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WWE Shows Its Ugly Hand With Woman's Money In The Bank Match



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 6/18/2017


That's one way to ruin the woman's revolution. Let's not pretend like they didn't. Let's not pretend that the ending of Sunday women's Money in The Bank Ladder match wasn’t anything less than a deplorable way to end a match that was supposed to be the start of something big. Unfortunately for The WWE Universe, the company took something that was a great concept on paper and gave it the worst ending possible.


That's not to say that Carmella shouldn’t have won the match and by virtue the money in the bank briefcase, but to have James Ellsworth grab the briefcase when the focus was supposed to be on the woman's revolution is just the worst kind of way to end a match like this. In fact, it marks the first time in a long time that the woman's revolution was treated as more of a joke than anything else.


Think about it! It's the very first one. No matter how many times WWE does The Woman's Money in The Bank ladder match in the future, this will always be known as first one and WWE decided to waste it with the finish they did on Sunday. Even worse, they wasted five minutes of the pay per view to hype up the woman’s match with a kick ass vignette, only to go with this finish in the end.


With that being said, and considering the way the finish happened, it's hard to imagine that WWE has any faith in Carmella at all and that her subsequent cash in will be successful. There's just no way that WWE could justify changing the landscape of The Smackdown Live woman’s division based on the absolute atrocity that we witnessed at Money In The Bank.


What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!




WWE Legend Teased For Upcoming Pay Per View



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 12/13/2016


Its been a long time, but its always good to see a legend back in the ring for a one off appearance. Whether well see something culminate from it or not, it is worth noting that WWE Legend, Stone Cold Steve Austin has been appearing in promos and commercials for the company and it could lead to an appearance in the coming months. The Royal Rumble is scheduled to take place in Stone Cold Steve Austin's home state of Texas in January, which could be the reason why WWE is already starting to slowly integrate him back into WWE programming.


The appearance in question happened at the tail end of the first hour on Raw when Austin appeared in a commercial for the upcoming movie, Sing. The commercial didn't feature any new footage of Austin and only showed a video clip from him singing during a backstage segment back in the early 200's, but it is interesting that WWE would choose now to air it. With that being said, is a one off appearance in the works for Austin or is this just to promote the new movie. Let us know in the comments below.




John Cena Taking Hiatus From WWE After Conflict With Backstage Officials



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 8/1/2016


Is it just me, or is John Cena not a big fan of the new era of WWE? Sure, Cena had a min alliance with Enzo and Cass, Which ultimately resulted in a win for the realest guys in the room at Summerslam, but it didn't really seem like Cena was onboard with the idea from beginning to end. In fact, Cena openly mocked Enzo and Cass’s gimmick several times throughout their partnership and it seems like Cena is more than happy to have them in the rear view mirror now.


While this might seem like a non-issue, especially since it was just a mini feud to hold fans over until after Battleground, Cena's behavior looks a lot stranger when you look at his upcoming hiatus from the company in October. Although it's impossible to tell for sure, it appears as if Cena is having arguments with management about what superstars he wants to work and ultimately put over.


It’s no secret that there are a vast amount of rumors that state AJ Styles will pin Cena clean during their upcoming Summerslam feud, which would be the first time Cena has put someone over clean in a high profile match since he lost The WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Daniel Bryan at Summerslam, and John Cena might not be too happy about WWE's possible decision for the pay per view.


With that being said, this is really all just speculation and could be due to a multitude of factors outside of being unhappy with creative direction in The WWE right now, but with a possible loss at Summerslam hanging over Cena's head and his unwillingness to put over other superstars in the past and present, it looks like Cena is only out to protect himself at this point in the game.


This really shouldn't come as surprise to wrestling fans, who have witnessed Cena repeatedly refuse to put another superstar over during his United States Open challenges and use his pull with Vince McMahon backstage to make sure that Cena is happy with what the plan is. The only question is, how much longer will it all last?


How long before Cena asks to leave one to many times and is just lost out of the shuffle completely for the younger talent that has been rising up through the ranks lately. Sure, Cena will always have some kind of place in The WWE, but that role will be diminished if he doesn’t start putting over newer talent in the future and continues to go on lengthy hiatuses.




Big Debut Coming At Extreme Rules Pay Per View



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 4/5/2016


WWE is finally giving the fans what they want. Or are they. That is the question that puzzles me in the dark recesses of my mind as I come to grips with the fact that AJ Styles is the new number one contender for Roman Reign's WWE World Heavyweight championship. While the move does seem a little bit like a dream match of sorts, especially since it will involve Style competing for WWE title gold, I can't help feel that its all a ruse.


Think about it! WWE is concerned about pay per view viewings, especially after Roman Reigns just became a three time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, so would it make sense to put a star that everyone wants in there to keep things interesting? Not only that, it helps Reigns transition into more of this bad guy role that he has been teasing over the last couple of week.


For example, Reigns wasn't gracious at all during his promo the night after winning The World Heavyweight title. In fact, he went out of his way to say that "I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a good guy, I'm the guy. Whether this will lead to the heel turn fans have been craving for remains to be seen, but there are definitely some seeds being planted on that happening.


As for Styles, he's unfortunately just a place holder in the grand scheme of things. Sure, he'll make things look phenomenal throughout his match with Reigns, which may end up taking place at Extreme Rules, but at the end of the day WWE has their guy on top and they are not knocking him off for nothing.


With that being said, an interesting storyline could come into play during Style's championship match against Reigns depending on where they have this bout at. If the bout were to take place at the upcoming Extreme Rules Pay per view, which would be very predictable, that might be the best time for WWE to debut The Balor club.


Having Balor club attack Reigns and Styles during their championship match would not only garner the new group monumental heat, it would also allow both superstars to leave the pay per view without a mark in the loss column.


You have to admit that the theory does sound pretty good on paper, but wil Triple H be willing to part ways with his golden boy down at NXT to make it all happen?



Wrestlemania 32 Predictions



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 3/31/2016


Team Bad and Blond versus Team Total Divas


While this may just be something that WWE slapped together last minute to showcase The Total Divas reality show, that doesn't mean it’s a complete waste of time. In fact, the addition of Eva Marie as the final member of team Total Divas almost guarantees that Team Total Divas will be the ones to pick up the win during The WrestleMania pre show on The USA Network.


Not only that, it also gives Eva Marie, who wasn’t welcomed very warmly by her teammates during her run in on Monday Night Raw, a chance to prove herself to the rest of The Divas roster and The WWE Universe. With Marie’s debut in mind, look for her to get the hot tag late in the match and score the victory for Team Total Divas.


Winner: Team Total Divas


The Uso's versus The Dudley Boyz


Despite the fact that there will be no tables in this preshow matchup, it still should be fun to watch The Dudley Boyz pass the tag team torch to the young and versatile Uso’s. Sure, the match hasn’t been promoted very well the last few weeks on Raw, especially since neither team made an in ring appearance during this week’s edition of Raw, this match still has a chance to surprise fans with its high flying action and semi heated rivalry.


The Dudley Boyz will probably take control of the match up early on, but expect The Uso’s to mount the comeback late in the match and pick up the win after a timely frog splash on The Dudley’s. Who knows! We might even some people go through a table or two before it’s all said and done!


Winner: The Uso's


Chris Jericho versus AJ Styles


There should be no doubt in any fans minds that this match can steal the show come Sunday at WrestleMania 32. Sure, there are no titles on the line, stipulations in place and a very lukewarm story bogging the match down, but what these two men can do in the ring will make up for all of that at The Show of Shows.


As for the result, WWE has been hinting at AJ Styles receiving his coveted WrestleMania 32 moment so expect him to beat Jericho with The Styles Clash late in the matchup. I would say that Jericho could get the win and then go on to lose at Extreme Rules to Styles, but doing it that way would take a lot of momentum away from Styles.


Winner: A.J. Styles


Charlotte versus Becky Lynch versus Sasha Banks for The WWE Divas title


The WWE has desperately been trying to get fans to care about The Divas division and it still hasn't worked. Not only has this Triple Threat match been bogged down by less than stellar storytelling, it also has lost a lot of air time during the last couple weeks. Sure, one could argue that WWE did this in order to have time to develop other storylines, but it has only succeeded in demeaning The Divas revolution and what it stands for.


With that being said, Sasha Banks is obviously the future of The Divas division and will win the butterfly belt after locking Charlotte in The Bank statement for the submission victory. Hopefully WWE will hold a Triple Threat rematch for The Divas title at Extreme Rules, but they might have more interest in just doing Sasha Banks versus Charlotte instead.


Winner: Sasha Banks


The New Day versus The League of Nations


This match may not have a lot of story behind it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be interesting to watch come Sunday in Dallas. In fact, this could very well be one those matches that is able to erupt into chaos, but still send fans home happy with a suspenseful comeback by the babyfaces at the end of the match. Not to mention that Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods have a wonderfully fruitful highflying move set that will only add to the excitement of the bout.


Unfortunately for The New Day, it seems that WWE will want to build up the League of Nations as a top tier faction in The WWE and give them the win on Sunday. This will be a great way for The League of Nations to build heat with The WWE Universe, especially since The New Day are so beloved by The WWE Universe and have a great ability to help heel factions receive the heat they need.


Winner: The League Of Nations


Six Man Ladder Match For The IC Title. Kevin Owens versus Stardust versus Zack Ryder versus Sami Zayn versus Dolph Ziggler versus The Miz Versus Sin Cara


Will it really surprise anyone when Sami Zayn climbs the ladder and ultimately retrieves the IC belt on Sunday at WrestleMania 32? Not only is this result evident by his main roster debut on a Monday Night Raw a few weeks, it is also obvious by the fact of who the other participants in the title match are. For those hoping that Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler or The Miz will be the one to take the belt off of the strap, your sadly delusional.


Winner: Sami Zayn


Andre The Giant Battle Royal


For an event that is supposed to showcase the memory of one of the greatest wrestlers to ever lace up the boots and help propel young superstars to stardom, it fails to accomplish both of those tall tasks. The Andre The Giant Battle Royal hasn’t even been made into that big of a deal this year, a stark contrast from two years ago when John Cena created buzz by entering himself in the inaugural event.


As for the winner, I think it’s pretty easy to tell that WWE officials are hot on Bruan Strowman right now and will have him win after making a surprise entrance into the match. Maybe it will help his career, maybe it won’t, but with the lackluster things WWE has done in the past with Andre The Giant Battle Royal winners, it doesn’t like it will that much if anything at all.


Winner: Bruan Strowman


Shane McMahon versus The Undertaker In a Hell in a Cell Match


While retirement rumors have been circulating ever since Vince McMahon dropped the end of a legacy stipulation two weeks ago on Raw, it is still doubtful that WWE will actually pull the trigger on this and end the careers of one of the greatest superstars to ever lace up the boots. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it still seems very unlikely to take place.


Of course WWE can probably weasel their way out of the two stipulations in this match by having a well-timed run in end the bout in a no contest. Unfortunately for fans that want to see change in The WWE, that probably won’t happen and Undertaker will win the match with a hellacious pile driver on Shane McMahon.


Winner: The Undertaker


Street Fight Between Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose


Great storyline aside, I think WWE made a poor choice by having Lesnar and Ambrose not get physical during their confrontation during on Monday Night Raw. The segment just made little sense and was a little anti climatic for both parties heading into the biggest pay per view of the year. The segment also made it very clear that Ambrose would not be coming out the winner on Sunday.


It's always a hard thing to watch when your favorite athlete announces their retirement and walks off the playing field for the very last time. Sometimes it's due to age, sometimes its due to accomplishing everything they could in their given profession and sometimes it's due to the fact that their health will no longer allow them to do what they love.


Winner: Brock Lesnar


Roman Reigns Versus Triple H for The WWE World Heavyweight Championship


Its not going to happen. As much as WWE fans want to see a swerve like the one that happened last year, it looks like WWE is finally going to go through with their plans to put Roman Reigns over at WrestleMania 32. Whether the plan works and what exactly it involves remains to be seen, but expect Reigns to hold the belt high above his head at the end of the night.


Winner: Roman Reigns



Retirement Was The Only Option For Daniel Bryan



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 3/3/2016


It's always a hard thing to watch when your favorite athlete announces their retirement and walks off the playing field for the very last time. Sometimes it's due to age, sometimes its due to accomplishing everything they could in their given profession and sometimes it's due to the fact that their health will no longer allow them to do what they love.


Unfortunately for fans of Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Bryan, the extremely popular superstar announced his shocking retirement from professional wrestling last month on Monday Night Raw. The reason given to fans during his emotionally charged and bitter sweet retirement speech, was that his multiple concussions had finally caught up with him and that WWE would never clear him to wrestle again.


While WWE fans around the world are struggling to come to grips with the situation, and some fans are even begging Bryan to rethink his retirement, I sat down with former professional wrestler and concussion awareness advocate, Dave Boddy, to discuss if Daniel Bryan did the right thing by retiring from professional wrestling.


"It is tough to know for certain as concussions can affect everyone differently, Boddy told The Scribe when asked about if Daniel Bryan should have continued wrestling, there would have been a good chance he would suffer another one (concussion) within a match, thus increasing already noticed symptoms, or it could have created new ones. "


Concussions weren't the only reason for Bryan abrupt retirement however as the former champion announced during an interview with ESPN that he was suffering from post-concussion seizures. Even worse, Bryan admitted to hiding these seizures from doctors in an effort to be cleared by WWE to wrestle again.


"Based on his post interview where he states he was having post-concussion seizures it’s safe to state they (the concussions) were serious," Dave Boddy told The Scribe when discussing the severity of Bryan’s concussion issue, "Everyone can garnish different symptoms for their concussions, and it seems based on his statements his were serious symptoms."


Although it is quite obvious at this point that Daniel Bryan would never be able to wrestle again without doing some kind of serious damage to his future health, there still seems to be a group of wrestling fans who are not only a bit bitter about Bryan’s recent retirement, but also begging him for just one more match inside a WWE ring.


Another wrestler who suffered from multiple concussions throughout his career was Chris Benoit. While Benoit is mostly known by WWE fans as man who left everything in the ring and would go above and behind to put on a show for fans, he is also now known as the man who murdered both his wife and young child before killing himself days later. Some believe that something similar could have happened to Daniel Bryan if his career had continued.


"That can be a very reliable claim, "Boddy stated when asked about the possibility of Bryan committing a tragic act due to concussion issues like Chris Benoit did in 2007, "I speak on personal experience with how concussions truly alter a person, how they can potentially make someone become (someone) they are not, and conceive thoughts they generally would not in the past. Concussions have the potential to affect numerous parts of the human brain, emotional instability, delusions, depression, suicide, and so much more."


With that in mind and the fact that Daniel Bryan has suffered 10 documented concussions during his wrestling career, retirement was not only the best option for Daniel Bryan career wise, but for the health of himself and his family as well. Unfortunately for Bryan, the question now is what will be the long term effects of his concussion history going forward.


"For some there can only be temporary symptoms, and for others (such as myself) there can be permanent issues, Boddy told the Scribe in regards to the long term effects of concussions, "it all depends on how serious their concussion was and how they recovered. Later I life you can be more receptive of symptoms, later in life you can develop new symptoms, it truly relies on the diagnosis and the recovery. However, overall all concussions need to be treated with a serious response towards recovery."


Sure, as a Daniel Bryan fan myself, there is a small part of me that wants to see Bryan dive through the ropes one more time and knock an opponent against the barricade, but I realize that doing that would only hurt Bryan more then what he already is. WWE fans need to make that realization too and just thank Bryan for the amazing performances he has given to us over his six year career in The WWE.


"His retirement is the best case scenario for his personal life and health, Boddy told the scribe in regards to his retirement. He has the clarity to recover. We do not need a tragic case due to further neglect to respond responsibly to his diagnosis."


As a man who has watched Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, and Edge hang up their boots for good, I can't say it gets any easier to see things like this happen. In fact, there will probably be nights where you wish Daniel Bryan would rush down the entrance ramp and clear the ring of The Authority, but instead of doing that, we need to do what Daniel Bryan did during his retirement speech and that’s be grateful for the time we had with the young star.


For more on Dave Boddy and his advocacy against bullying, concussions and a variety of other topics, please like his facebook page at Official Dave Boddy for more information.



Undertaker Not Happy With WWE



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 2/5/2016


Its not exactly known why the future Hall of Famer is unhappy with WWE's choice of opponent for WrestleMania 32, but websites are claiming that it has to do with the quality of match that Undertaker believes that he and Strowman can put on together.


According to The Inquisitor and The Wrestling Observer, "Vince is adamant about the match happening but both Triple H and even The Undertaker himself are against the idea. This is seemingly how reports of the match not happened got out. Clearly, if Taker himself is against the match, he won’t be going forward with it. He’s the freaking Undertaker, what would Vince do if he said no? Fire him?"


With that in mind, there are other reports going around that John Cena will be able to return from his shoulder injury ahead of schedule and be able to take on The Undertaker in a legend versus Legend match. This idea would also coincide with rumors of WWE wanting to turn Cena' heel in order to breath new life into his career.


Finally, there is The Wyatt Family option. While its being said that Bray Wyatt and Brock Lesnar are a good possibility for WrestleMania 32, it is believed that WWE could put Strowman, Harper and Erik Rowan together to take on The Undertaker, Kane and possibly Mark Henry. While the match does seem a little lackluster on paper, especially if The Wyatt Family come up short against The Brothers of Destruction, it would at least be a way to continue their feud from Survivor Series in November.


Who knows! Maybe Undertaker, with some convincing from Vince McMahon of course, will be persuaded into the match with Bruan Strowman at WrestleMania 32 and it will all work out in the end. If not, then Undertaker could always take the rest of the year off and then return to have one more match with Sting at WrestleMania 33.



WWE Superstar In Trouble After Retirement Interview



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 1/17/2016


Did the world's largest man just makes the world's biggest mistake? It certainly seems like it, especially after Mark Henry was added then later removed from the roster for the annual Royal Rumble match later this month. While no reason was given for the former World Heavyweight Champion's removal from the roster, it may have to do with his interview earlier in the week with WWE.com.



During the interview with WWE.com, Henry discussed the possibility of him winning the Royal Rumble and ultimately retiring after having one more match at WrestleMania 32. Although this was probably just a way for Henry to drop a hint that his career would most likely be over after WrestleMania 32, it now appears that WWE didn't like what was said during the interview and are removing him from the royal rumble entirely.



While it is very possible that The WWE didn't like Mark Henry's interview in some way, shape, form or fashion, it is also possible that they have developed new plans for aging veteran and will put those plans into motion after the Royal Rumble Pay per view.


Even if this is the case and Henry won't be getting a main event type match in Texas later this year, it would still be nice if WWE actually did something with him during the final night of his career. Anything is better than not getting a final WrestleMania moment because of one silly little interview that WWE didn't like.



WWE Refusing To Push Top Superstar



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 12/26/2015


If you thought that Kalisto winning a slammy award Monday night was the start of something big, your sadly mistaken.



While winning the OMG moment of the year award is a great accomplishment for the former NXT Superstar, new backstage reports are indicating that WWE was very surprised that WWE fans voted for him to win the award and really have no plans to push the young superstar at all.



According to Wrestling Observer Radio,"it was suggested that WWE may not be planning anything significant for Kalisto because he’s too short for what they're looking for."


Isn't that just sad? WWE fans take time out of their day to vote this superstar in. They are practically shouting for WWE to do something with this young star and WWE just doesn't see anything in them! Why even ask for fans opinions if your not going to listen to them WWE?


There is no doubt in my mind that The Brothers of destruction will come out of this battle victorious and Bray Wyatt will be handed yet another career defining loss to the Deadman. If WWE was smart they would at least give The Wyatt Family a distraction victory, but with how amped up the company seems to be on the return of The Brothers of destruction, it looks like that’s not going to be a possibility.


In the end, it will be awesome to see the Brothers of Destruction team up one more team, and while it will be a nice nostalgic trip to the past, and help raise the star power element of the Survivor Series pay per view as a whole, it has no doubt failed to be everything that it could have been if WWE would have just given it the chance to be.



WWE Making Huge Mistake With Survivor Series Match Card



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 11/15/2015


I know I've said this a million times before, and ill probably say it a million times again, but WWE really had an opportunity to have a passing of the torch moment during their Brothers of Destruction versus Wyatt Family storyline and they didn't take it.



Instead WWE is again choosing to glorify veterans of the company and not focus their attention on those who could very well be the future of the industry. Keep in mind that this wouldn't be such bad thing under normal circumstances, but with WWE desperate to establish stars to replace the sidelined John Cena, Seth Rollins, Sting and Randy Orton, the decision not to add a pair of young babyfaces to the match is beyond baffling.



Think about it. Wouldn't it have been a much more memorable moment if someone like Finn Balor, Dean Ambrose or Roman Reigns came to the brothers of destructions rescue during an outnumbered beat down and joined them to take on The Wyatt family? Would that not be a much better idea then the tag team match that WWE finally decided on and announced during a taping of Smackdown?


Unfortunately for The WWE Universe we have been robbed once again of a moment like that and given a meaningless moment of nostalgia instead. This match won’t help their main roster. It would help establish anyone as a star. All it will do is prove that WWE is more focused on the past then they are on the future.


There is no doubt in my mind that The Brothers of destruction will come out of this battle victorious and Bray Wyatt will be handed yet another career defining loss to the Deadman. If WWE was smart they would at least give The Wyatt Family a distraction victory, but with how amped up the company seems to be on the return of The Brothers of destruction, it looks like that’s not going to be a possibility.


In the end, it will be awesome to see the Brothers of Destruction team up one more team, and while it will be a nice nostalgic trip to the past, and help raise the star power element of the Survivor Series pay per view as a whole, it has no doubt failed to be everything that it could have been if WWE would have just given it the chance to be.



The Undertaker: Celebrating 25 Years Of Fear And Entertainment



Posted By: J.J. Nealy on 11/15/2015


The date was November 22, 1990; the event: Survivor Series. On this date in WWE history, The Undertaker made his on-camera debut as the mystery partner to Ted Dibiase’s team. Undertaker's character was portrayed as a heel (villain), old west style Undertaker impervious to pain.


The beginning: Undertaker made his debut in the traditional tag team elimination match by eliminating Koko B. Ware just a minute into the match. Undertaker would soon follow up the first elimination by eliminating Dusty Rhodes, before being counted out. Despite seeing "The Phenom" get counted out, Dibiase’s team would go on to win the match.


Shortly after his debut, Undertaker would go on to change two aspects of his character. The first character change would come in the form of changing his name. Rather than being called "Kane The Undertaker", he would just be called "The Undertaker".


