Dave has said that he thinks the Network subscriber numbers are low, because the WWE is offering three months to lapsed subscribers for $1.99. That this is coming around the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, where interests will naturally be piqued, is what as Meltzer speculating.

Frankly, I'm glad. I canceled by sub last year when Jinder Mahal won the WWE Title. When you tell me that nothing in your history matters like that, I am going to follow suit. I wasn't watching the PPVs anyway, because they couldn't grip me. Easiest decision to cut back on. The WWE wants 8+ hours a week out of me (Raw, SmackDown, NXT, 205 Live and Main Event) on weeks when they don't run PPVs. If you're going to ask for that sort of investment from me, you better be worth the money I could have made working. And to then ask for more money on top of that? Heading into the Royal Rumble, I am not enthused. I'm anticipating a show with a cold Royal Rumble Winner (either Roman Reigns again or Shinsuke Nakamura, who my fandom has been beat out of). I also know I am getting two Royal Rumbles in an era where the Rumble has not been a very good match. I'm seeing a Handicap Match for the WWE Title with two mid-carders challenging, and a Universal Title match with a green lug that looks like someone fused Eugene and Kurrgan and Kane in 2018. Triple H still wrestles and usually wins.

I hope more and more people decide to stop paying $300 to see Billy Gunn beat up fresh talent and pay $9.99 to see more episodic content in a show that they tell you doesn't matter.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It makes sense now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWEMMC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWEMMC</a> <a href="https://t.co/P9uYlBRnFu">pic.twitter.com/P9uYlBRnFu</a></p>&mdash; Becky Lynch (@BeckyLynchWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/955929426872750080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Jinder Mahal showed more in that backstage segment than he ever has as a professional wrestler.

If ADR does come back I hope he has a chef gimmick and challenges Brock for the title.

"This Sunday you will no longer be the Beast Incarnate.... But the 'Beast Con Carne'....perro"

P.S. Why do they make Becky wear clothes? I think even Gertner would agree that it would at least distract from her face.

:heart: Becky Lunch

She was on Lilian's podcast and said covering up her abs was a personal choice. No matter how hard she works on her body, she's very self conscious about her body image.

Well, that's a shame for her.

I hope you find the comfort in your body to get even more over, Becky.

Yeah. Apparently when she posts picks that shoe skin and stuff it's because she thinks the lighting is perfect and she sees the slightest imperfections in herself.

Very unfortunate seeing as I'd pay money to eat off of her abs.

I've heard her make comments about the company getting her to cover up, but they could have been jokes.

Samir Singh has a torn ACL. Is he the good Singh?

There's a good singh?

Better*

Not as useless**

The biggest problem with Roman is and pretty nearly always was WWE booking. Well, except at the very beginning... he was kinda terrible, so it was about 50/50. However, that burden of blame has leveled towards the company over time. Not going to guess a split number, but if they were on a seesaw as a scale, Reigns is very clearly dangling his feet in the air while Vince & co have their asses firmly planted on the ground.

So thirsty to manufacture the next beloved box office draw; to try to create from whole cloth a carbon copy of The Rock, that they essentially forgot *how* to build a wrestler. Most of his own shortcomings, he was able to get through with time, effort, and practice. But trying to hotshot, shoehorn, and force-feed him to the masses, and not even once take the simplest path (turn him heel, let the heel turn run its course, and turn him babyface when the crowd is ready for that redemption story) was an absolute gimmie card that the company just simply left on the table. I constantly maintain that if they just bit the bullet and turned him heel at the beginning instead of dumping all this external marketing/endorsement attention at him and hoping he gets over by osmosis, they would have been able to reap the benefits of having him come full circle and be beloved organically by now.

All they had to do was *admit* he was the hand-picked, corporate champion with "the look" and a rocket up his ass. Even the horribly failed Jinder run could have had potential salvagability to it if they took the training wheels off. And by training wheels, I mean the Singh Brothers. You have a paper champion with nothing but tainted wins, and nobody is going to buy the guy as "the man". While true that heels cheat, they shouldn't *need* to cheat ALL the time in much the same way as the champion shouldn't constantly lose non-title matches. Contrary to what they always say, wins and losses actually do matter. Maybe not in a numerical context like in actual sports, but it can have a bearing on someone's career. Like the "one more match" shtick from Christian would have gotten over better if he weren't the heel of the equation. Or if, say, a guy who's supposed to be a babyface always ends up counting lights. After awhile, who wants to cheer for that loser?

