How To Fix Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns has been abandoned by the internet community, but why has he?  He has the look, he has the power, he has the pedigree, what he doesn't have is the IWC.  Roman needs to find his Empire, and he needs to find it FAST. You do not win over fans by insulting them, it didn't happen with Batista or Bobby Lashley and it won't happen with Reigns unless they change his package. You cannot expect a large man to get over just by being a giant, its not the 1980s anymore.

In all honesty, he is good enough to become the next WWE Champion and maybe even the face of the franchise.  If you let him train and decrease his workload, Roman is talented enough to gain a better big man move-set.  The mic issues are huge in comparison: all of the top guys currently are good on the mic or have a manager that can put them over.  If they want to continue his angle of "One Versus All", he needs to learn to stand on his own without a manager. You can fix his mic problems by taking him out of the main event picture and let him practice his promos at house shows and the mid-card, until he is ready to go up against the Paul Heymans of the WWE.  If you can get his move-set up to his hype and show him improving on his mic skills, then that fixes his biggest obstacle: winning over the fans and if he can be put out of the spotlight until he is ready... then he could be one of the top guys for the next decade and beyond.

Believe That. 

CZW in WWE: Ambrose vs Harper at Extreme Rules

Aaaaaaaaaaaand the streak is over. Ambrose finally wins a PPV match! Ambrose has not won a solo PPV match since he broke up with the Shield.  Both of these wrestlers are not new to the violent side of wrestling; they are both graduates of Combat Zone Wrestling, one of the most violent modern wrestling federations.  Both of these men put on a great match that shows that the "Rated R" violence of CZW can work in the TV-PG world of the WWE.  They had a lot of cool spots in the match that led to Luke Harper stealing a car with Ambrose inside it, and ended with them returning over 40 mins later to finish their fight. 

The one thing that really bummed me out about this show is that they didn't capitalize on having Ambrose and Harper leave the arena, I would have loved to have seen them cut via remote to Harper and Ambrose fighting on the tarmac at O'Hare, or fighting amid the construction of the new outfield at Wrigley. It's a three hour show and I can only imagine the pop from the arena if they suddenly cut to Ambrose giving Harper dirty deeds on home plate or something along those lines.  That would be my only real problem with the match.

Wrestling Vocabulary

Have you ever tried reading up on the history of wrestling and just been shellshocked by the weird words being used to describe it? Do you just want to know WTF is Kayfabe? Well I'm here to help you understand the lingo and give you a quick vocabulary lesson.

In Ring:

Kayfabe: The events of the show are viewed as "reality"; wrestling is presented as taking place in Kayfabe.  This is the construct that the entire show runs on, it is essentially the reality that the show is presenting. Examples of this in other shows are The Zombie World in Walking Dead or Springfield for The Simpsons.

Face: A "good guy", hero or however you want to look at it; this is the person who represents good in the ring.

Heel: A villain, monster or cheater; this is the person who represents evil in the ring.

Turn: When a wrestler goes from Heel to Face or Face to Heel.

Superstar: A male wrestler in the WWE.

Diva: A female wrestler in the WWE.

Behind The Curtain:

Push: When management decides to raise the profile of a wrestler by putting him in better story lines and/or putting them in championship matches.

Over: When a Face is popular with the crowd, this is a natural thing.  Being over cannot be manufactured by management, but it can be helped by using a well timed push.

Heat: When a Heel is popular with the crowd, this is also a natural thing.  Receiving heat can be manufactured by management, but it is almost exclusively achieved by mic skills from the wrestler.

Mark: A fan of the product, the person who is only concerned with Kayfabe.  A mark is usually younger audience members

Smark: A "Smart Mark", someone who understands the wrestling doesn't exist in a vacuum. They are usually trying to find inside information.  Many take the term as an insult but it really is about a type of fan and not about a type of person.

IWC: Internet Wrestling Community; or anyone who reads, discusses and contributes to a wrestling forum or webpage online.  If you're reading this... Welcome to the IWC.

Swerve: A twist ending or unexpected ending meant to trick Smarks in the audience or IWC.

Work: A planned event. Usually used when an event is meant to appear like it is outside Kayfabe but in reality it exists in Kayfabe and is written by the shows writers. 

Shoot: An unplanned event.  Usually used when a wrestler discusses something after he has left a promotion and speaks out of character. 

Wrestlemania Predictions: Part 2

The Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match:

7 men, 2 real contenders.  Daniel Bryan will win this match, unless Sheamus returns.  If Sheamus returns Dean Ambrose will win.  But if its just the 7 men already announced its hard to see anyone not named Daniel Bryan winning this belt.  Just like they are having Cena enhance the USA Title, Daniel Bryan will elevate the IC Title back to the era of Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage.

The Undertaker Vs Bray Wyatt:

The passing of the Urn so to speak.  For 23 years the Undertaker has been the face of fear and supernatural power in the WWE, but thats too long to any one man to wrestle with all of his body; so its time to pass the torch to the new face of fear.  The winner of this match doesnt matter as long as Wyatt gets over and Taker stays healthy.  If Undertaker stays healthy and looks good, then he will have his retirement match against the winner of the next match up.