The second character change would come in the form of managers, as Undertaker dropped Brother Love and brought in Paul Bearer, a ghost white character with a notoriously shrill voice. Paul Bearer would later end up being a large part of Undertaker’s persona, as Bearer and an urn gave him "energy".


Paul Bearer enters: As Bearer took over managing Undertaker, his character underwent many changes. The Undertaker's first feud was with Ultimate Warrior; a feud which saw Undertaker lock Warrior into an airtight casket on the set of "The Funeral Parlor".


Once this feud was put to rest, Undertaker set his sights on the likes of Randy Savage, Sid Justice, Sgt. Slaughter, and Hulk Hogan, whom he defeated to win his first WWF Championship at Survivor Series (1991) with the help of Ric Flair, and thus became the youngest WWF Champion in history (until having this record broken by Yokozuna in April 1993 at WrestleMania IX).


This championship reign would be cut short, however, because Undertaker would lose the title back to Hogan at an event called "Tuesday In Texas"; due to an ordered rematch by WWF President Jack Tunney.


1992 saw a few events occur. The first major event being the WWF title being vacated because of the two controversial endings of Hogan vs. Undertaker. As an end result, the title was awarded to Ric Flair who won that year’s Royal Rumble. For The Undertaker, 1992 started the complete opposite as he started the year with an attitude change.


In February of 1992, Undertaker went the way of the fan favorite for the first time in his career. During this period, Jake “The Snake” Roberts was poised to attack Randy Savage and his manager/wife Miss Elizabeth. However, The Undertaker had better ideas.


A series of events after the first confrontation between the two led to a final battle between the two, and a win for Undertaker at Wrestlemania VIII over Roberts. Coincidentally, or maybe not-so coincidentally, this also pushed Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak to 2-0.


Throughout 1992 and 1993, Undertaker found himself headlining the first episode of Monday Night RAW, January 11, 1993. In this span, Undertaker found himself facing the likes of Giant Gonzalez, Yokozuna, and Kamala. He would then face Gonzalez and add another win to his Wrestlemania streak, at Wrestlemania IX.


Undertaker’s rivalry with Yokozuna culminated in a WWF Championship casket match at the 1994 Royal Rumble. During the match, champion Yokozuna sealed the Undertaker in the casket with the assistance of several other Wippleman-managed wrestlers to win the match.


Return of "The Deadman": The Undertaker appeared from inside the casket on the video screen, representing his spirit, warning that he would return. The Undertaker did not appear in the WWF for seven months after his loss to Yokozuna, playing up the finish of the match. However, he was taking time off to heal an injury.


After WrestleMania X, Ted DiBiase introduced Undertaker back to the WWF. This Undertaker, however, played by Brian Lee, was an impostor Undertaker and led to the return of the real Undertaker in the SummerSlam main event, appearing as a new version of his Deadman persona, adorned in new purple boots and gloves. The Undertaker defeated the impostor after three Tombstone Piledrivers.


Targeting Yokozuna: At Survivor Series, the Undertaker defeated Yokozuna in a rematch, another casket match. Throughout most of 1995, the Undertaker feuded with members of Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation. At WrestleMania XI, while the Undertaker was facing King Kong Bundy, Kama stole the urn, and antagonized him by melting it into a large gold necklace. Later, the Undertaker defeated Kama in a casket match at SummerSlam. Several weeks later, the Undertaker injured his orbital bone near his eye, forcing a period of absence for surgery, until his return at Survivor Series.


The Undertaker returned at the 1995 Survivor Series, wearing a grey upper-face mask, resembling the Phantom of the Opera. In the main event of the 1996 Royal Rumble, the Undertaker was unmasked in a WWF Championship match against Bret Hart. Diesel interfered in this match, costing the Undertaker the championship.


Diesel has a death wish: A rematch for the title on the February 5 episode of Raw saw similar interference. At that month’s In Your House: Rage in the Cage, while Diesel was facing Hart in a steel cage match, the Undertaker delivered a surprise attack, emerging from a hole he had ripped through the ring canvas and dragging Diesel with him down under, allowing Hart the victory. After several weeks of more tit for tat between Diesel and the Undertaker, the feud culminated in a match between the two at WrestleMania XII, in which Undertaker was victorious.


Feuding with Mankind: His next feud commenced the very next night when Mankind made his debut and interfered in the Undertaker’s match with Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. For the next few months, Mankind ambushed and cost the Undertaker several matches.


The feud intensified, and they began taking their battles into crowds, backstage areas, and in the boiler rooms of different arenas. Mankind cost the Undertaker the Intercontinental Championship at In Your House 8: Beware of Dog, assisting champion Goldust to victory. As a result, the first ever Boiler Room Brawl was booked between the two at SummerSlam.


Retribution on Mankind and the first taste of the dark side: After being buried alive, the Undertaker returned at the Survivor Series again pitting him against Mankind, but with a unique stipulation; hanging 20 ft above the ring was Paul Bearer, enclosed in a steel cage. If Undertaker won the match, he would be able to get his hands on Bearer. Even though the Undertaker won the match, interference from The Executioner enabled Bearer to escape the Undertaker’s clutches.


It was also at this event that Undertaker had developed a more informal, casual Deadman incarnation than before. In this new form, he took on a Gothic, brash and rebelling persona. With this version Undertaker proclaimed himself as “The Lord of Darkness.” Following Survivor Series, the Undertaker briefly turned his attention to The Executioner, who had been interfering in his matches since his arrival and had months earlier helped bury the Undertaker alive at In Your House: Buried Alive. At In Your House: It’s Time, the Undertaker defeated The Executioner in an Armageddon rules match.


Family Reunion for Undertaker with his brother, and a feud with Shawn Michaels: In May of 1997, fans saw Paul Bearer attempt to rejoin Undertaker, and the way he attempted this, caught many fans off guard. Paul Bearer would issue an ultimatum to Undertaker to let him join, or the world would hear his deepest, darkest secret.


Soon after the Undertaker denied this plea, the world would hear that The Undertaker set his “family home” and funeral business on fire killing his “parents” and younger “brother” Kane. Undertaker denied having set the house on fire, but Paul claimed to have proof, as Kane was actually alive and well. As the story went, it was revealed that Kane was a child born from an affair between Paul and Undertaker’s mother.


Undertaker chases the gold: The Undertaker then became the number one contender for the WWF Championship at SummerSlam, now held by Austin. Shortly before SummerSlam, however, the Undertaker revealed that he and Kane were working together as brothers. Despite this revelation, the Undertaker told Kane that he did not want him to interfere in the match with Austin, and even though the Undertaker lost the match, he handed Austin his belt back after the match in a show of respect.


In September, the storyline continued, and the Undertaker began to show some villainous characteristics when he and Kane revealed the fact that they were in cahoots to rid Austin of his title for Vince McMahon. At Breakdown: In Your House, the Undertaker and Kane were booked in a triple threat match with Austin for his WWF Championship; McMahon stated that the brothers were not allowed to pin each other. The Undertaker and Kane pinned Austin simultaneously after a double chokeslam, so the title was vacated by McMahon.


A realistic look at the man known as Undertaker: In 2000, fans got to see a more human side of Undertaker as he debuted a biker variation of the character. The biker is a character that would go from 2000-2003. In 2000, Undertaker took out all the members of the McMahon-Helmsley Faction, which caused him to once again be a fan favorite.


He also targeted their leader, WWF Champion Triple H. At the King of the Ring pay-per-view, the Undertaker teamed with The Rock and Kane to defeat the team of Triple H, Shane McMahon, and Vince McMahon. Afterward, he was booked to team with Kane to contend for the WWF Tag Team Championship.


They defeated Edge and Christian, earning the right to face them the following week for the tag title, which Edge and Christian retained. Kane betrayed the Undertaker by chokeslamming him twice, with the second one putting the Undertaker through the ring, on the August 14 episode of Raw.


The Undertaker challenged, former Olympic gold medallist, Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series. Angle, however, defeated the Undertaker after Kurt switched places with his real life brother, Eric Angle. The Undertaker demanded, and was, awarded a spot in the six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship at Armageddon.


Undertaker becomes World Champion: The Undertaker won his first Royal Rumble match in 2007, in doing so becoming the first man to enter the Rumble at number 30 and win the match. He then began a storyline with Batista, whom he defeated at WrestleMania 23 to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. At Backlash in a Last Man Standing match, they had a rematch that ended in a draw when neither man was able to answer the ten-count, resulting in the Undertaker retaining the Championship. On the May 11 episode of SmackDown!, the Undertaker and Batista fought in a steel cage match that ended in a draw when both men’s feet touched the floor at the same time.


After the match, Mark Henry made his return and assaulted an already exhausted Undertaker, after which Edge ran to the ring and cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, forcing Undertaker into a second title defense in the night. Although he kicked out of two quick pin attempts, Undertaker was pinned by Edge after a spear and lost the title.


During Undertaker’s absence due to an injury, Henry bragged about his assault on Undertaker, until vignettes began playing promoting the Undertaker’s return. The Undertaker returned at Unforgiven, defeating Henry. Batista and the Undertaker reignited their feud at Cyber Sunday with the fans choosing the special guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin, but Batista retained the world title.


They battled again inside a Hell in a Cell at Survivor Series where Edge returned and interfered to help Batista retain the World Heavyweight Championship. In response to this, the Undertaker delivered a Tombstone piledriver to General Manager Vickie Guerrero, on the next SmackDown!, sending her to the hospital. Returning Assistant-General Manager Theodore Long declared a Triple Threat match for the title at Armageddon, which Edge won.


At No Way Out, the Undertaker defeated Batista, Finlay, The Great Khali, Montel Vontavious Porter, and Big Daddy V in an Elimination Chamber, to become the number one contender for Edge’s World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXIV. He defeated Edge at WrestleMania with his Hell’s Gate submission hold, to win his second World Heavyweight Championship in his 16th WrestleMania win. In a WrestleMania rematch, the Undertaker defeated Edge once again at Backlash to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.


Vickie Guerrero announced that the Undertaker’s Hell’s Gate was an illegal hold and stripped him of the title. The Undertaker battled Edge for the vacant title at Judgment Day, which he won by countout. Vickie ordered that the title remain vacant, because titles cannot change hands in this way. Edge and the Undertaker faced each other again for the vacant championship at One Night Stand in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, which the Undertaker lost after interference from La Familia. As a result of the stipulation, Undertaker was forced to leave WWE.


On the July 25, 2008 episode of SmackDown, Vickie Guerrero announced that she had reinstated the Undertaker, and that Edge would face him at SummerSlam in a Hell in a Cell match, which the Undertaker won. After the match, the Undertaker chokeslammed Edge from the top of a ladder and through the ring canvas. Following this match, Guerrero tried to make a peace offering with the Undertaker on SmackDown by apologizing, but the Undertaker told her that he is not the forgiving kind. At Unforgiven, as the Undertaker approached the ring to “take Guerrero’s soul” and take her in a casket, the Big Show, who appeared at first to aid the Undertaker, but betrayed and assaulted him.


As a result of this altercation, the Undertaker and Big Show faced each other in a match at No Mercy, where the Big Show knocked the Undertaker out with two hook punches in the forehead and a punch to the back of Undertaker’s head. At Cyber Sunday, the Undertaker defeated the Big Show in a Last Man Standing match after applying Hell’s Gate. Then the Undertaker was engaged in a short feud with Jeff Hardy who interfered during his match with Vladimir Kozlov. But the feud ended when Jeff Hardy defeated the Undertaker in an Extreme rules match the following week on Smackdown due to interference from The Big Show. The Undertaker then went on to defeat the Big Show at Survivor Series in a casket match, to end the feud.


At No Way Out, the Undertaker was part of the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match; however, he was unsuccessful at winning the match. He then became embroiled in a long time feud with Shawn Michaels over his WrestleMania undefeated streak and the fact that the Undertaker had never defeated Michaels in a singles match previously. The feud culminated in a match at WrestleMania XXV; which the Undertaker won.


Their match was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences alike and is now considered by many to be one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. On the April 24 episode of SmackDown, after Big Show defeated Undertaker by knockout, he attacked Big Show. Following this, Undertaker disappeared again.


Upon returning, Undertaker returned at SummerSlam in August by attacking CM Punk, who had just won the World Heavyweight Championship from Jeff Hardy in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. At Breaking Point, the Undertaker faced Punk in a submission match. The Undertaker had originally won the match with his Hell's Gate submission hold, but the match was restarted by SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long, who ruled that the ban placed on the move by Vickie Guerrero was still in effect.


The Undertaker then accepted Michael’s rematch challenge for WrestleMania XXIV, a Streak vs. Career Match, where Undertaker won and Shawn Michaels was forced to retire. After a hiatus (which included wrestling two matches on Raw), he returned to SmackDown on May 28, defeating Rey Mysterio to qualify for a spot in the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship.


During the match, it was reported the Undertaker suffered a concussion, broken orbital bone, and broken nose; he was bleeding profusely on camera by the end of the match. However, to cover for the injury, Kane revealed the Undertaker had been found in a vegetative state. Mysterio took his place in the match and won the World Heavyweight Championship. While attempting to learn which superstar had attacked the Undertaker, Kane defeated Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Kane and Mysterio continued to clash as they accused one another of being the assailant behind the attack.


At SummerSlam, the Undertaker returned to confront Kane and Rey Mysterio, only to be overpowered and Tombstoned by Kane. With Kane revealed as his attacker, the two feuded for the next few months over the World Heavyweight Championship. After losing to Kane at Night of Champions, Paul Bearer returned as Undertaker’s manager on an episode of SmackDown. However, Bearer turned on him at Hell in a Cell to help Kane win once again. The feud ended at Bragging Rights when The Nexus helped Kane defeat Undertaker in a Buried Alive match; in reality, he needed medical treatment for his injury.


Defending the coveted Streak: After the 2011 Royal Rumble, promotional videos began airing, showing the Undertaker entering and standing within a Western-style old house on a rainy desert. Each promo ended with the date 2–21–11 being “burned into” the screen. On the February 21 Raw, the Undertaker returned. Before he could speak, Triple H also returned and confronted him. The two challenged each other to a match at WrestleMania XXVII in a strange interaction involving no verbal or physical exchanges, which was later announced as a No Holds Barred match. On the March 28 episode of Raw, the two had a last confrontation with the presence of Shawn Michaels before WrestleMania that involved praise, demonstrations of respect, and conflicts. At WrestleMania XXVII, the Undertaker defeated Triple H via submission, but had to be carried away from the ring on a stretcher.


On the January 30, 2012 episode of Raw, the Undertaker returned after a ten-month hiatus to confront Triple H. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Triple H refused the Undertaker’s challenge for a WrestleMania rematch. After the Undertaker accused Triple H of living in the shadow of Shawn Michaels on the February 20 episode of Raw, Triple H accepted the challenge on the condition that it be a Hell in a Cell match; Michaels was later inserted as referee in the match. At WrestleMania XXVIII, Undertaker, debuting his new look, a mohawk, defeated Triple H to extend his streak to 20–0.


After the match, Undertaker and Michaels carried Triple H to the entrance stage, where the three embraced. Later in 2012, the Undertaker appeared on the 1000th episode of Raw on July 23 to help Kane, who had been confronted by Jinder Mahal, Curt Hawkins, Tyler Reks, Hunico, Camacho, and Drew McIntyre. The Brothers of Destruction overcame and dominated the six other wrestlers.


The Undertaker’s next television appearance was on Old School Raw on March 4, 2013, where he opened the show by performing his signature entrance. CM Punk, Randy Orton, Big Show, and Sheamus fought in a Fatal Four-Way match to determine who would face him at WrestleMania 29, which Punk won. Following this, Undertaker made another entrance and stared Punk down. After the real-life death of Paul Bearer on March 5, 2013, a storyline involving Punk regularly spiting the Undertaker through displays of flippancy and disrespect towards Bearer’s death began.


Undertaker wrestled his first Raw match in three years on the April 22 episode, teaming with Kane and Bryan against the Shield in a losing effort. Four days later, he wrestled his first SmackDown match in three years, defeating Shield member Dean Ambrose via submission. Afterward, Undertaker was attacked by Ambrose and the rest of the Shield, who powerbombed him through the announce table.


Death of the Streak and revenge on his mind: On the February 24, 2014 episode of Raw, the Undertaker returned to confront Brock Lesnar and accepted his challenge for a match at WrestleMania XXX. After a long 25 minutes and three F-5s, Lesnar won the match by pinfall, ending The Undertaker’s Streak in what was described as "the most shocking result in WWE history". His record fell to 21-1. Following the match, Undertaker was hospitalized with a severe concussion which he suffered in the first minutes of the bout after an F-5.


In February 2015, Bray Wyatt began a series of cryptic promos which led to Fastlane, where Wyatt challenged Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 31. On the March 9 episode of Raw, Undertaker accepted the challenge, playing mind games of his own. At the event on March 29, Undertaker defeated Wyatt, garnering his 22nd victory at WrestleMania.


At Battleground in July, Undertaker made his return, attacking Brock Lesnar as Lesnar was on the verge of defeating Seth Rollins during his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match, which caused the match to end in a disqualification win for Lesnar. The next night on Raw, Undertaker explained his actions as revenge – not for Lesnar breaking the streak, but rather the constant taunting he allowed Paul Heyman to engage in. Later that night, after Undertaker and Lesnar brawled throughout the arena and had to be separated, it was announced that they would face off in a WrestleMania XXX rematch at SummerSlam in August.


At the pay-per-view, Undertaker controversially defeated Lesnar; Undertaker visibly tapped out to a Kimura Lock by Lesnar and the bell rang, but the referee did not see the tapout and allowed the match to continue. Lesnar then passed out to Undertaker’s submission hold, Hell’s Gate. At Night of Champions, it was announced that, in a rubber match, Undertaker would face Lesnar in a Hell in a Cell match at Hell in a Cell. As Hell In A Cell came and went, fans saw the same result; Undertaker lost. And he was subsequently taken by the Wyatt Family.


However, there was a plot twist for fans, as Kane was taken on the next night on RAW, in the same fashion that the Undertaker was. What lies ahead looks to be an interesting ride, as there have been hints of a reunion for the Brothers of a Destruction. There have even been hints of the biker gimmick returning.


Undertaker outside the ring: Undertaker is a very giving man outside the ring. Not far away from my hometown, Taker set up a fund for Texas A&M University's veterinary hospital. He did so to help the hospitals find and cure diseases that weren’t easily curable, as his beloved dog once died of a reported unknown illness. Undertaker has also auctioned off motorcycles to help military and his local church. Another thing that Undertaker loves doing is running in mini-marathons, and donating his time to CC4C, a charity for children with rare or undiagnosed illnesses.


How Undertaker has had an impact on me: The Undertaker has had my attention for most of my life. I started watching wrestling at a very young age. My very first favorites were Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan, but I remember seeing Undertaker on my television. I remember watching wrestling vividly, around 1997. I even had the WWF game on Nintendo 64. The first guy I saw being The Undertaker. To me, he looked really mean but cool. After using his game character, I chose to watch him on television more. Ironically, as I liked him on the video game, I began to fear him in real life. As I watched him, I was really interested in what "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was doing. Little did I know, they'd feud a short time later. In 1998 and 1999, I saw Undertaker transform before my very eyes into a devilish-like character. This, by the way, scared me.


Honestly, he was so convincing that he scared me into getting my mom to look for monsters in my closet. That one time was the last time I'd watch him as a pre-teen. The year 2001 rolled around, and I saw him again. This time he wasn't so evil. In fact, he was coming out to Kid Rock music and just kicking everyone's butt in sight. Oddly enough, I really enjoyed that part. In 2002, he was using one of my favorite songs as his music and he had a slogan on a shirt that said "Try me, I'll make you famous!" Now, why was this important? Simple. It was a slogan that stuck to me as I had a pretty big surgery coming up. I never let anyone know, but at the time, it scared me.


So, I used that slogan to keep myself cheered up on the road to recovery. It was that slogan, the toughness in the person known as The Undertaker and my family that made the fear subside. To this day, I still remember that slogan from the shirt and most importantly, advice my mom & dad always gave me when facing challenges. The advice was "Everyone will have challenges. The challenges don't matter, your attitude during them does." I related the two somehow, and I guess in some weird way, his character embodied the advice I was always given when dealing with difficult things. For that, I followed him from that point until now, and without regret. Upon getting Twitter, I followed the man known as Paul Bearer, and I even thanked him for entertaining (and scaring) me over the years. I told him that seeing them go through things in their way helped me as a kid. I never expected an answer, but he wrote back saying, "God Bless You, JJ." In addition to this, I have nieces and nephews who all were born when I was young who like him. In fact, the first video game my youngest niece knew was Undertaker.


With that, I can only say one thing. I'm not sure he will ever read this, but I would like to thank him for 25 years of fear and entertainment.



WWE Censors Interview After Racist Remarks Were Made



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 10/24/2015


Did he really just say that? While that kind of statement is usually reserved for fans after a jaw dropping promo on Raw on Smackdown, it could also be what The WWE Universe was asking themselves after hearing Brock Lesnar on The Stone Cold Steve Austin Podcast on Monday night.


The interview was a part of Lesnar's "Go to Hell Tour", which will culminate in a Hell in a Cell match against Brock Lesnar this Sunday. You can listen to the interview in the frame below.



According to Wrestlezone.com "WWE Network has edited out Brock Lesnar’s line "gotta feed the Jew" on the replay versions of his appearance on Steve Austin's podcast this past Monday night. For those of you who missed the podcast, Lesnar was referring to Paul Heyman as the Jew when Austin asked Lesnar why he doesn’t cut many promos on WWE TV."


For those that didn't catch the initial broadcast on The WWE Network, it appears that Lesnar made a remark that was later censored by WWE before it was available for playback. The incident occurred when Austin asked Lesnar about why he didn't cut a lot of his own promos, to which Lesnar responded, “Gotta feed the jew” The statement was a subtle nod to Lesnar’s manager and advocate, Paul Heyman.


While it is extremely unlikely that Lesnar would face any kind of punishment for his words during the podcast interview, I believe they should at least give him some kind of fine for his statement. It might have just been intended as a joke between two lifelong friends, but it was a poor choice of words on Lesnar’s part, especially with how many young children enjoy Pro wrestling and The WWE Network.


Unlike less popular talents, WWE will most likely sweep this little incident under the rug and not punish their resident beast. While that is understandable, given the insignificance of the incident and the how quickly WWE was able to edit it out, Lesnar should at least be talked to and told that future incidents will result in reprimand.



Undertaker VS Brock Lesnar: The Battle To End All Battles



Posted By: J.J. Nealy on 10/15/2015


A revenge craving, angry, Undertaker will take on a foe with which he battled all the way back to Wrestlemania 30. The event Is Hell In A Cell, the match is Undertaker versus "The Beast Incarnate" Brock Lesnar.