The wrinkle with Daniel Bryan "getting over by losses" was the fact that the crowd knew he was getting screwed both kayfabe and for real. They wouldn't extend that type of logic to turning Roman heel, since it was a pretty poorly kept secret that he was being groomed to be the next top guy. Be it to "swerve" the IWC or out of spite or whatever, they sabotaged their own business to be supposedly smarter than the smarks. Big deal. Now that ship has sailed, and you've firmly cemented the guy as Cena-lite; the guy who's only there so little kids buy action figures, and they even had to go so far as to re-form The Shield temporarily for some damage control.

So, even with the unforeseen setbacks of emergency surgery, injury, mystery sickness, and wellness policy violations, the bigger botch on his career trajectory continues to be how he is handled as a talent.

Poor Samir. I don't really care about the Singh Brothers but it sucks to see anyone get injured, especially with something that usually keeps you out for close to a year like a torn ACL.

Pair 'em with the good Uso. Problem solved.

She should champion the cause about self-image issues. Kinda like with Sasha and her hairline or AJ Lee and her mental imbalances. And I know by my wording that I seem like I'm making jokes of this, but I'm not. It prob'ly would do good to confront that demon in more ways than just us nerds drooling over her midriff whenever she is comfortable enough to bare it.

Or have him enter the Women's rumble at #10 in a wig.

Oh, absolutely. I think it's an important lesson for people to learn that performers at that level, who are frothed over by nerds, still feel shitty about themselves.

Just watched Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid from Raw sometime in 1994. I don't know if I've ever seen this match, sadly. Sean Waltman was so good. I'm officially a Bret fan now. When I had 15-year-old boy syndrome, I don't think I got him, but his faces when he calmly kicks out of near falls in that match are brilliant. Love JR on the call. Great story. Kid got great shine at the start, Bret made him look amazing. The restarting of the match because Bret is a such a babyface and it kicking up gear, with Kid going to the well with moves that have already worked too many times. Great finish -- both guys looked great.

Sometimes I love wrestling.

Roman Reigns needs to change his attire, his music, his tron graphics and stop having 50/50 matches with The Miz where he gets school boyed and tossed around by a guy with half his muscle density.

He also needs a personality.

Oh yes, that too.

So basically everything then.

He's got a motor when he really needs to go.

And his selling as a babyface has gotten a lot better. He just needs a good heel run first.

You can see the charisma too. It's just locked behind this nothing character that doesn't even have a recognizable identity.

I agree. If only he was a different person entirely, he would be good.

Just going through the SummerSlam Ladder Matches to see which is my favorite today. HBK vs. Razor was so good. Michaels looks good in blue. Weird that he never really used it more during any of his singles stints. HBK seemed to have trouble getting the belt down and has that hissy fit at the end. Classic Michaels.

Now onto HHH vs. Rock from 1998. It's crazy how much more charismatic than HHH Rock is. I forgot about the yellow ladder, haha. I wish the WWE still had colored ladders. As a kid, I loved little details like that. I also used to love how Ladder Matches would start off as a match and then break into using the ladders for spots, etc.

"Let's go Rocky!" "Rocky sucks!"

HHH can't help working like a heel. By the way, DX is so lame, haha.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamRude?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TeamRude</a> had a BLAST <a href="https://twitter.com/TheGarden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheGarden</a> last night!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWEMSG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWEMSG</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexaBliss_WWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlexaBliss_WWE</a> <a href="https://t.co/oFuZL2mS87">pic.twitter.com/oFuZL2mS87</a></p>&mdash; Nia Jax (@NiaJaxWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/NiaJaxWWE/status/946030183953453056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Their younger brother Dan will be the next breakout star. Needs to come in and feud with Fandango.

The current US Title design is coming up on 15 years. I think that has to be the longest continuous run for a WWF/E title belt in history? Maybe you can count the versions of the WWF Tag Team Titles that didn't really change until 2002.

They must have put the new logo on it at least right?

Yeah, but I don't really count that. I mean, I'm sure they've replaced the physical belt too, but they haven't really given it much of an overhaul at all, which is weird, because it's one of the grosser belts they've had, haha.

Yeah, but 'Murica!

"The American flag is gross" - Noid 2018

I like the WCW US Title

https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net...20110108171208