Sting Vs HHH:

WCW vs WWF, Legend vs Icon, Survivor vs Conquerer.  Sting will win.  Only ending to this match, HHH will be forced from power 2 years in a row, WCW will be avenged. Easy ending.  But the most exciting part of all this is that this match is between two amazing storytellers and WILL live up to the 14 year long build up.  Sting will have a match with more moments than his entire TNA run.  Sting in the WWE Ring... Enjoy it boys.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship:

The Reigning Defending Undisputed WWE Heavyweight Champion of the World. The Beast Incarnate. The 1 in 21-1. The most dominate force in WWE History VS Roman Reigns I am actually pumped for this match.  With Lesnar Re-Signing with WWE over UFC, I can't see him losing.  Roman is close to being ready, but he isn't yet.  Lesnar will take him down and whether or not Rollins cashes in the Money In The Bank, it has no effect on Lesnar... Paul Heyman will walk his client out of Wrestlemania 31 as the conquerer and still your WWE World Heavyweight champion.

Wrestlemania 31 Predictions: Part 1

We are less than 24 hours before the grandest stage of them all and the card is et and finalized.  Before I head to Santa Clara lets breakdown the Pre-show and Undercard.

Tag Team Fatal Four Way:

The Uso's and Team FACT (Cesaro/Kidd) are the only real threats to win this match.  Los Matadores are a joke team and are only in this match because the Ascension has fallen flat in recent months.  The New Day have no motivation or purpose and seemed to be an afterthought in the match, and they are a Three Man Stable.  There is no Freebird rule being brought up so it's doubtful they will make an impact with the belts.  Now its between the Uso's and the Master of the Universe... honestly they need to give Kidd/Cesaro a name.  This is a coin flip but because of Jey Uso's Injury and this being a pres-how match I put money on Cesaro and Kidd... and thats a FACT!

Andre The Giant Battle Royal:

This 20 man match is down to four real wrestlers making a push: Itami, Miz, Mizdow, Ryback.  It wouldn't make sense to have anyone but these four contestants win, but its a pre-show battle royal, so we don't know anything for sure but ill put some odds out for the vegas fans: Miz 12/1, Itami 10/3, Ryback 2/1, Mizdow 4/3.  They have built up Mizdow, but Ryback has also been featured since his return and he is massively over so its a toss up but the turn is coming for Mizdow.  I put my money on Mizdow because its in his hometown area, Palo Alto.  

Seth Rollins Vs Randy Orton:

This is another toss up, this whole card is.  Wrestlemania 30 is intense but most matches had obvious outcomes, this card is hard to call.  I put Randy over but its hard to tell because Seth needs a win to stay relevent.  This also hurts the storytelling because if Seth wins, he could still cash in but then both Brock/Roman would need to rematch before returning to this Orton fued that they are clearly pushing for.  This is going to be a possible 5 Star match just due to both of these men being amazing workers.

Bella Twins vs AJ Lee & Paige:

Sisters vs Frenimies, Twin Magic vs Black Widows, AntiHeel vs AntiHero.  If its short: Bellas, If it's longer its AJ Lee and Paige.  This one will be a fight for the future of the Diva Division and how the company will treat its women. 

Cena Vs Rusev / The Not So Cold War:

Wow, Cena is on the undercard. Wow, Cena is fighting for a secondary championship.  Wow, Cena is going to lose at Wrestlemania.  Ok... maybe not the last one.  Well Cena is going to win, its all part of WWE's crusade to raise the secondary belts and it ends the predictability of Rusev's matches as he will get his first clean loss on Sunday.  Then we get to see what Rusev can really do when he has to rebuild he credibility.

Who Is The Most "Over" Wrestler Today?

The age old question is who is the most over?  This argument has ranged from: Hulk Hogan or Macho Man, Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair, The Rock or Stone Cold, and now its become John Cena or Daniel Bryan and John Cena or Randy Orton.  But in the WWE Fans Are Split.

Casual fans, women and a lot of children still see "Mr. WWE" John Cena as the most over, but it just isn't the case anymore.  For every fan who chants: "Lets go Cena"their are just as many "CENA SUCKS".  But with him on Total Divas and every PPV poster many part time or casual fans see him as the face and most popular.  But people also boo John Cena the wrestler, but almost nobody will object to John Cena the person.  It is really hard to root against anyone who has the record of most Make-A-Wish's fulfilled.

In the WWE its obvious that the most over wrestler is the leader of the YES movement Daniel Bryan.  His popularity rivals that of The Rock in his prime.  He was the face of the San Francisco Giants World Series run in 2014, he was a cultural force and is a star of reality TV, but he still has many doubters.  Nobody will ever know who is the most over wrestler, but debating is one of the more entertaining part of being a fan.

Who Is Seth Rollins?

Seth Rollins/Tyler Black/Taj The Destroyer/Colby Lopez is the new face of the WWE.  He is everything the WWE needs right now: athletic, amazing on the mic, charismatic, and most importantly a true villian.  As vital as Hulk Hogan, The Rock and John Cena have been to the WWF/WWE they all occupied the role as face while wrestling was popular, but with interest begining to fade Seth Rollins will be the force when WWE needs him most.  Lets look at this guy in action:

That is a clip of Seth Rollins keeping pace with Daniel Bryan: one of the most over and talented wrestlers on the roster.  He is able to connect with the crowd as a villain and raises the match to a new high before he even gets in.  He also is able to less talented wrestlers to look better because he is able to connect with the audience and sell the other wrestlers moves.

If the WWE wants to survive they will need to explore: Who Is Seth Rollins?