As many fans know, this is not the first time the two have crossed paths. The year was 2002, the event was No Mercy. The prize at the time, the WWE Championship. During the match, the two competitors fought to cement their name as the "top dog" in WWE. The end result saw Lesnar defeat the Undertaker to become the champion, with a 1-0 record against the phenom.


Fast forward 12 years, Lesnar and Undertaker again collide, this time with The Undertaker's prized undefeated streak on the line. The end result, yet again, a loss for Undertaker. Little did fans know, this would bring out a change in Undertaker. Undertaker would reach a point which he hasn't in a while. Undertaker lost his streak, the one thing that kept Undertaker alive. This would in turn make him angry.


As Lesnar began his ascent into the WWE spotlight, he saw himself again as the "top dog" in the company, and facing Seth Rollins for the WWE title. Then it began. Again. During this match, between Seth Rollins and Lesnar, Undertaker returned to exact his revenge thus fueling the rivalry.


As the rivalry became more heated brawls ensued during the televised shows. In this time fans also saw Undertaker take on Brock Lesnar yet again, and win in controversial fashion. Now, here we stand, just days away from the final showdown. While Undertaker has became more and more angry over time, Lesnar has continued his path of destruction. Will Undertaker finally get a clean win over "The Beast", or will this be the beginning of one of the most respected legends in the business? If history is any indication, Brock Lesnar is most likely to come out on top.



Paul Heyman Hints at Superstars Retirement in The Near Future



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 10/4/2015


Did Paul Heyman hint at another superstars retirment? While it is very possible that Paul Heyman was just talking out of his ass in order to solicit more interest in Brock Lesnar's match with the Undertaker at Hell in a Cell, it is also possible that he knows a thing or two about how much longer both superstars have left in the company.


What am i talking about you may ask? Well, Paul Heyman recently spoke with Channel Guide to promote Lesnar's upcoming blockbuster match with the Undertaker and boy did he have plenty of pipe bombs at the ready for the interview. The best one being when he stated that he was pretty sure this would be the final encounter between Undertake and Brock Lesnar.


Below is a copy of what Heyman had to say about the big match at Hell in a cell this month. "I think it's very safe to say Brock Lesnar versus the Undertaker at Hell in a Cell is the final time these two will step in the ring against each other."


Again, this might just be another way to put asses in seats for the upcoming pay per view, but with both superstars already wrestling a limited schedule and both superstars getting up there in age, it's also very likely that one of them might be retiring in the near future.


With that being said, my guess is that the Undertaker will be the one to retire from the WWE. He has already accomplished so much in sports entertainment and is really running out of reasons to step back into the squared circle. He already was severely injured during his first two matches with Lesnar this year, and one more injury will most likely end his storied career.



Undertaker VS Sting May Never Happen According To Jim Ross



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 9/11/2015


The best things in life are worth waiting. Hopefully The WWE Universe feels that way too, because they may have to wait a little bit longer to see that dream match between Sting and The Undertaker. In fact, former WWE commentator, Jim Ross, alluded to the fact that the match may not happen at all!


While the majority of Good Ol JR's blog post was about the Undertaker still performing beyond WrestleMania 32 in Dallas Texas, he also talked about the possibility of Sting being the one to retire at this year's WrestleMania. If this is true, that’s means that the dream match between The Icon and the Deadman may never happen.


"From what I can determine, Wrestlemania Texas will NOT be the Undertaker's final match but the jury is still out on whether it will be Sting's last one," Ross said on his blog Wednesday night. "No, I don't see them having a match vs each other there either. Plus, I don’t see how WWE gets all the way to April for the Taker vs. Lesnar 'rubber match' if that's in the cards.


The fact that Undertaker may not be retiring this year at WrestleMania should be a huge relief for The WWE Universe, but now the question is who he will face at this year's Show of Shows. According to Jim Ross, Sting is apparently not a possibility and it doesn't seem like Brock Lesnar will be considered an option either.


If Ross is correct about both predictions, it would seem that WWE now has a chance to explore other dream match options for The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31. Sadly though, I don’t think any of them would have compared to what Undertaker and Sting could have done together in the ring if they were given a chance to wrestle at WrestleMania 32.



Naomi Upset Over Total Divas Replacement?



By: Brian Thornsburg on 9/10/2015


Is Total Divas shaking things up yet again? The reality show, Total Divas, was dealt a huge blow today as WWE Diva, Naomi told a fan that she and her husband were replaced on the show for the upcoming season. Naomi and her husband, Jimmy Uso, already left the show after season three but returned a few seasons later.


Naomi told the fan about her being replaced on the E Network show after the fan asked her if there were talks of a spinoff show starring her and Jimmy Uso in the works. Naomi tweeted the following response to the fan "Unfortunately we have been replaced for the 2nd time but I support my girls & wish for another successful season."


While Naomi did wish her fellow Divas luck on their upcoming season without her, it does seem like she is a little bitter about WWE and Total Divas decision to take her off the show. Keep in mind that this is just speculation, but it seems that Naomi, whose real name is Trinity Fatu, is upset with who her replacement might be for the show.


The current rumor going around is that Tough Enough runner up, Amanda Saccomano will be taking Naomi's place on the show. This comes after she was seen hanging out backstage with several members of the Total Divas cast with video cameras present. If this rumor is indeed true, then Amanda would become the first 2015 Tough Enough contestant to become a full time cast member on the hit reality show.


Why Trinity would harbor anger towards Amanda is anyone’s guess, but with the way she virtually slut shamed Sara Lee on national television, I think the other divas are going to be careful and watch their respective backs.



Seth Rollins To Break CM Punk's 434 day title reign record?



By: Brian Thornsburg on 9/8/2015


The rumor mill is just flying tonight folks! As WWE sits only two weeks away from Nikki Bella breaking AJ Lee's streak as the longest reigning Divas champion, another record holders impressive accolade hangs in the balance as well. The question is, will WWE pull the trigger on having Seth Rollins end CM Punk's 434 title streak?


It certainly seems like a logical possibility, especially with WWE seemingly trying to push Nikki Bella past A.J. Lee's record title reign, but up until now, we have had little to no proof of that being their intention. Unfortunately for WWE though, Greg Demarco of 411 Mania has crunched the numbers and has a very interesting input on the matter.


According to Demarco, "CM Punk’s 434-day run with the WWE's top championship is presently the seventh longest reign, ranking just below the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, and Pedro Morales as the elite of WWE. Seth Rollins is way down the line with the 26th longest reign, but by the time he steps into the ring with Sting, he will move up a few slots, and if he keeps the belt heading into the Royal Rumble, he will be closing in on Punk's spot."


While Demarco is only stating a fact in that exert, his comments about WWE wanting revenge on CM Punk and AJ Lee is a lot more telling. "Why would the WWE stop at having Nikki Bella outlast AJ Lee's historic title reign to spite CM Punk when they can have Seth Rollins outlast CM Punk's historic title reign to spite CM Punk?"


Interesting point, especially if you consider the way both Punk and Lee left the company. CM Punk walked out on WWE after suffering an concussion injury during the 2014 Royal Rumble match. He later ranted about his days in WWE on 5he Art of Wrestling Podcast, which is hosted by none other than his friend, Colt Cobana. Punk also had a long standing lawsuit against one of WWE's medical doctors, saying that he refused to treat him for a severe staph infection.


As for AJ Lee, not much is really known about her exit from the company in 2015, but to the WWE Universe it did seem a little abrupt. Lee returned from a neck injury to start a feud with he Bella Twins at WrestleMania 31, and then announced her retirement the night after WrestleMania. While many speculate that she wanted to slow down and have a child with Punk, others say that AJ Lee was mistreated by WWE and put in a rough spot.


With that being said, it will be interesting to see if WWE is indeed thing about taking CM Punk down a few notches and the best indicator of that will be if Rollins is somehow able to overcome Sting and possibly Sheamus at Night Of Champion.


If Rollins can survive an onslaught from Sting and possibly Sheamus at Night of Champions, then who else really is there that stands any chance of taking the belt off of Rollins? Cena is still trying to get back United States title, so he's definitely out.


Then there's Lesnar, he had a chance to take the title off of Rollins at BattleGround, but won by disqualification when Undertaker sought his revenge on the beast. With those superstars seemingly out of the picture for the time being, who really stands a chance at unseating Rollins for his title? The obvious answer, is no one!



Out Of Nowhere For The Three Count



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 9/1/2015


It's time once again for that weekly segment you have to read twice just to believe what is being said. I'm talking of course about Out Of Nowhere For The Three Count. This is a weekly feature where we here at Draft Utopia take a look at certain storylines and news in WWE and give our opinions on them. Sometimes they are completely off base and sometimes they’re pretty accurate.


3. Stacy Kiebler Joining The Dudley Boys In WWE: What I wouldn't do to see the duchess of Dudleyville lead Devon and Bubba Ray Dudley down to the ring one more time. Keibler already expressed interest in the WWWE back in 2013 if the deal was right, but hasn't really been heard from in the world of wrestling since. Hopefully WWE can book her for a few appearances and really bring this team back to the glory days.


Keibler, who is really the first Diva to make it big after leaving wrestling, was already entertaining ideas about coming back to be Daniel Bryan's manager, so now with The Dudleys back in action, here's hoping the two sides finally get a deal done and bring this nostalgic masterpiece to life. If nothing else, it will be a great trip down memory lane and put even more interest in The Divas division.


2. Possibility Of The Authority Turning On Seth Rollins At The Night Of Champions: The possibility is at an all-time high right now and Seth Rollins comments about Triple H aren’t cooling the waters at all. My prediction is that Kane returns at Night of Champions and assists Triple H in dismantling Rollins after his match with Sting. Triple H and Kane will then beat Rollins down, before allowing Sheamus down to cash in his Money in the Bank contract and win. Sheamus then becomes The Authorities new top guy and Seth will feud with Triple H at TLC or Survivor.


This could also lead to Rollins going back to The Shield, especially since they are still down one member against The Wyatt's unfortunately, that angle doesn't fit in very well with the rumored program Seth Rollins is going to have with Triple H.


1. The State Of The Divas Division: While the fan response to the beat the clock challenge was phenomenal, especially the chants for Paige, I see feel that doing such a gimmicky contest only demeaned The Divas division more. It was made worse with short matches that featured little wrestling and too much story telling. It would have been great to have 15 minute matches between two of these Divas, but of course WWE wants to keep to their TV Time low, so they have time for more important stories.


At least The WWE Universe is more interested in the Divas Division then they have been in the last two weeks the positive chants and the crowd reactions show that they were going in the right direction. Let's just hope they cut the gimmicks, give them more time in the ring and let them continue to stay on the right track.



Undertaker Versus Brock Lesnar A Huge Bust At Summerslam



By: Brian Thornsburg on 8/24/2015


Do you feel cheated? Well you should after watching the Undertaker versus Brock Lesnar Sunday night at Summerslam. The so called, Rematch too big for WrestleMania, ended in bitter disappointment as Lesnar locked Taker in the Kirmura lock, but the referee unfortunately didn't see the Dead man tap out.


Even worse than that, Taker then hit Lesnar with a low blow while the referees back was turned and locked in Hells gate to get the actual victory over Lesnar. The complicated finish was obviously to protect Lesnar moving forward into his next feud, but it hurt Undertaker in the process. Sure, he Taker will most likely go back on hiatus after Summerslam, but this still has to leave a bad memory in fans mind when they think about Undertaker's future matchups.


Not only was this a bad finish for the Undertaker, it was a bad finish for the fans as well. I can't even imagine how angry fans must be after watching such a confusing and disappointing finish to a main event match. They should honestly demand refunds, especially after how much this match was hyped for weeks leading up to the event.


To be perfectly honest, Lesnar probably could have just picked up the win here. It really wouldn't have made that big a difference in the grand scheme of things. Undertaker is still a part time wrestler and could have taken the loss no problem, but the confusing finish puts both Undertaker and Brock Lesnar on shaky ground heading into their next feuds.


While there are still many questions to be asked about this cringe worthy match, the biggest one has to be, will there be a rubber match to decide it all? I really hope so, but I'm not getting my hopes up that WWE decides to put these two together for a third time. If they do however, it will no doubt be at Survivor later this year, especially since Undertaker is rumored to take on Sting at WrestleMania 32.



Why We Want Brock Chants Are A Good Thing



By: Brian Thornsburg on 8/18/2015


"We want Lesnar" Are those three words really worth The WWE Universe crying foul over? Look, I get it, fans think that this miniscule little chant is going to negatively impact the Divas revolution, but that’s just honestly not the case here!


In case these fans didn't notice, or didn't bother to fact check anything before flocking to twitter to complain, WWE was in Brock Lesnar's home town of Minneapolis Minnesota when all this was taking place. If anything, this should at least tell fans that this chant was an isolated incident, instead of the full blown catastrophe that some fans are making it out to be.


For proof of this, I had a quick but very informative talk with former Stampede wrestler and current anti bullying advocate, Dave Boddy, who had this to say to me, "For some it may be offensive, but let's be honest...many fans have expressed their lack of appreciation and like for either of the Bellas. And the match was late through the night, we all know that attention span can be an issue when booking matches. The fans wanted to see their hometown superstar. So they expressed their interest. I don't mind it at all as he was booked for the show."


Boddy went on to say that "It's when fans chant names that are irrelevant and very unlikely for the show where I find myself annoyed. IE: fans chanting for Punk months ago." I want to point out that Boddy made a great point here. This is unlike when fans chanted for CM Punk during matches months ago, because unlike Punk, Brock Lesnar actually had relevance to the evening's festivities.


With all that being said, why then would fans even bother to criticize others during a live show? It's not like WWE is going to take the opinion of this one crowd chant and suddenly decide to axe the Divas revolution altogether. If anything, this actually will help the Divas division in gaining more notoriety, especially with how much a stir this is causing with The WWE Universe.


In the end, it was one chant, during one show, where fans were trying to let their hometown boy know that they wanted to see him. Can you really blame them for that? If your answer to this is yes, then please feel free to tell me all about how you wouldn't do the same if you were rooting for your home town superstar.



Out Of Nowhere For The Three Count



By: Brian Thornsburg on 8/13/2015


It's time once again for out of nowhere for the Three Count. The weekly feature at Draft Utopia where we talk about theories that have little to no chance of happening in the WWE, but are interesting enough to give attention to. Please keep in mind that I know that these aren't exactly plausible outcomes, but they are enjoyable to think about from a storyline standpoint.


1. Seth Rollins Being Punished For Injuring John Cena: While it is true that Rollins already lost to Cena by submission two weeks ago on Raw, it's also worth noting that WWE has done anything to strengthen Rollins from the loss since then. He already barely beat Neville two weeks ago and followed that up with a no contest against Randy Orton in last week’s made event on Raw. He even suffered a Brogue kick from Sheamus and almost had his title taken away as well. With one Raw to go before Summerslam on August 23rd what can WWE even do to build up Rollins as a strong competitor for Cena? It almost seems like WWE now wants to bury Rollins for injuring their top star and make his title reign literally mean nothing. Not that it really did to start with, but it's pretty bad when you have your WWE Champion losing to the United States Champion on television. Maybe WWE is just trying to build up the prestige of the United States title, but they are definitely demeaning the WWE title in the process.


2. Charlotte Will Join Total Divas: No matter how talented you are in the ring, reality TV is where these divas can make the big bucks. That's not to be sexist or anything, but the show does offer them a full hour of exposure, versus a maybe 15 minute spot on a three hour long show. With that being said, it will most likely be Charlotte that takes the plunge into reality Television. She has a lot of great stories to tell about growing up with Ric Flair and would probably have a very awesome personal life for the show to follow. That's not to say that other divas won't join her as well, but I believe she will certainly be the first one to do it.


3. Undertaker Versus Brock Lesnar Will End In Interference: I really can't see either of these top stars taking a loss at Summerslam, so a dirty ending would be WWE's best move to go with. Lesnar is on way too much of a hot streak and really can't afford to be off TV for any period of time. If WWE wants to keep him as a serious threat to whoever holds the title, they need to keep him winning and obliterating his opponents.


With that being said, Undertaker can't really afford to take a loss either, especially since most fans will feel cheated out of a rubber match if Taker losses two straight to the Beast. It also wouldn't be good for the storyline between the two. Now that we have the why down, lets focus on who for a moment. Who will be the one to commit the sin of interrupting their brawl at Summerslam?


While my initial reaction was Kevin Owens thanks to his tweets about wanting to get his hands on Brock Lesnar to make a statement, I'm now starting to lean towards an interference by Sting during their match at Summerslam. This would allow Undertaker and Sting to set up their blockbuster feud for WrestleMania 32 and will also allow neither star to take an unneeded loss.


The theory isn't perfect, especially since Sting has not been confirmed for Summerslam yet, but it's still a lot better of an idea then either of these two taking a loss at the biggest party of the summer. They could have Undertaker be handed the loss, but have Sting avenge his loss by facing Lesnar at Survivor Series, but that would be confusing for fans and huge risk for WWE.


Want to tell me I’m full of crap? Send all hate emails to brianethorn@gmail.com and I'll be happy to respond back to you. Also please follow us on twitter @DraftUtopia



What Was Wrong With Raw



By: Brian Thornsburg on 7/28/2015


Way to go WWE! Seriously, way to go! It took months and months to help re-establish The United States title and you finally did it! You finally gave the title some legitimacy. Unfortunately for fans, that legitimacy was at the expense of The WWE World Heavyweight Title.


It was deemed as the night of firsts! The first time that Dean Ambrose would go one on with Big Show, the first time that Kevin Owens would go up against Randy Orton, the first time that Paige and Sasha Banks would duke it out on raw, and of course the first time that The United States Champion made The WHC tap out in a matter of seconds to The STF.


That last first might be the most damaging of them all, especially given how much of a bad rap that Seth Rollins has gotten during his current title reign. Since winning the title in the main event at WrestleMania 31, Rollins has used every underhanded tactic to keep the title in his hands, making his title reign forgettable at best.


His reign was made even less memorable Monday Night, as Rollins lost clean by submission to John Cena. The match was well paced, full of action and a real nail biter, but the ending seemed only to favor Cena and what was best for him moving forward. Rollins on the other hand, looks like the guy that tapped out in a matter of seconds to John Super Man Cena.


With Summerslam less than a month away and no official announcement made for Rollin's opponent at the biggest party of the summer, it can be safely assumed that it will be Rollins versus Cena at Summerslam. It is also safe to assume that Cena will be walking out of Summerslam with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, especially with how week they just made Rollins look on Raw.


What WWE does from here is honestly up to them, but its pretty bad that the person that is supposed to be the best the company has to offer, loses in such one sided fashion. This isn’t good for The WWE, it isn’t good for the future of how they handle talent and it isn't good for The United States title. The only person this serves is John Cena.



CM Punk Encourages Fan To Pursue Wrestling During UFC Q&A



By: Brian Thornsburg on 7/26/2015


No, you aren't hearing things. CM Punk just encouraged a kid to be a wrestler at an UFC Q&A in Chicago. The comments were surprisingly to say the least, especially with how Punk and wrestling giant, WWE, parted ways over two years ago.


The question was raised by a young mother with two kids who asked Punk if he had any advice for young fans that are following him no matter what arena he is in. While Punk was interrupted hallway through the conversation with the fan, his biggest advice was to tell her son to just be himself.


The mother then asked Punk about what to do if the kids are passionate about wrestling. While some may think that this would have prompted Punk to tell the young child to stay far away from Sports Entertainment, he actually told the mother to get into it and that the support from her will only help her son that much more.


Punk had a few more zingers in store for Chicago fans, including one who told Punk that he wasn't a real fighter and was wondering why Punk was afraid to fight him. Punk wasted no time putting the trouble maker in his place, by outright ignoring him and even telling the fan that he was a was a real fighter because he was on stage and the fan was not.


Punk was also given some situational questions involving his new boss Dana White and his old boss, Vince McMahon. One of which was "you're in the ring with Dana White and Vince McMahon. Who's body slamming you and who’s your tag team partner." Punk thought for a minute before telling the fan that he didn't think either of them could body slam him, but that Dana White would no doubt be his partner.


This just goes to show you that no matter where Punk may go and no matter what he may do, he will also be dropping killer pipe bombs along the way!


To see the full Q&A, click on the YouTube player below. Fast forward to about the 18 minute mark to see the fan trash CM Punk.



Hulk Hogan Not Only One To Blame



By: Brian Thornsburg on 7/25/2015


It's funny how a legacy can be erased in a matter of a few words. That's what happened to Hulk Hogan Friday morning, as WWE has erased all memory of the former pro wrestler after a transcript was leaked of him using the N Word multiple times.


The WWE Universe woke up Friday morning to find all mentions of the former WWE Champion and cultural icon removed completely from the WWE website. This includes, the WWE Hall of Fame page, WWE alumni page, merchandising and even WWE's new reality show, Tough Enough. No word yet on who will fill Hogan's role on the judge panel for the reality show, but Hogan is definitely out.


Despite Hogan's words being deplorable and completely racially insensitive, I still feel that the way this all happened should garner Hogan some sympathy for the WWE Universe and the rest of the world. We have to remember that this sex tape was made eight years ago and might not even have a significant bearing on who this man is today.


Not to mention the fact that the transcripts of this sex tape were obtained illegally and was a part of a 100 million dollar lawsuit that Hogan has against Gawker for posting the sex tape on their website in 2008. If that isn't enough to invoke some sympathy for the Hulkster, consider the fact that he was talking about someone that was dating his daughter, Brooke.


Yes, we live in a day and age where racial slurs like this are completely unacceptable, but shouldn't there be room for rehabilitation and forgiveness as well? Again, this was almost a decade ago and there is absolutely nothing that points to Hogan still holding these racist values today.


In the end, you really can’t blame the WWE for cutting ties with Hogan after the transcripts were released early Friday, but fans also should blame the lowlife that leaked these transcripts and ruined this man's career.



Cena VS Rollins Best Thing For WWE At Summerslam



By: Brian Thornsburg on 7/21/2015


When John Cena interrupted Seth Rollins Monday night on Raw, fans showered the Cenatation leader in relentless boos for several minutes. Things only got worse as he made his way to the ring to give Rollins a piece of his mind about his current reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion.


Cena wasted no time hyping up the prestige of the United States title and even trashed Rollins multiple times for the way he has defended his title over the past few months. He even went so far as to call Rollin's reign a joke, something that got the former Shield member very hot under the collar and almost prompted a match between the two wrestlers on Raw. Of course Rollins bailed and walked up the ramp with his title held high


While most fans in the WWE Universe would probably groan at the thought of Cena getting a WWE World Heavyweight title match against Rollins at Summerslam, it might just be the best thing for the young superstar. Something can could even give his reign the legitimacy that it so rightly deserves. Sure, this might hinge on whether Cena is willing to job to Rollins at Summerslam. Something that Cena hasn't done much of lately.


