that opened the door also to the legendary commentary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Henan (a face and heel commentators).

And if the attitude era was the time that made it possible to cheer for foul mouth beer guzzling bad ass that should have been a middle finger sticking to your face heel, then the post attitude are is the time of booing the top faces the company is forcing upon the crowd - with Cena being a perfect example of it.

Yes, there are still typical faces and typical heels... Daniel Bryan is a typical face... light-hearted, cheered upon, with a - Yes - very positive chant on his side... and Bad News Barret a typical heel, who hates everybody and will bull-hammer his way through a row of pregnant women to get what he wants.

But there are now faces like Cena - and it's not a recent thing, since it's been going on for years - that the crowd just loves to hate. But not everybody. Some still like the old face image, which causes crowd battles of "Let's go Cena!" - "Cena sucks!" chants. And that is obviously selling tickets, as the crowd seems to be willing to show in person, how much they like or hate Cena and go to the live shows.

And that's what is the most important atribute of any WWE star that the company is looking for - drawing in the crowd.

So do the fans hate Cena because he can't wrestle?

He can, but he's not as good at it as the many titles he held should reflect.

But no, it's not that.

Fans hate Cena, because they still haven't gotten the satisfaction of either getting under his skin (he won't show it) or in succeeding in WWE trying to demote Cena.

This is also what got the reaction to Rusev's statement that Cena is not worthy of a US title shot at Wrestlemania. People loved hearing somebody denying Cena.

There should be more such moments, as I think the crowd would love it, would eat it up!

Just imagine, Cena being a GM of Raw, with - let's say - Ryback coming out there, saying: you can't do this, can't you hear the people against you... It's not your time, it's my time.

And both of them going at it - but ending in a friendly way with a handshake of respect or something.

I think the Universe would really appreciate popular faces coming out telling Cena, he should respect the crowd more and stand down (naturally part of keyfabe) with having a battle to shut Cena up in the name of the people.

But will the WWE do anything about Cena being booed? Probably not. There is no competition.

If there were other promotions that one could turn the channel and watch instead of WWE, I guess they'd have to do something about it - not to lose fans. Now it's basically just the other way around. By not giving the fans what they want - a raging Cena telling everybody to shut up, or pulling him off the show - they are making John an even bigger draw!

And, despite how some people say, Cena's no good on the mic, he's doing a good job of it. Does it bother him? I guess it does, or at least it has. I mean, nobody really wants people hating him. But if you put yourself in a role of a heel trying to collect heat, you expect it.

He's letting the crowd have its moments and is not lashing out on them.

Cena is in a role of a babyface getting crowd heat, which is really a quite unusual situation, but it has happened before - remember the crowd supporting Sid Justice after Royal Rumble 1993, when Hogan pulled him out of the ring?

But never has something like this been going on for so long, as "John Cena sucks" chants.

So it's a new formula in an old game. A new way to handle the masses, as I'm sure nobody can be that deaf not to hear the Universe. But to do something about it, to try and change it, it would mean messing up a good thing that draws the crowd. And I think that WWE is too skilled at crowd manipulation not to realize that.

Still, I think Roman Reigns took them off guard, but they will probably do the same with him, as I think they did realize this is the way to go. So I don't think it was an accident that Roman showed a fan out of the way... they made his through the crowd entrance so many times, they should have expected it, so they did - and the showing was part of keyfabe. But more on that another time.

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Bray Wyatt vs. The Undertaker

Now this was the match I was looking forward to. The theatrics should have been awesome, but hey, the fireworks got messed up and - it was still bright outside!
How on Earth do you prepare an entrance for two dark, mysterious creatures of the night when there's still sunlight.
OK, neither one got the right light for the entrance, but at least the match should have been a great one - right?
I mean - The Phenom was always a huge draw at wrestlemanias and Bray is one of the most talented in-ring and on-mike performers today.
But... nothing!
I mean, it was said that Bray hurt himself prior to the match... I would even say he hurt himself during the match as well. Remember how he got the Dead man on the stairs against the ring post and just hurrled himself at the Undertaker? Remember how he hit the stairs? Jast watch him favoure the right leg afterwards.
So what did the match come down to?
Taker's rope walking (he still has it), Tombstones (there were two) and one sit-up... while on the other hand there was a little bit of spider walk and a sister Abigale.
All in all a mid-card match for Smackdown, not a wrestlemania main event.
I mean, there were no theatricks. There could have been urns involved... I really didn't care, who'd win, just that somebody's soul would be taken... as I've said before - Bray could have made the Undertaker into a zombie and have him escort to the ring in order to do damage to opponents. Taker wouldn't have to fight regularly - I'm guessing he's hurting all over - but he could have showed up on occasion when Bray would need a special weapon in a future fued. Just imagin him being able to summon up the Dead man during matches.
Or, Taker could have taken Bray's soul and become the puppet master taking Wyatt to a whole new level of sadistic meanness and madness.
But no, the match was so unremarcable, so unimaginative, I can say the creative was all used up for other matches.
Never did believe a Bray Wyatt vs. Undertaker match would be a dud.

But there are other things still to discus... I still haven't touched the US championship match at Wrestlemania... and how both faces (Cena and Reigns) are being dooed at... and there's a new week anyway with a great Raw that followed wrestlemania.
So next time, I'll share my thoughts on Cena vs. Rusev and then slowly work my way up to the real question for the Wrestling Lab - why are some of the biggest names being booed and what should/could - or I in their place - would do about it.

Keep reading.