Cena has been on a bit of role lately, forcing NXT upstart, Kevin Owen's, to tap out at BattleGround and destroying Rusev in two straight victories, including destroying the Bulgarian Brute in an I Quit match. This would also make him a perfect opponent for Rollins, but again, only if he is willing to job to the young star.


That might be the plan from the way things were looking on Monday Night. Rollin needs to establish himself as more than just a cowardly heel who wins with cheap tactics, and John Cena would be the man to help him do that. That confrontation Monday night screams a passing of the torch moment at Summerslam, especially with how Cena mocked Rollin's title reign and the cowardly tactics he uses to win matches.


I'll admit this may not be a match that fans want to see at Summerslam, but it's one that I truly believe needs to happen. Rollins has gotten by on the assistance of others lately, but if he could win one clean match against the biggest name in the whole company, that would speak volumes to Rollins being the future of the WWE. It would also be the biggest establishing match of his life.


Ok, laugh all you want. Tell me im crazy, but when Rollins beats Cena clean at Summerslam, you'll know I'm right. Youll know that this was the perfect thing to give his reign and the rest of his career some legitimacy. Cena and Rollins have both been having great matches lately, making the booking of this match even more of a good idea.


Sure, this match being booked might cause a bit of dip in viewership for Summerslam. I can understand that fans don't really want to see Cena back in the main event, but trust me, it's for the best right now. Not only that, Undertaker versus Brock Lesnar will have no problem picking up the dip in buy rates caused by this match.


If this match will actually happen remains to be seen, but with no other opponents stepping up to challenge Rollins and the interesting back and forth created between Cena and Rollins Monday night, this could certainly be a possibility at the biggest party of the summer.



Out Of Nowhere For The Count Undertaker Edition



By: Brian Thornsburg on 7/17/2015


"No not him. The guy with the coffins" Those eight words have caused so much excitement and speculation in the WWE Universe that's it's hard to ignore the possibilities. One of those possibilities is that it was all just a rumor and the WWE Universe is getting excited for nothing.


With that being said, here are three of the top Undertaker rumors floating around the internet and why we here at Draftutopia.com believe they won't come to fruition. Nonetheless, I would like to credit Falconarrow for getting the rumor started on Reddit, and acknowledge that the user has gotten storyline predictions right in the past.


Undertaker Returns to Face Brock Lesnar: Many fans think it will be The Beast that The Deadman is looking for if he makes his return at BattleGround. While this would probably make sense in the short run, it also leaves Seth Rollins without an opponent for the next pay per view, especially if the rumors about Triple H costing Rollins the title and facing him at Summerslam is true.


For this to happen, Brock would have to win the title from Rollins and we all know that WWE wouldn't put a semi-retired wrestler in a title match at Summerslam. That would just be bad for business. Sure, it would be a nice end to their streak storyline a few years back, but it also wouldn't really work in the long run. Especially if WWE wants to save Taker for one more run at Mania.


Undertaker Returns to Face Seth Rollins: Have to admit, this one has a lot more weight to it than most. Especially with Rollins comments about Kane just being Taker's younger brother. With that being said, why would Undertaker return to face Rollins? Wouldn't WWE be saving him for a WrestleMania run instead? I understand that the fans think that the storyline connects after Monday, but I think WWE is hinting at a run for Kane as the demon.


Also, why would Taker be in a title match again? That wouldn't be that long of a match, especially if they turn out as bland as Undertaker's last two WrestleMania bouts were. Also, a rematch would like be wanted by fans after Summerslam. Something I believe Undertaker couldn't do considering his age.


Undertaker Returns to face Sting at Summerslam: What is this one even based on? The two have never met in the ring before and no Sting rumors even exist for Battleground! I'll admit that Taker could come back and cut a promo on Sting for Summerslam, but it's far more likely that this whole rumor is just a ploy for more PPV buy rates and fans are going to idiotically buy into it.


I know this goes against Falconarrow's record of being right, but with how desperate WWE is right now for viewership, I wouldn't doubt that they would try anything to fans to watch Battleground. Even making up a rumor about the return of The Deadman.



What Was Wrong With Raw



By: Brian Thornsburg on 7/14/2015


Despite Monday Night Raw having some high points during their final stop before BattleGround, WWE still made some crucial mistakes Monday night that is sure to affect them in the long run. With that being said, I don't see these mistakes as unfixable, just utterly ridiculous in their current form.


Divas Division Overload: For example, the debut of Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Charlotte was a huge mistake on WWE’s part. The WWE already has problems showcasing their Divas division on television, especially with only one or two Divas storylines going on at a time in the WWE. With that in mind, why would WWE add more Divas to the mix?


Doing so not only puts more Divas who are on the main roster without Tv time, but also puts these NXT Divas under a spotlight that they might not be ready for. That's not to say that these woman aren't immensely talented, but no amount of talent in the world can prepare you for the moment you walk through that curtain on Monday Night Raw. It a completely different beast entirely.


The crowd might gravitate towards this storyline and they might not, but throwing all these woman in the same storyline is an incredibly stupid gamble. Not only because of how WWE creative has handled Divas storylines in the past, but also because now all these Divas careers are linked together. In other words, if one fails, they will probably all fail and the storyline will be killed off completely.


Authority Overused:The WWE has chosen to tease a break up between The Authority for many months now and it’s about time they just pull the trigger. Their on the right track with how Seth Rollins attacked Kane at the conclusion of Monday night's Raw, but it may just be to give the audience reasonable doubt about Rollins coming out of Battle Ground as Champion.


If it is, then WWE is only cheating its audience and itself. The WWE has run with this storyline for way to long and it’s just time to end it. That doesn’t mean end it without a proper conclusion or climax, but stop using it as a plot device to drive storylines. Have The Authority go out in one big bang and then move on to something else. Anything else really!


The WWE doesn’t need an authority figure to drive storylines. It just needs a protagonist and an antagonist to compete against each other. It doesn't have to be an authority figure though. Have a random superstar run rough shot on the rest of the locker room, try an evolution type reboot, or even bring someone corrupt like Eric Bischoff back.


Sure it would still be an authority figure in the sense of the power that they have, but it would be a new authority figure with completely different characteristics and storylines to go off of. It’s not that the Authority storyline didn't have its moments and wasn’t interesting in the beginning, but it's come to the point where the story just lost its luster and direction. If anything, it’s just time to move on.



Five Superstars Who Are Not Being Utilized And Will Leave The Company



By: Brian Thornsburg on 7/10/2015


WWE has made some good decisions about who rises to the top and some bad decisions about who rises to the top. These are five superstars and divas who The WWE have failed to do anything with and will most likely leave the company in the next few years. Do you agree with our picks? Let us know in the comments below!


5. Summer Rae: Is it me, or this woman used more for eye candy, then anything else. She stated off as arm candy for Fandango, before having a short stint with Rosa Mendez as the lady killers. Beyond that, she has competed in one Divas Championship match at WrestleMania 30 and is a featured star on Total Divas. While she is currently being used in a storyline with Rusev, Dolph Ziggler and Lana, that is a far cry from what this top talent could be used for. Come on! We're talking about the diva that had heart stopping match after heart stopping match with Paige in NXT. Why is she not being used beyond arm candy and catty little feuds? If WWE was smart, they would put her in the title picture immediately.


4. Natayla: I know she has already had a run as Divas Champion, but you would think that WWE would find better use for her then as a ballet for her husband's tag team. She should also be challenging for The Divas Title and anything else is just a waste of time for this Diva. She shouldn't be on Total Divas, she shouldn't be a ballet, and she needs to be in the ring with a decent storyline behind her. If WWE isn’t going to give her a title shot, at least put her in a secondary feud with another Diva. Natayla is such a skilled superstar, that any match she is in is a must see event!


3. Dolph Zigger: Despite having some of the best matches on a consistent basis, Ziggler has never been given anything to really run with. He keeps winning The IC title belt and then dropping it to WWE's latest flavor of the month, they use him in corny, ill planned love storylines and haven't given him a main event push in about two years. This man deserves more then this and The WWE not giving him a better role in the company is not only a slap in the face to him, but to his fans as well. Ziggler should be World Champion right this minute, but The WWE will probably never see it. Furthermore, they don't even let him excel in a midcard role. They don't allow him on the microphone very often and when they do, it's for something ridiculous. At least let Ziggler put his microphone skills to good use! That would at least make his feuds a little more memorable.


2. The Ascension: When The Ascension finally made their main roster debut, WWE Universe collectively went nuts with joy. A few short months later however, The Ascensions rise to the top has been slow and uneventful. The WWE started them off with a win against over The Miz and Midow, but after that have fed them jobbers on a weekly basis. Fans were hopeful that this would lead to a high profile opponent, but it just never happened. Instead, they gave a promo calling the legendary Road Warriors a joke, and it just went downhill from there. The Ascension hasn’t been on Raw in months, only have one title opportunity to speak of, and just haven’t made the waves that were predicted. If anything, The WWE will phase them back down to NXT and forget about them there too.


1. Roman Reigns: The WWE should have established Reigns as the next John Cena, but they were too afraid of the backlash they would face from The WWE Universe. They had a chance to do it at WrestleMania 31, but decided to push his shield teammate, Seth Rollins, instead. While The WWE Universe should definitely have a voice in who rises to the top and who drops to the bottom, they were wrong when it came to Roman Reigns. These fans bought into WWE's hype that he was the next John Cena, interpreted that in a negative light and proceeded to ruin his crowning moment at WrestleMania 31. Of course this means that The WWE had a hand in this as well and are to blame for pushing him to the main spot right after coming back from hernia injury. That, mixed with the john Cena comparisons, angered fans and made Reigns a sitting duck for criticism and anger. For that reason, The WWE Universe will be to blame for Reigns career being ruined.



Out Of Nowhere For The Three Count



By: Brian Thornsburg on 6/30/2015

It's time once again for out of know where for the three count. A feature here at Draftutopia.com where we pick three current storylines or headlines in the WWE and give our opinion on them. Sometimes they're on target like a well-timed RKO, and sometimes they are well off base, like WWE thinking fans want another Cena title run. Without further ado, here is out of nowhere for The Three Count.


3. Another lose to Cena will not ruin Kevin Owen's career Seriously, how many people can say they pinned John Cena in their debut match? That victory alone should be enough to establish Owens as a main roster talent for years to come. With that being said, I find it funny how fans are more interested in Owens coming out on top against Cena, then just sitting back and watching this great feud continue on.


The more fans focus on the destination of this storyline, the more they won't be able to appreciate the great things that both of these superstars are doing in the ring right now! Not to mention the fact that Cena will probably come out on top in this feud, so he can look strong for a WWE title run later in the year.


As for Owens, the sky is really the limit for this guy. I don't know why fans are saying his future hinges on his match with Cena at Battleground, because honestly, he’s going to come out looking great regardless of how his program with Cena ends up.


Owens just has something special about him. Something that the WWE will want to take advantage of in the future. Whether he ends up being a main event contender remains to be seen, but it’s not like one loss against the man who has stood atop the industry for the last ten years will change that. WWE fans really just need to appreciate the experience on this one.


2. Brock Lesnar Needed To Be Taken Down a Notch I didn't think it was possible. I thought the WWE would just continue to make Lesnar look dominant, but boy am I glad I was wrong! Lesnar getting taken down a notch by The Authority is exactly what this feud needed. It fuels believability and gives fans a little reasonable doubt about who will come out the winner at BattleGround.


Now that Lesnar looks vulnerable, WWE can capitalize on it and make this feud look even more believable then before. They can do this by adding a stipulation to the match. This way, Seth Rollins doesn't have to rely on The Authority the entire match and can use foreign objects to mix things up as well.


As for which stipulation should be chosen, I think the WWE should go with a falls count anywhere match. This not only eliminates disqualifications and allows any foreign objects to used, but also allows for Rollins and Lesnar to take the battle outside the ring as well. This will help to make the match more believable and exciting for The WWE Universe.


While some fans will certainly be unhappy with how The WWE choose to exploit Lesnar's weakness, I think that it had to be done to make the feud between the two even remotely interesting. I mean, come on! There is no way Rollins could ever defeat Rollins on his own. Rollins needed The Authorities help here and it just helps the feud gain more believability and attract more fans to buy the pay per view.


For those of you that still believe this was a bad idea on WWE's part, consider this. John Cena got destroyed not once, not twice, but three separate times by Brock Lesnar in 2014. There is no way Seth Rollins, who is virtually a tenth as established as John Cena, could ever handle The Beast on his own. That's why WWE needed a way to make it work and boy, did they!


1. Sheamus Needs To Align With The Authority Despite my belief that Sheamus was the worst possible choice to put the MITB briefcase on, I will admit, it can be salvaged if they decide to align The Celtic Warrior with The Authority. This not only would go along with the possible storyline of The Authority turning on Rollins before Summerslam it also gives fans a very intriguing matchup between Lesnar and Sheamus down the line.


While that option is certainly a possibility, I still feel The WWE will choice to take the briefcase off of Sheamus or just have him fail to cash for The Championship. Sheamus is such a hated character in The WWE, and it would really make no sense to put him in the title hunt anyway. He already established himself with a title run years ago, and won’t really benefit from having another run with the belt.


With that being said, I believe Sheamus becomes the third superstar ever to unsuccessfully cash in his briefcase and will then be moved back down to the mid card. The WWE should have gone with Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank, but now they must bury their heads in the sand and start all over next year.



Lesnar versus Rollins at BattleGround Is The Worst Idea Ever



By: Brian Thornsburg on 6/16/2015


It's no secret that one of the biggest weapons used in the world of pro wrestling is the suspension of disbelief. That little thing inside that wants to believe in the magic that is taking place right in front us. That an underdog can rise to the occasion and take down a goliath sized villain.


With that being said, has The WWE finally created a storyline that will make it impossible for fans to suspend their disbelief? It sure looks that way, asit was announced on Monday night that Seth Rollins will be taking on Brock Lesnar for The WWE World Heavyweight Title at WWE Battleground.


While it is true that Seth Rollins has battled Lesnar before, even coming close to defeating The Beast Incarnate at The Royal Rumble, it’s no secret that there is no possible way that Seth Rollins can defeat Lesnar in a one on one match. I mean come on, were talking about the guy that ended the streak, completely destroyed Super Cena three straight times, and even went on a vicious rampage the night after WrestleMania.


All this and more points to the fact that if Rollins is able to pull out a win on Brock Lesnar, it will not come in a clean fashion. If anything, the WWE will probably go with a disqualification finish that will protect both Lesnar and Rollins for future match ups. The question remains though, who will interfere and cause the disqualification?


This might not be a popular prediction, but I truly believe that Roman Reigns is the best possible choice here. He already has previous issues with both Lesnar and Rollins, and was also brutally robbed of his what should have been the biggest moment of his career at WrestleMania.


Adding Reigns to the storyline will help increase believability, increase pay per view buy rates and finally give Roman Reigns the championship moment he deserves. Alternatively, WWE can choose to just let Lesnar win clean at Battleground, but the only appeal of that scenario would be to watch Lesnar completely destroy Rollins.


As for those that think Rollins will have some kind of chance against Brock Lesnar, consider this. Cena wasn't able to defeat him and three tries, and even got obliterated with 16 suplexes in their first encounter at Summerslam. Lesnar is also is the only man to defeat Undertaker at WrestleMania, making him one of the most dominant superstars in the last decade of The WWE.


Whether WWE chooses Reigns as the third man in this feud remains to be seen, but with a horrible mismatch like this one, the WWE needs to do something to keep the audience engaged in their main event match at Battleground.



WWE Failed To Deliver At Money In The Bank



By: Brian Thornsburg on 6/15/2015


Did WWE think this through? That is the question I was asking myself all Sunday evening, as I watched Sheamus climb the ladder and win the first Money in the Bank briefcase of his career. Sure, the match was exciting to watch, but does the WWE Universe realize how much Sheamus's win will affect the title picture?


How you may ask? Let’s start with the fact that Sheamus doesn't fit into the title picture to begin with. In fact, The WWE spent so much time hyping Roman Reigns trying to take down the authority and win the briefcase, that they seemed to forget about every other combatant involved in The Money in the Bank ladder match entirely. This makes the decision to have Sheamus come out on top all the more puzzling.


Why would The WWE go with Sheamus? Do they think Brock Lesnar versus Sheamus will help sell pay per views later this year, or are they waiting for Brock Lesnar's next hiatus to come and have Sheamus cash in for a little shake up in the title picture?


The WWE could have saved their asses here by having Sheamus cash in Sunday at Money in the Bank. Maybe it wouldn't have made too much sense to fans at the time, but would have definitely given fans something to go hope happy about. It could have also been a great mechanism for Sheamus to join The Authority, now that Seth Rollins seems to be on his way out of the group.


The bigger question is, what happens to Roman Reigns? He was attacked at the end of the match by Bray Wyatt, which gave Sheamus the opportunity to climb the ladder and get the win. Did WWE second guess themselves and decide to take Reigns out of the title picture again? If so, they really made a mistake by not having Reigns win and cash in on Rollins later in the night.


Seriously though, why put Roman Reigns with Bray Wyatt? Reigns can't cut a promo to save his life and will fail when put up against the microphone skills of Bray Wyatt! Also, if Reigns is meant to come out on top in this feud against Bray Wyatt, what’s the benefit of it? Wyatt has only won one match since WrestleMania and has done very little after that.


If anything, the feud between Reigns and Wyatt will only serve to expose more of Roman Reign's fatal flaws and eventually cause WWE push him back down the card. While that happens, Sheamus will most likely become the third superstar ever to fail to successfully cash in his Money in The Bank briefcase. This will make The 2015 edition of Money In The Bank both memorable, but nothing that changed the landscape of The WWE.



Five Predictions For Money In The Bank



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 6/14/2015


Climb the ladder, retrieve the briefcase, and ascend to the top of the company. Sounds easy, right? While that might sound easy, predicting the winner of such a chaotic and thrilling match is hard work! Despite this fact, here for five predictions for The Money in the Bank Pay Per view! Enjoy!


5. Bad News Barrett Needs a Win: How someone can go from King of the ring to fodder for the mid card is beyond me. Barrett's place on the card just proves how poorly the whole king of the ring concept was put together and how much WWE really cares right now. They seem so focused on their main event stars and John Cena's latest feud, that they can't be bothered with the lower tier superstars. Hopefully Barrett gets a win here against R-Truth, because god knows the guy needs one right now. I think WWE would have been a lot better off with a Neville versus Barrett matchup, that way, maybe they could have a rematch for The King of The Ring title. Anyway, I predict that Barrett will knock Truth out with a Bull Hammer elbow in about five minutes for the pin.


4. Kevin Owens Should win clean: WWE needs to prove to the fans that the future is now. The WWE can do this by giving Owens his second straight clean win over John Cena at the Money in the Bank pay per view. I know some fans will want to argue for a Cena victory, so there can be a rubber match at the next pay per view, but I think it will be a lot more useful to show fans that the future is now and let Owens get another clean victory over Cena. Not doing so will only serve to give a victory to someone who does not need it at this point in his career. The WWE can make a much bigger statement here, by giving Owens two straight victories over Super Cena. While this is what I believe should happen, I believe Owens will be disqualified for beating up on Cena in the corner too much, giving the victory to Cena.


3. Its Not Prime Time Yet: While I am a huge fan of The Prime Time players and think they are one of the best teams in the division, I don’t feel like it's their time to shine yet. I think this match was kind of a last minute decision by WWE, and will help garner more heat for the new day faction. Look for Titus Oneil to come close to victory, but be beaten by a distraction and a Big Ending at the end of the match up.


2. Seth Rollins Should Retain The WWE World Heavyweight Title: I would to hate to sound like a Dean Ambrose hater, but I just don't think it’s the guy's time yet. I think WWE has been teasing his championship run for some time now, unfortunately, his rise is just that, a tease. The WWE knows that the fans want to see Ambrose get retribution on Rollins, and they are smartly using that to their advantage to make money. How far it goes is anyone’s guess, but I seriously doubt it will result in The Lunatic Fringe holding The WWE World Heavyweight Title legitimately. Think of it this way, The WWE spent months booking Daniel Bryan against Randy Orton last year. Not so Bryan could eventually take the title from Orton, but so The WWE could tease fans with a good underdog story. I know fans are predicting that Ambrose will win the title and then lose it to Roman Reigns minutes later, but I think that Rollins will win with the curb stomp and climb the ladder for the win.


1. Reigns Will Not Turn Heel: It literally would make no sense to turn Reigns heel at this point in his career. WWE has spent the last few months carefully aligning him with baby faces and would ruin all their hard work by having Reigns turning on the fans at Money in the Bank. I believe Reigns will win The Money in the Bank briefcase, but will cash in on Rollins instead of Ambrose. This way Reigns can stay babyface and get a huge pop from fans for finally defeating Seth Rollins for the title.



Is Kevin Owens The Next Victim Of The John Cena Curse?



By: Brian Thornsburg on 6/3/2015


Now that Kevin Owens has become the latest man to pin John Cena 1, 2, 3 in a while, we now must concern ourselves with what will be next for the NXT Champion. Of course he will be challenged to a rematch with Cena at Money in the Bank, but what lies beyond that for Owens?


Like Cena's feud with Rusev, this one could go on for several pay per views. Maybe even through Summerslam if the two continue to deliver matches like they did at Elimination Chamber. With that being said, Owen's win at Elimination Chamber may be more of detriment to his career then the huge launching pad that many fans in The WWE Universe think it is.


Going back to WWE Fastlane in February, you will recall that Rusev won the initial match between himself and the leader of The Cenation by submission when he locked in the Accolade on Cena. It was only at their follow up match at WrestleMania, that Cena finally ripped The United States Championship out of the hands of The Bulgarian Brute. This of course happened in Super Cena fashion, and was Rusev's first recorded pin fall on the main roster.


Rusev lost again at Extreme rules, when a miscommunication between Lana and Rusev allowed Cena to once again pick up the win on the once fierce competitor. This of course set up one final match between Rusev and Cena at Payback. Cena again retained the title after Lana alleged that Rusev was saying "I quit" in Bulgarian, and ordered the referee to stop the match.


While many fans initially thought Rusev's win at Fastlane would serve as a launching pad for The Bulgarian Brute's career, Rusev seems to be a lot worse off than he was before his feud with Cena. In fact, his win at Fastlane seems to be almost forgotten about completely.


After his multiple losses to Cena at WM 31 and Payback, Rusev split with his longtime manager, Lana. This led to a brief feud with The Showoff, Dolph Ziggler, over who would win the affections of Rusev's former manager. The feud was gaining traction, until an untimely foot injury left Rusev out of The Elimination Chamber match for The Intercontinental title. This injury could also leave Rusev on the shelf for several weeks.


If this isn't enough to show the WWE Universe that some kind of curse occurs when a superstar defeats John Cena cleanly, let's look at his match against Daniel Bryan at the 2013 edition of Summerslam. Daniel Bryan was getting a huge push from The WWE at the time, and was rumored to be the next big star of The WWE.


While Daniel Bryan did turn out to be the next big star of The WWE, it didn't last very long. After pinning John Cena cleanly with a running knee, Bryan was ambushed by Triple H, allowing for Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on Bryan. Randy Orton won the match and became The New WWE Champion.


Bryan and Orton continued their feud through the month of September and October, until it was rumored that pay per view buy rates were dropping with Bryan in the main event hunt. Whether it was because of the way the matches were booked, or The WWE Universe not wanting to see Bryan in the spotlight is unknown, but WWE still made the decision to drop Bryan from the main event card and have him feud with The Wyatt Family.


Things got worse for Bryan, as he was reportedly injured during a cage match with The Wyatt Family and The Uso's. Bryan had taken a nasty bump off of the top of the cage, causing many news outlets to speculate that Bryan had suffered a concussion in the process. This theory is amplified by the fact that a WWE official reports having to help Bryan remember where he was after the match and help him remember to do his signature "Yes Chant" for The WWE Universe.


Despite this supposed injury, Bryan still had a match against Bray Wyatt at The Royal Rumble. Although Bryan had won the match against Wyatt, fans were still upset that Bryan wasn’t an entrant in The Royal Rumble match. This led to many fans chanting yes and booing Batista when he finally did win the match.


Skipping ahead to WrestleMania 30, Bryan overcame The Authority, Batista and Randy Orton to once again claim The WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This is said to be due to the fact that fans weren't getting behind Batista as WWE had originally anticipated they would.


Another case of the Cena curse, is when John Cena faced The Rock at WrestleMania 29. The Rock won the initial contest, hitting Cena with a timely Rock Bottom for the three count. Distraught, Cena then set out on a yearlong quest to get back into the title picture and reconcile his lost to the most electrifying man in sports entertainment history.


Cena got his chance to do just that, when he faced The Rock again at WrestleMania 30 at Metlife Stadium. The two superstars had a great back and forth match that night, but Cena ultimately managed to pull out the win in the end with a timely A.A to The Rock. After the match, The WWE Universe soon learned that The Rock tore his abdominal and adductor tendon in his pelvis sometime during the main event with Cena. The Rock received surgery a days later and was out of action for several months.


While I want everyone to understand that this article is not implying that Cena has some kind of backstage pull in the company and that Cena did not help injure either of these men, it’s funny that this has happened to two superstars after claiming clean wins over John Cena. This also leds me to believe that Kevin Owens is in one of the most vulnerable positions of his young career. Will he fall victim to the curse next?




WWE Interview With Ronda Rousey



By: Brian Thornsburg on 5/21/2015


Ronda Rousey's Interview with WWE.com: UFC Woman's Batamweight Champion, Ronda Rousey sat down with WWE.com to discuss her new memori, Ronda Rousey: My Fight/Your fight. While the most dangerous woman in the world didn't provide any exact details on her return to WWE, she did have this to say about getting back in the ring.


"Life is pulling me in a bunch of different directions and I'm forced to step away for a while. But there's no way, after getting a taste like that, I could never go back in for seconds."


Rousey was also asked how she felt about being in the ring with The Rock at WrestleMania 31 and if she was intimidated at all. Although I personally loved her segment at WrestleMania 31, I still feel like her statement was a bit conceded to put it lightly.


"Well, it's amazing to have someone of his level because nobody could do it better than him, but it's also very intimidating to be in the ring with Rock, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, and these huge personalities. I mean, especially the kind of rivalry Rock and Triple H have had, you really have to be another kind of captivating to pull the attention away from them while they're standing in the ring." Rousey told WWE.com.


Finally, Rousey talked about who her favorite wrestler was when she was three years old. While it’s not a very surprising choice for someone to look up, especially when your that age, her comments about her stuffed toy of Hulk Hogan was funny.


Exert from interview with WWE.com


Do you remember why you preferred Hogan as opposed to "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior or some of the others that were available?


ROUSEY: I was just a little three-year-old kid and I loved Hulk Hogan. And when you're a three-year-old kid, you don't list off the reasons. I was just drawn to him. He was always my favorite, even in the video games and everything like that. He was the one that I always remembered and liked the most.


WWE.COM: In the book, you mentioned that his arm was ripped off. Do you remember how that happened?


ROUSEY: Oh, it happened over and over, like several times.


WWE.COM: So there was emergency surgery?


ROUSEY: It was sewed on a lot. I don't remember how I originally did it; I was just really rough on him.


Lesnar Returning To Action? Rousey isn’t the only one sending the rumor mill into a tailspin in The WWE Universe, Paul Heyman’s appearance on The Stone Cold Steve Austin Podcast next week will have a lot of fans talking as well. Not only about Heyman, but about his suspended client as well.


Could this interview be foreshadowing the return of Brock Lesnar? If so, will WWE decide to set his return at Elimination Chamber, or the next night on Raw? Doing it that way would give WWE fans a reason to flock to The WWE Network to hear exactly what his plans are for The Architect, Seth Rollins.


On the other hand, Brock Lesnar is such a big name right now, that there’s almost no way he would return before Summerslam later this year. While it would be nice to see an update on Lesnar’s suspension and when he will return to the ring, I feel like WWE would be giving fans a giant middle finger, if they didn't reward their fans for watching this interview next Monday night.


What do you think of Rousey's comments to WWE.com? Does her statements signify a return to the ring before the next WrestleMania? What about Lesnar's return? Will you be watching it next week on The WWE Network? Let us know in the comments below!




Out Of Nowhere Three Count



By: Brian Thornsburg on 5/21/2015


From storylines that may never take place inside a WWE ring, to the strangest and most out there news stories to ever come from a wrestling fan, Draft Utopia counts down our Top 3. out of nowhere topics of the week. A new feature at Draft Utopia where we bring the most insane ideas to life and expand on them. Welcome to the wasteland…. Of the brain.


1. AJ Lee erased from history?: Although not to be taken literally, it seems like The WWE would like us to forget certain aspects of The Black Widow’s career in the squared circle, especially aspects of her reign as Divas Champion. Sure, WWE.com still show her full profile, all three of her reigns, including her historic 295 day reign as champion, but when it comes to WWE TV, she is never mentioned.


WWE commentators have been raving for the last three weeks that The Bella Twins have dominated The Divas Division for the last year. That may have been true, if they would have said the last six months, but they state they have dominated the division for a full year. AJ. Lee lost the Divas title for the last time in her career on November 23rd 2014, only six months from the current time and date. Even if that was just a coincidence, The Bella Twins had a title reign was two years ago before their current reign.


As if that wasn’t bad enough, it feels like WWE is introducing Paige into the title picture again, so she can tie Lee’s three title reigns and eventually beat it. That was WWE won’t have to mention this part in Divas history. They are literally taking all the hard work she has done for the company and rubbing it in her. Paige is a great Diva, but The WWE is only doing this to get under the skin of Mrs. Brooks.


2. Kevin Owens John Cena storyline is too predictable:Call me a Cena mark if you want, but I can't stand the thought of his new feud with Kevin Owens. Not because I don’t want to see him put over new talent, I promise I have problem with that, but I do have a problem when WWE has a chance to do just that and ultimately don’t take it.


I would have been fine if Cena lost the title the night after Payback. Even somewhat happy for the lucky soul who was able to get the 3 count on the 15 time World Champion, but when WWE decided to hold off on the match for two weeks until Elimination Chamber, I was enraged! Here was WWE’s chance to establish a rising star and they just choose to save it for a Pay per view event.


While I promise to withdraw my complaint about this storyline if Owens is able to pin Cena at Elimination Chamber, I still will find it predictable and a money grab move by WWE. Let's face it. If Owens loses Wednesday night at NXT Takeover, his spot on the main roster will most likely be permanent. On the other hand, if Owens retains at Takeover, then he will most likely only be at Elimination Chamber for a publicity stunt with the company’s biggest name.


I know wrestling is about suspending disbelief, but that’s pretty hard to do when you consider if Kevin Owens can beat the company’s biggest name, take his United States Title and retain his own NXT title in the same week. WWE fans can’t be that insane!


3. WWE Should Make WWE World Heavyweight Title feud more personal: I know what you’re thinking, how in the hell can WWE make a feud between two former Shield members more personal? Well, with a love triangle of course! It’s no secret that Dean Ambrose and backstage interviewer, Renee Young are together, so why not exploit that? Have Rollins threaten Renee’s job if she doesn’t go out on a date with him, or have Ambrose catch them kissing.


This would give The WWE Universe so much sympathy for Dean Ambrose and also make his feud with Rollins must see TV. It's been awhile since WWE has been able to navigate a love triangle successfully, but with the right amount of personal aspects to it and three great talents to carry it out, there is no way this couldn’t be a huge success!


I'm not saying that Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollin’s feud isn’t already personal enough, but it couldn't hurt to strengthen the story a bit before the Elimination Chamber pay per view at the end of the month.



5 Predictions Following Payback



By Brian Thornsburg on 5/18/2015


Whether you thought Payback was the best pay per view of the year, or an uneventful mess of poor storytelling and build up, it is now time for the Universe to direct their attention to what’s going to happen next in the world of Professional wrestling. While I’ll admit that I’m honestly no psychic, I feel like these five predictions are pretty much common sense following WWE Payback on Sunday!


5. The Ascension Will Be Next In Line To Challenge The New Day: While not an overly exciting match, a win for The Ascension is a good indication that they are now back on track in the tag team division. Even better, is that they knocked off rising star, Macho Mandow, in the process. If this doesn’t give The Ascension the green light to face The New Day for the titles, I don’t know what will. With that being said, I don’t expect The Ascension to win the grueling Elimination Chamber match in two weeks, but it would really be a shame if they got passed up for The first ever Tag Team Chamber match as well. Make it happen WWE!


4. Neville will win IC Title in Chamber match Come on! You can’t tell me you don’t see this coming too! With The IC Title being vacated by Daniel Bryan during last week’s Raw, and Neville on a literally mega roll in the division as of late, a run with the IC title seems a logical conclusion at this point. He beat Barrett at Extreme Rules, had a strong showing against John Cena on Raw, and even had strong showings in tag team matches against Sheamus and Barrett the past few weeks as well. It’s time for WWE to pull the trigger on this and just let the star take the next step in his career. Neville will be sure to elevate the division with his high flying style and put on a great show with a variety of other superstars as well. I think WWE knows by now that putting The IC title will mean a lot more eyes on the division as well.


3. Cena to Lose Title to Sandow and Take Time Off: Sandow, has had a few nice runs with a few different gimmicks, but now it’s time to get serious and put some gold around that waist! Cena will definitely be weakened after his I quit match against Rusev at Payback, making it pretty unlikely that The Cenation leader will retain the title one more time an open challenge on Raw. I really wanted to give this spot to Neville or Finn Baylor from NXT, but I feel like Sandow is the most deserving here. He has really built himself as a fan favorite over the past few months and it just seems time to give him a legitimate title run. Not to mention the wonders that beating John Cena will do for his career. I also predict that Cena will take some much needed time off after this match to rest and get ready for bigger pay per views like Summerslam Hell in a Cell Night of Champions and Survivor Series. The WWE can’t afford to have him on the shelf during such prominent pay per views, so having him take a rest after losing the title is really the only option here.


2. Naomi Will Defeat Nikki Bella for The Divas Title at The Elimination Chamber PPV: The twins got manhandled Sunday night by Naomi and Tamina Snuka, putting into serious doubt that Nikki Bella’s reign will last much longer. Naomi is now receiving a major push from The WWE and will most certainly take the title off of Nikki at The Elimination Chamber. It probably won’t be a clean victory for Naomi, especially with her cousin by marriage at ringside, but it’s time for The Bella’s to hand the title over to the next big thing in The Divas Division.


1. Brock Lesnar returning To Title Picture: I really think this one is odvious at this point. The WWE has kept Lesnar off of TV for too long and it’s time for him to wreak havoc on the WWE roster again. I predict that it will come down to Rollins and Reigns in the Elimination chamber match for the title and Lesnar will break into the chamber to get his revenge on Rollins. This leaves Rollins vulnerable for a spear and the three count. This also sets up Reigns versus Lesnar at Money in the Bank



Why Neither Man Will Say I Quit At Payback



By Brian Thornsburg on 5/13/2015


What happens next? That has to be one of the big questions on The WWE Universe’s mind as John Cena and Rusev get prepared to lock up one more time in an I quit match at The Payback Pay per view. While many might be expecting The Cenation leader to come out victorious with a definitive victory, here’s why that most likely won’t be the case come Sunday.


There’s no denying that John Cena has been on a hot streak as of late with his open challenge matches for The United States Title on Monday Night Raw. These matches have not only put on a spectacular show for The WWE Universe, but also gave the next generation of talent a chance at taking on the biggest superstar in their industry.


For that reason alone, it is hard to visualize The WWE making a decision that would take the newly coveted red white and blue belt off of Cena. His open challenges have been some of the best matches on Raw this month and have also brought a level of prestige to the title that hasn’t been seen in some time.


While all these things are very true, there is also the matter of what to do with the rising star that is Rusev. Sure, a win for Cena won’t outright kill Rusev’s push completely, but it will be quite hard to look at The Bulgarian Brute quite the same way after multiple loses to John Cena. Just ask Ryback, Wade Barrett and multiple other superstars if you don’t believe me.


For that reason, it would be best to end Sunday’s I quit match in a draw. Anti-climactic I know, but it would serve the purpose of protecting both superstars heading into future feuds. Believe it or not, WWE alluded to this finish Monday night on Raw, when Rusev locked Cena in the Accolade and making him pass out. Notice that Cena never tapped out or said “I quit” during that segment.


If you still don’t believe me about the ending for Payback, just think about. The draw outcome allows for Cena to keep the open challenge and help put over other talent in five star matches, allows Rusev not to suffer a loss before heading off into another feud and will even be great for non Cena fans, who want to see The Cenation leader get his ass kicked. Everyone wins!


While this prediction isn’t a surefire thing. I personally believe this would serve all parties perfectly and would allow for WWE to end the feud in a new and exciting way. Of course Cena would have to be built back up after passing out in a match, but WWE could accomplish that in no time. Especially with the use of the open challenge format.


I also talked to one source who works closely with The WWE, and they explained to me why a draw will be the best outcome for the match at Payback “ The WWE will want Rusev to look strong in this match. “While it wouldn’t make sense to have Rusev outright go over on Cena at Payback, The WWE will look to have a scenario where Cena passes out in The Accolade, but never say I quit. This allows Rusev to move on to another feud with a lot of momentum, but also allows for Cena to look like a superhero as well.”


Finally, this outcome would also set up Cena to pass the belt on to its next holder. Whether that be the night after Payback, were Cena is weakened from his battle with Rusev, or later on down the road is up to the WWE, but an outcome like this is not really possible if Rusev wins back the belt.


Let’s be honest, there isn’t a man alive on The WWE roster that could take the title off of Rusev. Having Rusev win the title on Sunday would just mean a longer title run for The Bulgarian Brute and also will eliminate the push of future talent through the open challenge format that Cena uses on Raw.


The I quit match between Rusev and Cena will easily be one of the best matches on the card come Sunday. Let’s just hope it will have the best possible outcome as well. One that will benefit both Rusev and Cena. I mean of course a ending where no one says “ I quit”.



WWE Needs To Take Title Off Of Nikki Bella



By Brian Thornsburg on 5/5/2015


Is it just me, or is Nikki Bella one of the worst Divas Champions in recent memory? Sure, she looks great and has the looks for the job, but her track record isn’t exactly what you would expect from a Divas Champion in today’s WWE. In fact, over the course of her current reign as champion, she has only had one match that has lasted longer than six minutes.


Not to mention the fact that, two of the three matches she has had since becoming champion have been won by less than decisive victories. One of those coming at Survivor Series, where AJ Lee was distracted by a surprise kiss from Brie Bella, giving Nikki the easy victory in under a minute.


The second victory came at TLC, where Lee was surprised with a hair spray attack to the face, leaving Lee as vulnerable pray for the Divas Champion to pick up another victory. The last victory, while more decisive then the other two, occurred when. Nikki pulled at Paige’s tights for the roll up and the win at Fastlane. Even her recent victory at Extreme Rules was muddled in controversy, as Brie Bella nailed a shot to Naomi’s face while the referee was distracted, allowing Nikki to again pick up the win.


While some may argue that distractions and devious thinking might have aided champions like AJ Lee in her victories over the course of two years, one has to remember that she still looked like a strong champion in almost every match, clamping on the dreaded Black widow submission hold for the victory. With that being said, I think that Lee, and even Kaitlyn were much better Divas Champions then Nikki Bella could ever be.


Think about it. If you look at Nikki Bella’s championship matches during her current reign, who has she really dismantled convincingly? She beat Lee twice, both by dirty last second tactics, and she was able to defeat Paige with help from leverage from Paige’s tights. Not exactly a strong and fearless champion if you ask me.


Don’t get me wrong. I understand that WWE is in a bit of a transition period after Lee announced she was leaving WWE, but to keep Nikki as champion is only cheapening the woman’s product altogether.


What makes this situation even worse, is the fact that WWE is now trying to change tracks completely, selling the twins as baby faces against Naomi. That may have worked if we didn’t see four cheap victories in a row from Nikki and didn’t have a whole storyline dedicated to Nikki turning heel on her sister, Brie, last summer.


If WWE is going to build up heat for Nikki, they should have just kept Naomi as a babyface and had the feud continue for a few months. This would have allowed Naomi to build up more and fan support, while still getting bested by The Bella’s for a few months. Then when the time is right, The WWE could have finally had Naomi overcome the odds and win her first Divas title. Kind of like how they had Daniel Bryan win his first WWE title, after feuding with Orton for several months in 2013.


No matter the outcome of this feud, it needs to end quickly. The Divas division deserves a better storyline then this. You have two Divas that can’t evoke sympathy from a crowd if their life’s depended on it and another Diva who is only starting to evolve as a viable heel. The dynamic just doesn’t work here and The WWE needs to realize that and get the title off of Nikki as soon as possible.


Hopefully this will lead to a feud between Paige and Naomi, which would be a welcomed option compared to what The WWE Universe I currently being treated to, but WWE is exactly known for doing what is best when it comes to the Divas divison. Nikki Bella is proof of that.



Five Predictions For The Extreme Rules Paper View



By Brian Thornsburg on 4/25/2015


From the flying goat being a no show, to who will interrupt the main event match between Randy Orton and Seth Rollins, Draftutopia.com counts down five predictions for The Extreme Rules pay per view.


5. Daniel Bryan will not defend The IC Title: The WWE would be smart to keep the flying goat on the shelf for a few weeks and have a number one contender’s match instead This would be a great way to introduce NXT upstart, Neville, into the title picture and give him a chance to step into a big role for the company while Bryan rests. This would also be an epic match to see, with both superstars having such exciting move sets.


4. Paige will attack Naomi. While it’s easy to see that Naomi is more than ready to take on the role as Divas Champion, the company would be wise to hold off for a few more weeks. This allows Paige to return and get payback on Naomi for her previous attack on Raw and could also set up a Triple Threat match between The Divas at the next pay per view. The Divas division will certain benefit from this, making their storyline more interesting and suspenseful to watch. That decision would also give Naomi a chance to prove herself in the ring with two woman who have really stood out in The Divas division. Even if WWE decides to put the title on Naomi at Extreme Rules, Paige should still attack Naomi, because it will set up an exciting feud for The Divas Division.


3. Dolph Ziggler will kiss Sheamus’s Arse: Sheamus is on a rampage right now in The WWE, and it doesn’t seem likely that the showoff will be able to slow that rampage down. This is sheamus’s chance to destroy one of The WWE’s top babyfaces and build up a good amount of heat in the process. Unfortunately for Ziggler, he will most likely only be a stepping stone for The Celtic Warrior at Extreme Rules, leading to better feuds in the future.


2. John Cena will lose The United States Title. It makes no sense for Rusev to lose twice in a row here. Rusev is a huge commodity inside The WWE right now, and has a real chance at climbing up the card after his feud with John Cena, to do this however, he will need a decisive victory against The Cenation leader at Extreme Rules. The WWE can do this by having Rusev lock in The Accolade, and force Cena to pass out ofr the victory. That way, Cena never gave up, and Rusev can then move on to a feud with the returning Sheamus. Which seems like a good possibility, since The Bulgarian Brute took the title from Sheamus last year.


1. Brock Lesnar will return at Extreme Rules: The WWE has been way to quiet about when exactly Brock Lesnar’s suspension will be up, and it would definitely make sense to reintroduce him into the title picture at Extreme Rules. I’m not saying that Orton versus Rollins is boring by any means, but a triple threat match at Payback will do a lot more to establish Rollins as a main event star, then a cage match with Randy Orton. In this scenario, Rollins now has to outthink two opponents at the same time, forcing him to use every bit of his whit that helped him build and eventually destroy The Shield. Orton versus Rollins will certainly be a great match to see on Sunday evening, but expect Lesnar to make his way into the cage at the end and turn this one into a no contest. I also predict that Kane will be close to turning face during this match, but will be interrupted by the entrance of Brock Lesnar.



Five Things A.J. Lee Never Accomplished In Her Career



Posted By: Brian Thornsburg on 4/16/2015


She may have been called The Black Widow, and she may have held The Divas title for 295 consecutive days, and she may have even changed The Divas Division forever, but here are the five things that AJ Lee failed to accomplish during her tenure in The WWE.


5. Not wrestling Stephanie McMahon: The WWE teased this battle many times throughout Lee’s career, but for some reason it never came to fruition. It came close the night after Lee first won The Divas Title at Payback, but Stephanie and Lee ended up having little more than a war of words and a tense standoff. If Lee ever does return to the ring, this will definitely be a match she needs to cross off her bucket list.


4. Put over other talent: I’m not saying this is AJ’s fault, but fans would probably be hard pressed to find a talent that Lee helped establish. Some fans could argue that she helped establish Paige the night she first lost the title to her on Raw, however the match was very short and was most likely only done to help write Lee off of TV at the time. If that wasn’t bad enough, this came only 24 hours after she had beaten almost every diva on The WWE roster in The Vickie Gurrerio Invitational. Sure, her opponents were mostly Total Diva cast members, but it still hurts the division when you have one woman defeat the entire female roster in under ten minutes.


3. Change up her character: While this also may not be directly AJ’s fault, it still remains true that Lee didn’t have many variations to her character during her tenure in The WWE. She may have started off as a cute, kind of ditzy girl next store, but she quickly evolved into a crazy, backstabbing and flirtatious femme fatale. She was even involved in six separate relationship storylines, all culminating with her turning on her boyfriend and stalking them to the point of insanity. Once she turned on John Cena in late 2013, she never really deviated from her heel personal again. She did go face a few times after her break up with John Cena, but she still retained her crazy character traits.


2. Didn’t set a good example for woman and young female fans: This one will probably catch the flack, but AJ Lee just didn’t exemplify the characteristics of a good role model. Throughout her career, she used flirtation, manipulation and even flirtation to get her way in The WWE. Those are not qualities that young fans need to be learning from a role model. Her crazy character was a cruel joke on a minority of woman and only showed young girls that being flirtatious with men was a acceptable way of getting what you want. I know I shouldn’t bring feminism or politics into this, but I feel like many other fans like to just skip over this little detail of Lee’s career.


1. No memorable or blockbuster feuds: I may have been a huge fan of AJ Lee during her career in The WWE, but even I can’t remember a memorable feud she was a part of. Some might point to her feud with Paige in early 2014, however, that was before Paige was really established on the main roster, so that doesn’t count. Fans would have probably loved to see her battle divas like , Stacy Keibler, Victoria, Torrie Wilson, and Trish Stratus, but the closest fans ever got was a lackluster feud between her and Natayla for The Divas title.




How To Get Fans Behind Roman Reigns




There is only one way that The WWE can save the career of Roman Reigns. It may not be something The WWE particularly wants to do, and it may cause massive ripples in The WWE Universe, but for the good of Reigns future in The WWE, it needs to be done.


John Cena must be turned heel and be fed to Roman Reigns. Theres just no way around this. Turning Cena heel would give him massive heat with The WWE Universe, especially if Cena were to take a few jabs at how he plans to break Ric Flair’s World title record and talk about how he buried so many of the superstars on the main roster, and how they were lucky to get the chance to face him at all.


This would allow Cena to go heel, without really affecting his credibility with the children in the audience. This also would help WWE to keep Cena heel and still be cheered by the children in the audience, as most of the jabs at legends Cena would be taking would be centered on the adults in the crowd.


Cena could even take jabs at the United States states title, which would create just that much more hatred for The Cenation leader. While a few of these ideas would never be possible, due to WWE’s effort to keep Cena an American hero, but The WWE could still focus on the Cena taking jabs at past legends in The WWE. Something that would instantly create heat in The WWE Universe. Once Cena starts smack talking former legends and the current rising stars on the roster, that’s when The WWE should bring Roman Reigns in and have him bring it to the Cenation leader in horrendous beat down. This will leave The WWE Universe cheering Reigns, getting him back on track to a chance at The WWE World Heavyweight title.


Unfortunately, one beat down isn’t going to be enough to please The WWE Universe for long. The WWE then needs to something they barely ever do with a superstar like John Cena, have him lose to a rising star in the company. This aspect of the angle is particularly difficult, because Cena just received a loss to Former United States Champion, Rusev at WWE Fastlane.


If WWE would allow Cena to take another loss, it would open a lot of doors for Roman Reigns, even if some of those doors don’t lead to a WWE World Heavyweight title match. Cena and Reigns should meet at Summerslam, and have Reigns win the match clean. With a spear on a defense John Cena. This will not only show that The WWE has plans for Reigns, since he just knocked off one of the industry’s top guys in a clean match, but also allow fans to get behind Reigns without fear of him being buried later.


A feud with John Cena wouldn’t only give Reigns more fan support, but would also be a perfect opportunity for the former Shield member to work on his microphone skills. All Reigns would have to do in this storyline situation is make verbal jab after verbal jab at Cena, and The WWE Universe will go wild for Roman Reigns.


He has done this before, telling a audience on Raw that “when Roman Reigns is in the house, your damn right Cena sucks!” The crowd reaction was immense and really showed Reign’s ability to play off the audience and have great promos at the same time. Why that talent has suddenly gone away is anyone’s guess, but I think this great gem of a promo is just buried behind a few bad ones that fans want to pick apart.


In the end, it doesn’t matter if Reigns gets fed Cena at any point in the future, or that Reigns wins clean to Cena in the future also, what matters, is that The WWE Universe give Roman Reigns a fair chance. The WWE Universe complain all the time about wanting to see the future of The WWE, well the future is here, but fans seem just as content beating them down into oblivion. At the end of the day, fans have the control and their not using fairly. They had a chance to build a star at WrestleMania 31, but didn’t take it, and the only person to blame for this, is the fans themselves.


I get it, you want change in The WWE. You want true talent like Adrian Neville, Tyson Kidd, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose and others to be recognized and in better roles in the company, but fans have to remember that, they had a chance to help establish a star. They had a chance to get behind an underdog and establish their career for the future, but they just didn’t take it. They chickened out and now they want to complain again.


Wake up WWE fans. You decide what happens to these people. Stop complaining about the future you want to see, and work to make it happen. The next time you see a star you want to get behind, get behind them. Cheer as loud as you can. As loud as fans did when The Yes Movement was in its prime. Force WWE to establish a star. Force them to raise someone to the next level. If you don’t, then you need to accept that what you see on your TV screen every Monday and Friday night is your fault and no one else.


I get sick to my stomach when fans decide boo and jeer Reigns when he gets the upper hand in a match. This was the guy that fans were going crazy over just a few years ago. A guy that could silence the arena with one hellacious spear, and now he’s just the guy that gets booed no matter what he does.


Yes, I will admit WWE pushed Reigns a little too early after his injury. It would have been a great idea to have Bryan will The Royal Rumble again and then lose to Rollins when he cashes in against Lesnar and Bryan at WrestleMania 31.


This would have allowed Bryan and Rollins to feud throughout the early parts of summer and then integrate Rollins in later, once he has fan support back on his side. WWE could have then set up a Triple Threat match for The WWE World Heavyweight Title, and had Roman pin Rollins for the title. This would also set up a intriguing feud between Rollins and Reigns, something that hasn’t really been tapped into since The Shield broke up last year.


Whether it’s having Roman Reigns win clean over Cena, or rehashing an old feud with a former Shield brethren, The WWE needs to do something to save the career of the bumbling, Roman Reigns. The WWE has a chance here, the fans have a chance here. Let’s build the future and not complain about it!




How Sting VS Triple H Hurt Wrestle Mania 31



By Brian Thornsburg on 4/1/2015


Nostalgia is both good and bad in the world of wrestling. Yes, at WrestleMania we saw two icons do battle in the squared circle, while two historic factions went to war at ringside, reminiscent of The Monday Night War. The N.W.O and DX making an appearance was something no fan in attendance at Levi Stadium will ever forget. The only problem with this is, it was one night only.


Don’t get me wrong. I love when WWE takes a trip to the past and tries to incorporate superstars from The Attitude Era into The WrestleMania match card, but I also realize it’s bad for business as well. Sure, it was a great trip down nostalgia lane, and made you proud to be a wrestling fan that night, but where can The WWE go from here with it storyline wise?


The most sought after match, would probably be Triple H and DX versus Sting and The N.W.O at Extreme Rules, but due to the age of these men, and the fact that this was most likely a one night only thing, a match at Extreme Rules looks like a Fantasy at best. Could The WWE pull a match like that off? Yes, they definitely could. The question is, will they!


The WWE doesn’t have a good record of keeping part time stars on the TV after big appearances at WrestleMania. When The Rock faced John Cena at WrestleMania 28, The Rock did not show up the next night on Raw, leaving Cena high and dry storyline wise. Sure, Cena was put into a storyline with Brock Lesnar shortly after WrestleMania 28, but it would have been nice to see The Rock and Cena go at it one more time.


Another bad call, was when The Undertaker didn’t make an appearance after defeating CM Punk at WrestleMania 29, leaving The Straight Edge Superstar without a clear direction for his future in the company. I’ll admit, The WWE had a great plan in place for Punk to build up a feud with Lesnar for Summerslam, but I think The WWE Universe would have liked some kind of closure between Undertaker and Punk.


Instead of receiving the closure that fans deserved from that intense storyline, Punk simply grabbed a microphone the next night on Raw and announced that he didn’t know if he wanted to even wrestle anymore. Punk then dropped the microphone and left the ring, leaving The WWE Universe in utter silence. If anything, Undertaker and Punk should have had a moment of respect here. Instead, The WWE just took Punk off TV to recover from injuries.


What about Bray Wyatt? What is he supposed to do now? He spent months cutting promo after promo about how he would become the new face of fear in The WWE, but came up just short of unseating The Dead man from his throne. What can The WWE possibly do with Wyatt now? It’s not like Undertaker would come back for a match at Extreme Rules! This puts Wyatt in a particularly vulnerable spot, especially since he hasn’t seen a lot of ring action lately, and hasn’t even wrestled since The Royal Rumble.


The only time I can think of where a situation like this was done right, was when Brock Lesnar faced Triple H at WrestleMania 28. Triple H won of course, hitting a nasty pedigree for the three count, but still fans felt they needed more closure to the feud. This allowed WWE to book them in cage match at Extreme Rules, where Lesnar pulled off the victory, after decimating the game. In the cage.


While it wasn’t exactly the closure that fans had hoped for, it was still a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. Something that many feuds in the WWE lack right now. Hopefully, DX and N.W.O’s clash at WrestleMania 31 was only the beginning, but seriously hope there is a middle and an end to this story. Not just a handshake. This feud deservers so much more than that.


Yes, the handshake was a definite sign of respect, and guaranteed WrestleMania moment to remember, but I hope at least some fans are hungry to see more than just a handshake at the end of the day. I really hope fans are eager to see WWE push this feud farther, and allow Sting to settle the score with Triple, not just keep Sting on the shelf until next year’s WrestleMania.




Monday Night Raw Is A Hit And Miss Neville Is A Sideshow At Best



By Brian Thornsburg on 3/31/2015


Someone must have drowned the energy out of The WWE because Raw went from great, to just plain flat. Lesnar went on a rampage during the first hour of the broadcast, but the troubled waters were calmed by a tepid six man tag team match. Despite the lackluster ending, join Draftutopia.com, as we count down the Top-five hit and misses of Monday Night Raw.


Hit Opening segment: Not often does this segment land on my hit list, but there was something about a Championship match tonight on Raw that made me love this. Heyman spoke with such vigor it was enticing to watch. Especially when he paused to let the crowd chant “Suplex City”, and then repeating it for the crowd. Stephanie McMahon’s reacting to the crowd was funny to hear as well. She announced that Brock Lesnar’s rematch clause was granted, and that Rollins would face him when he got to the arena. Not much to say, but crowd interaction was enough to carry this segment. Stephanie and Paul Heyman were on point and on fire.


Hit Seth Rollins versus Brock Lesnar for The WWE World Heavyweight Championship: No surprise that this match never happened, but surprise at what followed the announcement that the match would not take place tonight. Seth Rollins looked great with the belt around his waist. He portrayed a cocky attitude out there that could only be rivaled by Edge himself. After a few minutes of toying with Lesnars emotions and sticking the title right in the beast’s face. Rollins decided to bail but was caught and almost dismantled by Brock Lesnar. After Seth Rollins finally got away, Lesnar beat up J&J security and then flipped the announce table over. He then took Michael Cole and nailed him with an F-5 into the canvas. He took grabbed a camera man and almost F-fived him as well, but Stephanie McMahon rushed in begging Lesnar to stop. Lesnar didn’t listen and then F-5’ed him as well. Stephanie then announced that Lesnar was suspended and would be fined. Brock Lesnar freaked out again to end the segment. This creates so much mystery for The WWE title picture right now. Brock Lesnar would be next in line, but he got suspended, Roman Reigns hasn’t been seen since losing at WrestleMania, and no one else has seems to be willing to step up to the plate right now. I really hope WWE clarifies the next challenger by the end of the night. Great story so far, but I’m just eager to hear more. Especially after all the carnage that took place on Raw. I have to admit that I was totally wrong about Seth Rollins not being ready to hold the title yet. He looked spectacular out there tonight and had an aura about him that rivals Randy Orton during his title reign last year.


Hit Dolph Ziggler defeats Daniel Bryan: Long story short. Ziggler nails a lucky super kick after a great back and forth match. Bad News Barrett was on commentary and really helped build Ziggler and Bryan up as great competitors. After the match, Barrett attacked both superstars, but was then interrupted by Sheamus with a new hair due. Sheamus cleaned house of Barrett, Bryan and Ziggler, before telling fans that he was back. I love that The WWE decided to have Sheamus turn heel during his return. This sets him up as a great choice for The IC title, and should help build up the others in the division as well. Sheamus is always capable of having great matches, and that’s going to be awesome to see in a division full of young talent.


Miss. Adrian Neville defeats Curtis Axel: You know what comes to mind when I think of Adrian Neville? A sideshow act! Yes, he’s talented, acrobatic, and has great agility, but hasn’t that hurt superstars more than it’s helped them over the years? Didn’t Daniel Bryan suffer back to back injuries during his feud with Randy Orton for The WWE World Heavyweight title? He suffered his first in January during his cage match with Bray Wyatt, and he suffered his second one after a sneak attack by Kane. The second injury cost Bryan dearly, as he was forced to give up his newly won WWE World Heavyweight championship, so he could get surgery on his neck. Yes, I’ll admit, Neville has a flashy move set, but one wrong move, and Neville will be on the shelf for months. Especially with the agility Neville ties into his move set. I’m not saying Neville is awful, I’m just think he needs to slow down a bit, take his time and try to create excitement in some other way. Anyway, back to the match. Adrian Neville nailed move after move on Curtis Axel, before nailing a 450 splash for the win. Curtis Axel just looks worse and worse every week. So much for The WWE finally having some faith in him.


Miss: Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Ryback defeat Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show: The crowd wouldn’t even give Roman Reigns a chance! Every time that Reigns gained the upper hand in the match up, the fans would start jeering wildly. I guess The WWE Universe won’t be happy until Reigns is completely out of the title picture. Hopefully that doesn’t happen, and The WWE is able to turn Reigns heel. To do that, The WWE is going to have to get the belt off of Rollins in the next few months, which doesn’t seem very likely. Anyway, Reigns won the match with a huge spear on Kane for the three count. I wish they had something to push the title picture along a little more, like Lesnar breaking in and suplexing everyone in sight, but that never ended up happening. The question is, with Lesnar now suspended, Reigns hated by The Universe, and Orton a newly turned face, who will be the next challenger for the biggest prize in Sports Entertainment? My guess, is Roman Reigns! Look at it this way. With Rollins holding the belt, Reigns and Rollins can now have the feud they should have had when The Shield broke up a year ago. Rollins can bring up how he hated The Shield and how he was the best part of the faction, leaving some fans to hopefully side with Reigns by default. If The WWE is able to gradually build up Reign’s fan base over the next few pay per views, Reigns should be holding the title by Summerslam. Believe that!




Wrestlemania 31 Recap



By Brian Thornsburg on 3/30/2015


Cesaro and Tyson Kidd Retain The Tag Team Title. Kidd and Cesaro win in underwhelming fashion to retain their tag team titles This match was filler at its worse. and not even worth really mentioning. Hopefully The WWE will have better plans for The Tag Team Division as time goes on. If not, they'll just be senseless filler like The Divas Division used to be.


Big Show wins Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal: What was the point of this win? They had a chance put over Sandow here and just didn’t take it. If this a way to build heat on Big Show, its working, but where does it go from here? Who does he face in the weeks leading up to Extreme Rules? Maybe Sandow will challenge Show at the pay per view, and win The Trophy then. I really wish they would have just had Sandow win clean, but it’s only a pre-show match, so I’m not going to get too upset about it. Big Show has had an up and down career the last few months, so I guess it’s a good thing for him to have a WrestleMania moment now. Maybe it’s just a way to make him look more dominant, before they finally have someone unseat him later on. Hopefully that someone is Sandow, who really missed his chance to have his Mania moment! Come on WWE. Make better decisions. No one wanted to see this.


Daniel Bryan wins The IC Title ladder match: This was definitely a crowd pleaser for Daniel Bryan fans, but it came at a price. For months The WWE has been building up Ziggler, like he would be the one to climb the ladder and claim the belt, but now the show off sits title less and in no clear direction for the future. Ambrose took a nasty spot on a ladder late in the match, so I’m hoping he’s ok. That power bomb onto a suspended ladder was a great spot, but it may have injured Ambrose. The WWE has failed so far in their attempt to put over new talent. Hopefully this won’t be a trend throughout the night. As for Ziggler, hopefully he has a match with The Bearded Dragon in his future.


Randy Orton defeats Seth Rollins: Amazing RKO to finish off the match, but I can’t help feel a little weary of this trend so far tonight. The WWE had a good chance to build up some of their younger stars, but went for the veteran win instead. All and all it was a great match, with a lot of action, and some pretty breathtaking spots. I think Orton winning means that Rollins will not be cashing in tonight, but that doesn’t rule out a cash in tomorrow night on Raw! Maybe by next week Rollins will be in the title hunt at Extreme Rules. If not, I wouldn’t mind seeing another edition of Orton versus Rollins. Rollins did look pretty strong by kicking out of one of Orton’s RKO’s, but that last one definitely was too much for The Architect to take.


Triple H defeats Sting: Well that was nostalgia trip. DX and NOW returned to do battle with each other, and The WWE fans went nuts for it. That Sweet Chin music by Michaels had to be the best part of the entire match, barring both approaches by The N.W.O and DX. Triple H actually had his sledgehammer broke in half by Sting’s bat, which was awesome to see.


Unfortunately it wasn’t awesome to see Sting get hit with the head of the sledgehammer and get pinned for the win. This definitely sets up Sting and Triple H for Extreme Rules next month. There is no way they can let the feud end here. This deserves one more match to settle the score. I just hope The WWE listens and makes it happen. Even a four on four match would epic to see! I wonder if WWE would let Michaels wrestle again. A boy can dream!


Paige and AJ Lee defeats The Bella Twins: I guess that was kind of giving divas a chance. Paige got put in a painful submission early on in the match, and even got hit with an Alabama Slam by Nikki as well. Paige finally tags in AJ lee and goes crazy on The Bella Twins. She then locks in the black widow for the win on Nikki, hopefully guaranteeing her a Divas match down the road. I wish WWE would have done more with this match, but I guess they have a pretty stacked card tonight. I would have loved to see AJ turn on Paige after the match, but again, I guess The WWE doesn’t have too much time to advance their story.


John Cena defeats Rusev: Cena wins. No surprise here. I wish they would have kept Rusev’s streak going until Extreme Rules, but I guess this will help elevate The United States title. I hope this feud goes on for a while. These two would do great in a last man standing, or I quit match. I could see Rusev winning that match. I think they made Cena look too strong, by having him survive multiple Accolades, but what’s done is done. Rusev has a great future ahead of him, no matter what anyone says. This loss doesn’t define who Rusev is, the fans continued response to his abilities will determine that. I hope The WWE Universe realizes this and doesn’t give up on Rusev just because he suffered his first loss. How are we going to build new stars for the future, if The WWE Universe can’t stand behind their favorite wrestlers for the long haul?


The Authority have a stare down with The Rock and Ronda Rousey: Triple H and Stephanie talk about setting an attendance record at WrestleMania 31. 76,976 to be exact. Triple H then brags about defeating Sting in their match earlier in the night, which brings out The Rock. Fans start to mark out as The Great one makes his way to the ring. This is the battle that fans have been waiting for! Triple H a and The Rock then exchange tense words, including The Rock making fun of Triple H for dressing up like The Terminator. They tease a WrestleMania moment of their own, before Stephanie McMahon gets between them. She then tells The rock that without The McMahon’s their wouldn’t a Rock. The Authority asks The Rock to leave the ring, causing him to walk around ringside for a bit and spot Bantamweight Champion, Ronda Rousey. The Rock and Rousey get back into the ring and have another stare down with The Authority. Stephanie gets in a slap on Rousey, but Rousey takes down Triple H and clears the ring. The fans then cheer for Rock and Rousey. This needs to be a match for Extreme Rules. You can’t just tease something of this magnitude, then let it go by unnoticed. Rock N Rousey versus The Authority at Extreme Rules. Book it! Book it! Book it! Book it now! This will benefit UFC and WWE in the long run and will give fans a great show. This one is on my wish list, so make it happen WWE. I want to see Rousey pound Stephanie’s face in.


The Undertaker defeats Bray Wyatt: I was being pretty nice up until now, but come on! What was The WWE thinking here? Bryan wins, Cena wins, and Big Show wins. For god sake. I thought WWE was thinking about the future of the company. A rising star needed a big win tonight and they haven’t gotten it so far. Undertaker won by reversing Sister Abigail into a Tombstone for the pin, but from all reports it wasn’t Taker’s best match ever. At least not one he can retire on. Hopefully Undertaker and Sting will have a little stare down to get their rivalry started for WrestleMania 31, but without that, I’m going to call this match a bust. It had some great moments, including Wyatt kicking out at two after taking a tombstone, but Undertaker winning, just took away from the whole experience for me.


Seth Rollins defeats Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar for The WWE World Heavyweight title: Lensar beat Reigns to a pulp in a match that reminded many of Lesnar versus Cena at Summerslam last year. Lesnar and Reigns had some great moments in the match. Reigns hit two spears and two superman punches, but all that was for nothing, when Rollins decided to cash in and make it a Triple Threat match. Rollins hits Lesnar with curb stomps, but it’s the third one that was on Reigns that gave Rollins the win and title. Reigns and Lesnar had some great moments, but the show was stolen by Rollins. This was the best move The WWE could have made here. Reigns wasn’t ready. Lesnar is now set up for the title hunt at Extreme Rules, and Rollins is now your WWE World Heavyweight Champion.! The question is, what happens to Reigns now? Do they drop him to the lower card, or give him another shot at Extreme Rules? Maybe fans will begin to like Reigns more, now that he will most likely be fighting the man who broke up The Shield just last year. This will be a great rivalry for WWE fans, even if Lesnar stays in the mix as well. The possibilities are wide open, but The WWE made a good first move giving Rollins the win.


Final Thoughts. All and all, this wasn’t a great WrestleMania. Too many rising stars were stripped of their time to shine for me to care too much for this particular Show of Shows. With that being said, Sting versus Triple H was an epic match, and seeing Ronda Rousey in a WWE ring had to be fans biggest fantasy come true. Not to mention the fact that she stood alongside The Rock! I don’t understand why Bryan and Cena would be left holding the lower titles here. I know it’s supposed to elevate the prestige, but to me, it was just a cope out to give Bryan the win fans wanted so badly. For Cena, I guess America had to triumph at WrestleMania, but I hope The WWE Universe dosent give up on Rusev. I think he is a man with a lot to offer this business, if fans will just let him! Finally, The WWE had an epic bout and surprise decision to end the show that will leave fans with a smile on their face, and a chance to push Reigns further down the line.




WWE Needs New Plan For Wrestlemania 31



By Brian Thornsburg on 3/27/2015


Fans just didn’t seem to buy in. That seems to be the general consensus after seeing Roman Reigns get booed tremendously when he grabbed the title belt from Brock Lesnar Monday Night on Raw. The move should have been a defining moment for Reign’s career, but all it became was a more then obvious sign that WWE has backed the wrong man.


Maybe it’s not even Reigns fault. Maybe fans just wanted to see Daniel Bryan be the man to take on Brock Lesnar and finally rip the title away from The Beast incarnate. Maybe fans would have been happier with Seth Rollins doing battle with Heyman’s beast. He did come within seconds of actually pinning Lesnar for the belt at Royal Rumble. The sad fact is, whatever the reason, WWE now has to do damage control for biggest pay per view of the year.


I’m not a wrestling expert by any means. I have been in and out of wrestling for the last few years, only coming back to it in 2012 at the request of a friend with that being said, I feel like if WWE goes through with its plan to put the title on Reigns at WrestleMania 31, it will be a failure on the same level of if John Cena would have retained the title at ECW One Night Stand back in 2006.


The big question is, why would this scenario be a failure? Again, im not an expert. I, like most fans can only speculate on why this storyline has gone so wrong so fast. The first answer that arrives to my mind, is the fact that this is match isn’t the Triple Threat match that fans were clamoring for back in January of this year.


Fans were hoping to see a Triple Threat match between Lesnar, Reigns and Bryan, with many speculating that Bryan would win the belt for the second year in a row. That hope came crashing down when Reigns defeated Bryan at Fastlane for the opportunity to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31. The WWE could have had a less decisive decision during their match at Fastlane and put both superstars in the main event at Mania, but WWE seemed to already have their golden boy for The show of Shows.


Maybe the problem goes deeper than that. Maybe fans would have been less upset about Reigns being in the Main event at WrestleMania, if the Daniel Bryan portion of the storyline would have been handled well. Instead, fans were treated to an early elimination for Bryan by Bray Wyatt, and lackluster victory by Reigns at The Royal Rumble. Maybe if WWE didn’t do everything in their power to tease a Triple Threat match at WrestleMania 31, then they wouldn’t be in this situation. Yes, Bryan versus Reigns at Fastlane was definitely a great way to sell the pay per view, but at the end of the day, all it did was give Bryan fans false hope for another WrestleMania main event match. That has to have a few fans angry as well.


Instead, The WWE should have removed Bryan from the title picture immediately following The Royal Rumble. This would have given The WWE Universe a little more time to cool off, and would allow for Roman Reigns to have a much more suited opponent at Fastlane, building him up better for The Show of Shows.


Someone like Henry, Big Show, Kane, or even Titus O’Neil would have been a good test for Roman Reigns at Fastlane, and it would also eliminate the tease of Daniel Bryan in the main event of WrestleMania. Allowing him to have more time to have a storyline of his own shaped for The Show of shows.


While fans may still be mad about Daniel Bryan being out of the main event, fans have a few other reasons to dislike Reigns as well. First off, his microphone skills are not on par with some of the top baby faces in the company. Yes, every once in a while he can pull out a decent promo, but they are usually far and few between Reigns even stands so stiffly when he talks, like he’s unable to convey the right emotions to the audience.


His move set is another problem that fans seem to have about the former Shield member. While his move set does feature a few high impact moments, like his spear, his superman punch, his drop kick on the apron, and his leaps over the top rope, fans still seem to worry that Reigns will be unable to put a great match together come Mania.


The last problem for Roman reigns, is his story. The WWE is despratley trying to build him up as the underdog against Brock Lesnar, and it’s just not working. If anything, Brock and Reigns are the same level physique wise, and Reigns looks like the most prepared challenger to take on Lesnar on the entire WWE roster. So why are they giving us this underdog backstory?


When Heyman did his promo on Monday Night Raw two weeks ago, he started mentioning a story about how Reigns and his cousins would go to a bar, and be ordered to beat up everyone in the bar. Heyman also said, that Reigns dad would tell him and his cousins not to come home if anyone was left standing. What kind of underdog story is that, honestly? That seems more like a thuggish heel, then a believable baby face.


So with all these problems mixed together, and WrestleMania 31 fast approaching what is WWE to do in this difficult position? Putting the belt on Reigns on Sunday will only anger The WWE Universe, and may cause some to cancel their network subscription. On the other, if WWE decides not to put the belt on Reigns, they have no spent five months pushing a guy for no reason, and now need to find another star for the spot.


The best thing for WWE to do, is to keep the title off of Reigns come WrestleMania 31. Whether they keep it on Brock or have Rollins cash in at the end of the night is up to them, but I can’t see a situation with Reigns holding the title being successful at all.


Hopefully Lesnar resigning with WWE is a sign that the title will stay on The Beast Incarnate come WrestleMania 31. There would be no other reason to resign him, if they weren’t going to use him in the title picture in the coming months. Lesnar announced on Tuesday evening that his career in the octagon was over. One can only imagine how much The WWE had to sweeten the deal to make that happen. With a new deal signed and superstar that fails to connect the right way with fans, can you see any other solution then Brock Lesnar come WrestleMania 31?





WWE Fails To Sweeten Pot For Triple H



By Brian Thornsburg on 3/24/2015


Hit and Miss. Sting kicks off Raw: This opening segment had to be one of the best in a long time. The second Sting arrived, the crowd was simply electric. Sting started out talking about how great it was to finally kick off Monday Night Raw, and a little bit about The Monday Night Wars. He then told the crowd that he wanted to take Triple H down at WrestleMania on Sunday. That of course prompted Stephanie McMahon to make her entrance and have a war of words with The Stinger. She went on about how Sting must be intimidated now that he’s a small Mino in a large ocean, comparing WWE to WCW, and also compared Sting’s loyalty to WCW to that of a dog. Sting gave a big woo to the crowd while Stephanie was speaking, angering her and making her slap Sting. The slap fell short as Sting grabbed McMahon’s hands before the slap could land. This forced Triple H to come to the ring to challenge Sting six nights before WrestleMania. Triple H got out his signature sledgehammer, while Sting got his trusty black bat out for combat. The confrontation ended prematurely thought, as Triple H retreated from ringside. While I have to admit, that had me glued to m television screen for the duration of the segment, I can’t help but feel like WWE failed to sweeten the pot with this match. They could have announced it as a No DQ match, allowing Triple H and Sting to use their signature weapons during their match on Sunday, or even have Sting make a stipulation, that if Triple H loses on Sunday, The Authority will be forced to disband. Isn’t that what Sting to WWE to do in the first place? Unless WWE is planning another showdown after WrestleMania between these two, I can’t see a reason why this stipulation wasn’t added to the match. Great segment, but unfortunately poor story telling on WWE’s part. In my opinion anyways. Who knows? Maybe seeing these two living legends do battle will be enough for The WWE Universe come Sunday.


Miss. Stardust and Stardust versus Ambrose and Truth: Why have Truth win? Ok, it does put another confusing spin on the story that is sure to throw some fans off, but why have Truth win? Win is the last time Truth even won a match? When is the last time Truth even competed in a match? I don’t doubt Truth as a competitor, but up until now, I thought the winner of Sunday’s match would be Ziggler! Unfortunately, he wasn’t even in the match, and wasn’t even on commentary. It would of have been great to see Ziggler or even Bryan come out and look strong before Mania, but I guess WWE decided that confusing fans was the best option. Having Ambrose and Truth dance after the match was awesome to see though!


Hit. Randy Orton versus Seth Rollins and J&J Security I loved the teases in this one. Orton almost got his hands on Rollins so many times, it was cringe worthy. The game of cat and mouse between Orton and Rollins was just so fun to watch, especially when Rollins tried to hit Orton with a curb stomp, while Orton was preparing for The RKO. Seeing Jamie Noble get a little offense on Orton was cool to see too. I can’t remember the last time I saw him with the upper hand on anyone. Orton ends up picking up the win with a RKO to Noble. I can’t wait for this match at WrestleMania 31!


Hit. Paige versus Nikki Bella Not that great of a match. The pace was too slow and Nikki could have waited a bit longer before kicking out of The Rampage, but the match served its purpose. AJ Lee got involved when the fight spilled out to ringside, and accidently hit Paige when she went to check to see if Lee was ok. This of course ended with a elbow to the face and rack attack by Nikki for the win. Paige and AJ got into it after the match, obviously playing into The Bella Twins trap. It will be interesting to see how these two are able to coexist on Sunday, but I have to admit. The WWE gave The Divas time, gave them a decent storyline, and picked the right Divas to perform it to perfection. Sundays between These divas won’t be filler, but will finally be fulfilling to watch.


Miss. Snoop dog segment: Don’t get me wrong, they used Snoop Dog perfectly for this segment, but while doing that, they also kind of turned AxelMania into a joke. Snoop dog started the segment talking about his previous experiences with WrestleMania, before Axel interrupted him. Axel soon went on about how Axel Mania was running wild, until Hulk Hogan made a surprise return and interrupted Axel. Snoop and Hogan did some signature Hogan taunts for the crowd, which The WWE Universe seemed to love. Finally, Axel ripped off his shirt and tried to attack Hogan. Hogan responded by landing a punch on Axel and then handing him over to Snoop Dog, who threw him out of the ring. Again, great guest spot by WWE. It had me emotionally invested from beginning to end, but the way they make AxelMania look like a joke was just unsettling to me. Fans were actually chanting for AxelMani for weeks now. If anything, The WWE could have had Hogan and Snoop endorse AxelMania for The Andre “The Giant”, Memorial battle Royal. Instead, they just make fun of him, and then have a celebrity guest toss him out of the ring. That should be great for Axel’s already dying career. When will WWE learn?


Hit. Rusev versus Jack Swagger: The match wasn’t that great. Swagger was dismantled by Rusev pretty easily. Locking in the Accolade for the submission victory. Rusev used kept The Accolade locked in to bait Cena to Swaggers aid. Cena was then destroyed by Rusev, getting thrown into the barricade, getting thrown over the announce table, getting face slammed onto the announce table, and then finishing it up with an Accolade until Cena passed out. I wish Cena would have hit a little more offense, but the segment achieved its purpose of making Rusev look unstoppable. He not only destroyed Cena, but made him pass out yet again to The Accolade. The segment was cringe worthy, but for all the right reasons. Maybe Rusev really can retain at WrestleMania.


Hit. Bray Wyatt segment. I really don’t want to admit it, but Wyatt pulled off that segment perfectly. For week’s I’ve been saying that The Undertaker needed to make a appearance in order to make this feud awesome, but all it took was one awesome, bone chilling, and downright scary promo from Bray Wyatt. He teased an Undertaker appearance, having the lights off and on, and even had a lighting sound effect for good measure. I take back everything I said. Bray Wyatt did carry this feud, and he can become the new face of fear at WrestleMania 31.


Hit Hit Hit! Dolph Ziggler versus Daniel Bryan: Why coudnt this match headline WrestleMania? It was brilliantly paced, had great spots by both Bryan and Ziggler, and even featured a nasty clotheline by Ziggler into the timekeeper’s area. Ziggler won the match with a surprise super kick and a quick Zig-Zag on Bryan for the three count, but Ambrose, who was voted Special Guest referee by The WWE Universe, got the final word with dirty deeds on Ziggler. A fight ensued as Ambrose then went for a ladder under the ring, and all seven participants in Sundays IC ladder match ran to the ring to get in on the action. By the end of it, all the competitors were laid out, after Ambrose and Stardust fell off the ladder.


Miss. Brock Lesner/Roman Reigns confrontation: That was almost laughable. Sue, Heyman was spot on with his with promo, amped up the storyline a little bit, and got a few pot shots in at Reigns expense, but the reaction that The WWE Universe gave Reign’s just ruined the whole thing. That had to be the biggest boo chant a WWE Universe has given an underdog competitor ever. Why in the hell did they have Reigns take the title out of Lesnar’s hand in the first place? I thought the heel was supposed to attack first? Reigns came out of this looking like an ass, and it just proves that WWE backed the wrong pony. The WWE now have two options. 1, Put the title on Reigns and watch more people leave WWE in droves, or have Rollins cash in and at least salvage WrestleMania a tiny bit. I hope they don’t through with backing Reigns. It’s a mistake. It’s a costly mistake, and it will not end well for The Sports entertainment giant. No one wants to see this! So why In the hell is WWE shoving it down our throats At this point, I have more faith in the IC ladder match stealing the show, then this piece of garbage. Monday night Raw was a mixed Monday this week, with Reigns and Lesnar’s segment just coming up as one big stinker!





Raw Hit And Miss: Sting Returns To Foil The Authority



By Brian Thornsburg on 3/17/2015


Miss Opening segment. It was just too long. We didn’t need to hear from show and Kane. It would have been more effective to just have Rollins talk at the beginning. That way it saved time and Orton could have been snuck up on and jumped after The WrestleMania 31 match and 5-1 main event match was made. That would have been a lot more interesting than this lackluster opening segment. It isn’t all bad though. At least the match for WrestleMania 31 is set in stone, but not looking forward to the third straight handicap main event on Raw.


Hit. AJ Lee versus Nikki Bella: Lee rallied late in the match with a sleeper hold and a nice cross body off the top rope, but unfortunately a distraction by Brie Bella is what sealed the win for her sister, Nikki. While Nikki and Aj lee fought inside the ring, Paige and Brie got into a heated argument at ringside. Brie hit Paige after she called her stupid, then rammed her into the ring post for good measure. Aj turned her back on Nikki to see if her friend was ok, and she fell victim to a punch and a rack attack for the win. The match was great. Had moments the fans loved, and lasted more than ten minutes. Looks like they really are giving Divas a chance her. Maybe the finish will play into AJ lee and Paige self-destructing as a team, but it’s too early to call right now.


Hit. Miz versus Ryback: Miz started off strong, making Ryback cower in the corner after a few kicks. Unfortunately, the beast couldn’t be kept down, and he quickly disposed of The Miz with a clothesline and shell shock. The match had a great moment, where Ryback held The Miz by the head for Mizdow to punch him. Mizdow came pretty close to doing so, but was ordered to put his hand down by The Miz. Miz also hit Mizdow with a Skull crushing finale, when Mizdow tried to check on him after the match That was a great way to show the added tension between Miz and Midow, and will certainly make The Andre The Giant Battle Royal a must see event at WrestleMania 31. Everyone wants to see Mizdow punch Miz out, but it looks like it will have to wait just a few more weeks.


Hit! United States Championship contract signing. What could have been just another war of words between two combatants turned into so much more Monday Night on Raw. Cena started the segment by telling fans that Rusev currently represents The United States of America, a fact that The “Cenation” leader promised to rectify at WrestleMania 31. Rusev was introduced next, but he came to the ring without his usual manager, Lana. Instead The Super Athlete was joined by a lawyer who said that the contract for WrestleMania 31 was null and void, because Rusev never actually agreed to the match himself. The lawyer then told Cena that Rusev would accept the match on if Rusev could read a prepared statement without Cena getting violent. Cena agreed and sat through a cringe worthy speech of calling Americans failures and cowards. When the speech was over, Rusev tipped the table on Cena and ran for his life, making the segment just that much more awesome. This segment really raised the intensity level for WrestleMania 31, and also leaves fans questioning, what happened to the ravishing Russian Lana? Will she betray Rusev, and help hand him his first loss? Will she have turn out to have a crush on Cena and aid him in his match against Rusev, or will she show up to aid Rusev instead. This segment leaves all that and The U.S title in the air come WrestleMania.


Miss. The New Day versus Tyson Kidd and Cesaro: The match had a lot of action, but was just too short to be anything too interesting. Cesaro got the win off a roll up on Kingston, which isn’t a very convincing way to have your Tag Team Champions win two weeks before WrestleMania 31, but the worst offense has to go to the fact that El Toritto tilt a whirled Cesaro out of the ring. It’s pretty sad when you have your tag team champions getting their ass kicked by a sorry excuse for a church group and a bull. Michael Cole said The Los Matador’s wanted to make a statement. I guess the statement is that WWE doesn’t respect The Tag team division very much.


Miss. Brock Lesnar promo: Not having Lesnar on Raw was a bad move. The promo was ok, but it would have been better to just have Heyman show up and work his magic. It’s hard to believe that the main event of WrestleMania is being treated so lightly. They have to focus on building it up from Reign’s end, while just showing promos and having little talking segments for Lesnar, which is pathetic. WWE didn’t think this out, and it’s hurting the overall storyline for this feud. For god sakes! Put these two men in the same ring and have them bad mouth each other. It’s that simple. Lesnar is great at ringside fighting to get the crowd going. He proved with Punk, Cena and even Triple H. Why The WWE is not having these two go out two weeks before WrestleMania is a level of stupidity that is unmeasurable. I don’t care what was on the promo. It was forgettable in my opinion.


Miss: Battle Royal demonstration: Kane announces that he ordered a few of the participants of the Andre Memorial Battle Royal to the ring for a little demonstration. He promised to show them what would happen to all of them come WrestleMania. Mark Henry interrupts to throw his name into consideration for the match, and joins the fray as it starts. Kane and Henry clear the ring of all the participants, before going toe to toe with each other. Kane gets in a few good shots, but gets picked up and put on the ring apron by Henry. Axel runs into the ring after posing with The Andre The Giant Trophy and tries to eliminate Kane and Henry at the same time. Kane ends up on the floor, and Henry throws Axel over the tope rope for the final elimination. This did nothing for the match in two weeks, and can only be described as pathetic filler so fans could have a bathroom break. I guess this match is not being taken seriously either.


Miss. Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman segment: Ok. I take it back. The WWE shouldn’t focus on Roman Reigns. That is an awful idea, and it proved to be in this segment. I don’t know what was worse. Reigns stiff stance with the microphone, or the Daniel Bryan chants that rang throughout the arena. The WWE backed the wrong pony and it shows more than ever right now! Reigns speech about having a chip on his shoulder and expecting a war at WrestleMania 31 was great, but it was overshadowed by poor crowd reaction and Daniel Bryan chants. Paul Heyman did awesome as always, but again, too little, too late, and the wrong pony backed. Is it too late to have Daniel Bryan in the main event? Please tell me it’s not!


Hit. Paul Heyman interview with Renee Young: We all knew this was coming, but it was great that Paul Heyman finally announced it! It was also awesome that Heyman teased Lesnar getting physical with Reigns during their face to face meeting next week. That certainly makes next Monday must see and a definite chance to raise the stakes before Mania next Sunday!


Hit! Ambrose Bryan and Ziggler versus Stardust, Harper and Bad News Barrett: There was just too much great action to call here. You had Daniel Bryan started things off early with some great kicks in the corner to his opponent, Ziggler came in later and changed the game with a break neck speed Zig-Zag on Rowan. Ziggler then went for a pin but was stopped by Star Dust and Barret. Finally Ambrose wins with a timely dirty deeds on Harper. This match was confusing but just awesome. The crowd was into it from beginning to end and it just took your breath away. The brawl that broke out after the match was epic as well. Stardust stole the IC title off of R-Truths back, and then tried to make a run for it through the crowd. He was then stopped by Ambrose, who brought him back to the ring and took the title back. The six competitors then continued to scrap it out for the title, before Barrett came in and Bull hammered everyone into oblivion and walked out with the title. I apologize for not being able to call all the action here, but it was just too exciting to keep track. This was epic and made The IC ladder match at Mania something everyone should keep an eye on.


Miss. Bray Wyatt promo: Not much to say. No Undertaker. No actual appearance in the ring by Wyatt, and nothing really added to the storyline as well. I don’t see how promos build a superstar to face someone like The Undertaker at The Grandest Stage of them all, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Has Wyatt even wrestled in the last month or two? How is this buildup at all? All we have is two people who haven’t seen ring time in a while, facing off to become the new face of fear! The promo was creepy and served its purpose, but it has little to no effect without The Dead man.


Hit. Main event. Seth Rollins comes out and announces that he’s been making Orton look like a fool throughout the night. The entire Authority then comes to Rollin’s side and walk down the ramp ready to take down the viper. Just as The Authority surround Orton in the ring, the lights go off and a crow is heard in the arena. When the lights go back on sting is seen side by side with Orton. The two clear house of The Authority and Sting gets in a sting splash on J and J security for good measure! Orton hits a RKO on Noble, as The Authority retreats up the ramp. Definitely not what I expected, but Stings appearance did make this a definite hit. I thought WWE forgot about Triple H’s and Stings match at Mania, but I guess they were saving the best for last. I just wish they wouldn’t have such lackluster main events to close out the show. The surprise and beat down were awesome, but for god sake can we get an actual match to close out the show every once in a while! I know I’m knit picking, so I’ll stop. Great show. Great moments! The Authority had everyone fooled.


How WWE Can Rejuvenate The Divas Division



By Brian Thornsburg on 3/14/2015


What is the one thing The Divas division needs right now? Longer matches? That would be great if they had meaningful storylines to match. Skimpier outfits? Maybe, but I worry it would cause younger fans to go through puberty a bit faster than needed. What about a something as simple as a briefcase?


I’m of course talking about the money in the bank briefcase that has been a fixture in The WWE since Its debut at WrestleMania 21 in 2005. Edge won the first ever match, by retrieving a briefcase held high above the ring, holding off five other vicious competitors to accomplish the feat. Inside the briefcase? A chance to face The World Heavyweight Champion at any time of his choosing.


Since its debut in 2006, the match has not only become a favorite amongst the WWE Universe, but has also made for some of the most draw dropping moments on WWE television. Who could forget the first ever cash in, where Edge nailed John Cena with a killer spear, seconds after he successfully defended his title against six other competitors in the Elimination Chamber.


Or the year that the Viper held the briefcase and with the help of The Authority, pinned Daniel Bryan in just under ten seconds to win The WWE title at Summerslam. The moment both shocked and angered The WWE Universe, who had just started celebrating Bryan’s monumental accomplishment in the WWE.


While I was not a fan of either of the moments in WWE history, I still saw the importance of the briefcase and how it helped to shape the title picture in new and exciting ways. What was once a straightforward storyline of two or more superstars competing for the gold strap, became a puzzle of uncertainty, where no champion was safe.


Isn’t that what the divas division needs right now? Something to breathe life into what is mostly an afterthought on WWE TV week after week? Not even the current hash tag campaign of #givedivasachance is being taken seriously, with the divas division only having two matches on Raw, lasting only a total of five minutes.


The first match was AJ Lee versus Summer Rae, which ended predictably in two minutes with a black widow submission by Lee. The Bella’s did cut a promo before the match, but it was mostly to promote WWE’s new Flinestones DVD. Not really giving Divas a chance if you ask me.


The second match pitted Natayla versus Naomi. The match was decent enough, but could have been given more time to flourish. It seemed like Naomi was able to match Natayla athleticism wise, even managed to get some great chain wrestling moments in, and a double bridge. It would have been more of a give Divas a chance moment, if it wasn’t for the length of the match, but it’s definitely an improvement and the fans were into it.


Storylines on the Divas side has suffered in recent years, especially with less and less time given to progress the storylines along. The briefcase would not only give the divas more TV time, but would also inject a much needed storyline into the division as well. Along with a sense of unpredictability, that the division desperately needs right now.


The WWE can even learn from its few mistakes with the first Money in the Bank Briefcase scenario’s and improve it before unveiling it to the Divas Division. Maybe instead of having the match only once a year, they could have one every six months. The shorter periods that a diva could cash in for a match for the divas title, could also lead to establishing more stars int the Division.


Instead of having the traditional Money in the Bank ladder match to decide who would claim the first briefcase, the divas could a Queen of the Ring styled tournament, or maybe even a Royal Rumble style match. Something that would give more divas more TV time, and allow them to develop their characters for the WWE audience. Not just be filler bathroom break matches that are quickly forgotten by time the next bell rings.


A briefcase wouldn’t solve all of The Divas division problems, but it wouldn’t certainly be a step in the right direction. The Divas need more than one single prize to fight for, and they need better storylines to feud over. Even if it’s just a love triangle storyline, it would be better then what the WWE is currently doing.


Whether it’s a briefcase, a tag team title, or going back to traditional bra and panties matches, The WWE needs to do something and they need to do it now. The woman’s locker room is full of some of the hardest workers in the WWE, and its time they be recognized and given a fair chance to shine in the squared circle. Like the hashtag says, Give divas a chance!



What's Wrong With RAW? Orton's Return Ruined!



By Brian Thornsburg on 2/24/2015


There was a lot of positive things that came out of the post Fastlane edition of Raw this week, unfortunately, the things listed below were not one of those things. Raw suffered in a few spots this week, particularly in regards to their buildup of certain feuds heading into WrestleMania 31. Don’t believe me? See for yourself!


The Opening Segment: The opening segment on Raw made no sense! I was expect Randy Orton to RKO Stephanie McMahon, and get a huge pop, but of course that never happened. Instead, we were treated to 15 minutes of Stephanie and Big Show talking about Orton rejoining The Authority. This seems to be a hit on the audience’s intelligence, because Orton’s face turn would make little to no sense if they just go back and turn him heel. The fans know that Orton will most likely face Rollins at WM 31, so why even try to have them join forces again? We all know Orton’s nailing Rollins with a RKO sooner or later! WWE needs to stop insulting fans intelligence, and build a better story then this. I swear fans have seen this cliché so many times before, and it’s not event believable. If anything, it could confuse the audience and hurt Orton’s face turn, if it continues on like this.


Weak Promo by Roman Reigns: Despite being a fan of Roman Reigns, I still feel like he did very poorly during his segment with Paul Heyman. The mad scientist did everything in his power to build up Roman Reigns, even saying that he could beat the likes of Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and The Rock in their prime. The problem with this segment is, it dragged on for far too long, and didn’t offer anything new to the rivalry at all. Reigns was pretty dry during the closing of the segment anyway, with his best line being” After I get done with what I’m going to do to Brock Lesnar, He isn’t going to like me anyways” I was expecting so much more out of a family member of The Rock, but I guess were just not going to get it. I also can’t stand how they want to build Reigns up as the underdog here. He’s not a believable underdog whatsoever. He is 300 plus pounds of dominance and The WWE needs to build him as such. Reigns is in all seriousness the most even matchup Brock Lesnar will face during his title Reign, so why bother and try to build it up like its Daniel Bryan or Chris Beniot versus Lesnar, when it’s not. These two men are just about on equal footing physique wise, making this underdog story unbelievable at best.


The Ascension’s loss to The Prime Time Players: The match was too short and not decisive enough for my liking. The fact that PTP win off of a role up pin is even more ridiculous. I though The Ascension would be The WWE’s top tag team upon entering the main roster, but the powers that be seem perfectly content with keeping them out of the title picture, and giving them pointless storylines that seem to blow over in a week or two. I’m not exactly mad that they lost to the PTP, but the fact that Konner and Victor have never been given enough time to showcase what they can really do in the ring, annoys me to no end. I like the fact that The Ascension attacked PTP, thus creating sympathy for Darren Young and Titus O’Neil, and the fact that their actually establishing a decent storyline here, but the fact that The Ascension isn’t battling The Uso’s or Cesaro and Tyson Kidd, makes me think that Konnor and Victor won’t last long on the main roster. Especially if The WWE is recycling on tag teams to feud with them.


Cena versus Rusev at WrestleMania 31 Promo: Is it just me, or did The WWE not add anything new to this feud on Monday night? Cena comes back with his whole” I took Rusev to the limit” routine, while Rusev continues to mock America alongside his manager, Lana. The only new development in this story, is Cena’s intention to bring The U.S title back to American soil, which surprise, he will no doubt do at WrestleMania 31. The story can’t end any other way then this now. Cena has already suffered his big loss at Fastlane, and there is no way in hell WWE will let him take another one at WrestleMania 31. So basically, the streak of Rusev is screwed, and he will become just another victim on Cena’s buried list. It’s too predictable, and doesn’t strengthen the WrestleMania 31 card in any way. If WWE would have went ahead and let Rusev suffer his first loss at Fastlane, maybe that would have allowed for WWE to change up the story a bit, and give Rusev the win at Mania, but now there is no chance of that happening!


Paige and Emma Versus The Bella Twins: Is it just me, or do Diva matches just keep getting shorter and shorter. Paige was miffed about her loss to Nicki at Fastlane and tried to attack The Bella twins before the bell even rang. I understand that they wanted to portray Paige as angry to further the story, but why not have Paige do that in the course of a match as well? It would have been great to have Paige get in the match and get disqualified for attacking Brie in the corner or something. Instead, we get a quick face buster on Emma by Brie, who pins her in less than thirty seconds. Sure Paige attacks Brie after the match, and yes that does move the story along, but it was so fast, that it’s hard to believe that anyone in The WWE is taking The Divas division seriously right now. I like that fact that Nikki said,” Don’t ever attack my sister”, obviously a prelude to Paige taking out Brie, to get another shot at Nikki’s title, but again to fast to be taken too seriously.


The Main event: Randy Orton and Seth Rollins Versus Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns: Let me start out by saying that, Roman Reigns had one of his best match sequences of all time in Monday Night’s main event. He hit close line after close line, nailed a Samoan drop, and even countered Rollins with a huge Superman man, which brought the crowd to their feet. With that being said, Bryan still delivered the final blow, after tagging himself in, and rolled Rollins up for the win. This makes me think that there is still hope for Daniel Bryan in The WrestleMania 31 main event. Well that and the fact that he still has no opponent for WrestleMania either. Orton got frustrated during the match, when Rollins tagged himself in, causing him to jump off the apron and start yelling at Big Show and Kane about leaving, but a pat on the shoulder after the match was all Rollins received from Orton, as he exited the arena. It’s probably a good idea not to have Orton go after Rollins immediately, that way, it’s more of a surprise when he finally does RKO Rollins to set up their match at WrestleMania 31. As for Reigns, despite a pretty tame promo at the beginning of the show, Reigns looks particularly fine-tuned and ready to face Lesnar at Mania for the title. BELIEVE THAT!



Lesnar To Make An Apperance At Fastlane



By Brian Thornsburg on 2/22/2015


Goldust versus Stardust: While many are ecstatic to see Cody Rhodes as a singles competitor, I find myself wanting to see The Rhodes Brothers keep their bizarre gimmick going. The cosmic key gimmick was really great at the start, and really could have went somewhere, if they didn’t drop the titles to The Miz and Damien Mizdow. The promos were great, Stardust’s silly antics were awesome and they looked great as team in the ring. Why The WWE is choosing to end this partnership is beyond me, but I have to go with Cody Rhodes at Fastlane, mainly because it makes no sense for Goldust to pick up the win against his brother. The win would be better served for Cody and his singles career.


Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show versus Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback: I guess The WWE had to fix the match card someone, and this was the result of doing that. I see no reason why Ziggler and company can’t get a win over The Authority in this one. Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins have a great chemistry in the ring that should be interesting to watch in this match Hopefully Ziggler will win this one with The Zig-Zag on Kane. That way Rollins doesn’t suffer a loss and Ziggler can pick up another big win on Pay per view.


The Uso’s versus Cesaro and Tyson Kidd: I really hope The WWE is serious about pushing Cesaro and Tyson kidd here. This is not only a great chance for Kidd and Cesaro to get the recognition they truly deserve on the main roster, but also a chance to set up a great feud with The Ascension for the belt. The Uso’s will have many more tag team title reigns ahead of them, but the time definitely now to give the high flying Kidd and Technical Cesaro a run with the belts. Cesaro will win with The Neutralizer, after Kidd takes out one of the Uso’s in the final minutes of the match.


Nicki Bella versus Paige for the Divas Title: The Divas division just hasn’t been that interesting without AJ Lee skipping around with the butter fly belt on her shoulder. With that being said, I think that Paige winning the title from Nicki will be a step in the right direction for The Divas of The WWE. Nicki just hasn’t won convincingly yet during her two month reign as champion, and instead of seeing anymore of her high school like antics, I would love to see Paige get another chance with the title. Hopefully to set up part two of her feud with AJ Lee. I see Paige winning with The PTO here, forcing Nicki to tap out.


Bad News Barrett Versus Dean Ambrose for The IC Title: While I would love to see Ambrose take the title off of Barrett at Fastlane, I think there’s just so much more The WWE can do with this feud. Ambrose’s array of wild antics, mixed with Barrett’s new TMZ style gimmick, could create some of the most entertaining television leading up to WrestleMania 31. Ambrose should eventually take the belt off of Barrett, but I see Barret winning at Fastlane with Winds of Change for the pin.


Rusev versus John Cena for The United States Title: Like I said in my earlier article, john Cena needs to win this match. Maybe not by submission, but at least give the man a pin, after having him lose three straight times to Brock Lesnar for the title. Cena needs a big win and it needs to come by ending Rusev’s streak at Fastlane. I know fans will get up and arms about this prediction, but it would mean much more for Rusev to get a dominating win at WrestleMania 31, and allow Cena to pick up a big victory at Fastlane. A year from now, Rusev’s undefeated streak will mean very little to nothing to The WWE Universe, but a win over the likes of John Cena at WrestleMania 31, will be something truly legendary. I think Cena wins this one after hitting an A.A off the top rope.


Daniel Bryan versus Roman Reigns for the Opportunity to Face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31 for the WWE World Heavyweight Title: We all know this is ending in an interference by someone right? The question is, who? I want to say Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman try to get involved in the match, and get Roman disqualified. That way, Lesnar will have a seemingly easier opponent at WrestleMania 31, but I don’t know if I can see that happening. This scenario presents the problem of, why would someone who has been a dominate force in The WWE for over a year, choose to make things easier for himself? It seems like a cowardly move, and something that Lesnar wouldn’t take part in. While that may be true, that doesn’t leave out the possibility that Paul Heyman could interfere to try and give his client the easier opponent at WrestleMania 31. This way Lesnar and Heyman would have a slight rift in their relationship, allowing them to eventual part ways, if Lesnar goes back to UFC.


Another possibility, is for The Authority to interfere on behalf of Daniel Bryan, and get Reigns disqualified. It would probably be for the same reason as the first scenario, but I wouldn’t be surprised if The Authority switches it and tries to keep Bryan out of the main event at Mania instead. Another scenario, would be for Seth Rollins to interfere in the match and take out Bryan, giving him the victory over Reigns. This would screw Reigns out of his title shot at Mania(Until The triple Threat Match is announced) and would also insert Rollins into the title picture, allowing Rollins to have a reason to cash in after the main event at WrestleMania 31. Either way you look at this, no one will win clean here. The WWE obviously wants a triple threat match for Mania, and that’s what they’re going to begin to set up at Fastlane.



Paul Heyman Should Be Fired For His Comments About Brian Williams



By Brian Thornsburg on 2/7/2015


What was Paul Heyman thinking? Did he honestly think people would care about something that had nothing to do with wrestling at all? Did he think it would attract attention to The WWE in a positive way? Or is Vince McMahon just throwing darts at a board and this was the idea he landed on?


The last one seems the most likely, as Paul Heyman took to The WWE network yesterday evening, to give his take on the current Brian Williams reporting scandal. He wasted no time calling Williams a liar, even having a graphic put above him with the caption, “Brian Williams is a liar.”


For those unfamiliar with what Heyman was talking about, Brian Williams, the anchor for NBC Nightly News, recently did a tribute to the troop’s piece. During the nightly news segment, he told a less then truthful story about a helicopter he was in being hit by enemy fire, while in Iraq and being forced to land. The statement was later recanted and NBC has begun an investigation into the matter.


First off, Brian Williams is not a liar! He simply forgot certain details about an event that happened to him 12 years ago. The event did take place 2002, but it was the helicopter in front of the one that he was riding in, that was hit by enemy fire and forced to land. That’s not lying! That’s just getting confused when recounting events!


The second problem I have with this is, that The WWE has no reason to be talking about this scandal at all. It has nothing to do with wrestling or the people inside The WWE at all! This was just a failed attempt by WWE to get mainstream attention for their upcoming WrestleMania 31 pay per view, and guess what? It didn’t even work!


While most people will say that this claim isn’t possible, since no mentioning of WrestleMania took place during the broadcast, that doesn’t mean The WWE wouldn’t name drop the flagship pay per view during an interview with a major news outlet, if given the chance to.


This not only was a waste of time on The WWE’s part, but it may even hurt them as well. What WWE fan wants to be reminded of current events while watching original programming on The WWE network? If anything, this is only another strike against The WWE and The WWE Network for allowing the pointless broadcast to even take place.


In all honesty, Paul Heyman should be fired for this deplorable five minute broadcast. Not only for calling Brian Williams a liar, but also for even likening Brian Williams to himself in any way shape or form. This not only slander on Heyman’s part, but also a case of Heyman sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.


I don’t care if Heyman is one of the best managers and mouth pieces of all time in The WWE. He bad mouth one of the greatest anchors of all time, and should be fired on that basis alone. Anyone involved in the idea of this broadcast should also for fired, for interrupting WWE Network programming for this atrocious mess of broadcast, and subsequently, wasting fans time.


What happens from here is anyone’s guess. The WWE may continue to discuss current controversies in the media on their prized network, but with The WWE Universe canceling their network subscriptions in droves, it would probably be wise not to give them another reason to click the cancel button.



Bryan's Early Exit From Royal Rumble It Was Right Decision By WWE



By Brian Thornsburg on 1/26/2015


While many fans are complaining about Daniel Bryan’s early elimination from The Royal Rumble on Sunday, The WWE did the right thing by taking Bryan out so early in the match. Pretend Daniel Bryan’s early elimination from The Royal Rumble never happened for a moment. In fact, let’s say he was one of the final four superstars left in the match. Having him in the final four would have been a big problem in itself, especially with the other three participants being Big Show, Kane and Roman Reigns.


If Kane or Big show would have eliminated Bryan, fans would have said that he was screwed over by The Authority once again, and deserved to be put in the title match to rectify this. On the other hand, if Roman Reigns would have eliminated Daniel Bryan, The WWE Universe would have completely turned on him like they did with Batista back in the 2014 Royal Rumble.


By now you may be asking yourself, why did Daniel Bryan have to be eliminated at all? Why couldn’t he win and go on to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31? Well, to be bluntly honest, that wouldn’t be best for business. This was proven back in 2013, when Summerslam had its worst pay per view buy rate in years, and that was with Bryan in the main event.


Not only is Bryan a risk buy rate wise, he is also injury risk as well. While fans will eagerly point out that Reigns was shelved for months in 2014 as well with an incarcerated hernia, but that was an isolated incident that didn’t occur in the ring. Bryan’s injury occurred due to constant risk taking in the ring, such as his suicide dives, top rope leaps and risky spots.


So why would The WWE want an injury prone, buy rate flop to headline their biggest event of the year a second straight time? The company already gave the fans what they wanted last year, with Bryan overcoming Triple H, Batista and Randy Orton to win The WWE World Heavyweight title at WrestleMania 30. Why would The WWE want to create this storyline again?


I’m not saying Daniel Bryan shouldn’t eventually get back into the title picture, just not right now. The WWE has something great going with Roman Reigns, and despite fan reaction, I think they should see their plan to fruition and have Reigns win The WWE World Heavyweight title at WrestleMania 31.


The WWE needs to think about the future, and Daniel Bryan isn’t the future of The WWE, Roman Reigns is. Bryan is way too much of a risk taker to last long in the land of giants. Yes, he’s a nice feel good story when the time calls for it and will probably hold the belt a few more times in his career, but the criticized move set of Roman Reigns, is what will make him a consistent superstar for years to come.



Rusev In Ruins



By Brian Thornsburg on 1/21/2015


The WWE has already buried Adam Rose, The Ascension, Bo Dallas and various other NXT Talents, why not add Rusev to that list as well.


That’s exactly what it seems like The WWE did during this week’s Smackdown taping, when Rusev suffered his first official loss on the main roster to recently rehired Ryback, while this may be the win that Ryback needed to reestablish himself as a top contender in the company, one has to wonder where this loss leaves him.


Since his climb to the main roster last year, Rusev has run rough shot in The WWE, defeating any superstar that came into his path. This includes wins over Jack Swagger, Big Show, Mark Henry, Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, and even Big E. Langston.


Now with his first loss under his belt, where is Rusev supposed to go from here? He could certainly enter The Royal Rumble and stop Ryback from going on to main event WrestleMania 31, as a way of retribution for his loss on Thursday. This could set up Ryback versus Rusev for The United States Title at WrestleMania 31, which would be a good spotlight match for both superstars, but seems less appealing without Rusev’s winning streak on the line.


The Authority could also use Rusev at The Royal Rumble, to cost Cena his match against Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins. This would set up Cena versus Rusev at WrestleMania 31 as well, and would be a great pass torching opportunity for Rusev.


Rusev and The Rock clashing at WrestleMania 31 remains an interesting scenario that The WWE should explore. A win over The Rock would cement Rusev’s place in the company for years to come, and would also be a great catapult into the title picture after WrestleMania season is over.


Even if he were to lose to The Rock at WrestleMania 31, the match itself will really establish him as a Legends killer type character. A storyline idea that The WWE could also use to their advantage for Rusev after WrestleMania season.


You would think that The WWE would have put Rusev’s monstrous push and intriguing storyline to better use, instead of just having him suffer his first loss to Ryback on Smackdown for no reason! The company had a great push going for the former NXT upstart, but now it seems like his star power will quickly fade. Especially if WWE Creative doesn’t help him recover from the loss as soon as possible.


Rusev is far from the only former NXT talent to suffer a pointless loss on the main roster. Bo Dallas had amassed over 14 wins on the main roster, before losing for the first time to R Truth on Raw. The loss put Dallas’s character in a limbo state, and The WWE has done little with Dallas since the loss.


Another talent that comes to mind, Paige. Paige won the Divas title from AJ Lee on her first night on the main roster. She then went on to beat Tamina Snuka at Extreme Rules, Alicia Fox at Payback and Naomi at Money in The Bank.


AJ Lee returned after Money in The Bank, and won The Divas title back from Paige in a very short match. The two then continued their feud at Battleground, before Paige won the title back from Lee in a Triple Threat match at Summerslam. The win also occurred on her 22cd birthday.


Paige then lost the title to AJ Lee at Night of Champions, and hasn’t been in the title picture since. She did compete in a four on four Elimination match at Survivor Series, where she was the sole survivor for her team, but was quickly eliminated by Naomi for the win. Paige has done little storyline wise, since Survivor Series. The WWE seems again, more interested in pushing established talent to the top, and not rising stars like Paige.


The WWE needs to make a choice and make it right now! Do you want to older talents to pass the torch to the young upstart talents, or do you want two superstars that have barely been established, fighting over a torch that will mean nothing once either superstar gets their hands on it. Rusev should have faced Cena or Rock at WrestleMania 31 for the first loss of his career, not just treat his winning streak like it was nothing, and have him lose on a random episode of Smackdown!


To me, it seems like the winning streak that Rusev had built means nothing to The WWE. They didn’t allow it to happen on a special occasion, they had his first loss come from a talent that is still struggling to establish himself in the company, and really damages his opportunity at having a feud with an established star at WrestleMania 31, which will make it harder for him to stay relevant pass WrestleMania season.




5 Most Disappointing Wrestlers In 2014


By Brian Thornsburg


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5 Wrestlers That Disappointed In 2014


Dolph Ziggler is to Ryan Leaf as Hulk Hogan is to Peyton Manning. Ok enough with my cheesy attempt to reference WWE Wrestlers to the 1998 NFL Draft. It is time to examine the 5 worst wrestlers in 2014.


5. Bo Dallas


If you were a "Boliver", It couldn't have been for long. Dallas made his main roster debut the night after Payback, and beat Kofi Kingston the next night on Raw. Dallas went on to develop a undefeated streak, but lost his first match against R Truth on The June 28th edition of Raw. The loss was pointless and really destroyed his momentum on the main roster. Dallas never recovered from the loss and went on to feud with Swagger and Henry in very forgettable matches. He eventually injured his foot in November, and hasn't been seen on the main roster since. The inspirational gimmick was a good idea for the younger fans, but having him lose after developing such a streak, was ultimately his undoing in 2014. Hopefully Dallas comes back as a face and plays into his inspirational gimmick to get the fans behind him again.


4. Dolph Ziggler


Another year has passed, and Ziggler is no closer to the big title then he was a year ago. Sure he has had a few runs with The Intercontinental title and was the sole survivor for Team Cena at Survivor Series, but has he really done anything this year besides that? Hopes were high for Ziggler at the beginning of the year, but all The WWE Universe to be treated to was a man continuously stuck making other talent look good in the midcard. If your not going to put the big belt on him, at least put The IC or US belt around him and allow him to establish a meaningful reign. Even a run with the tag team titles would make more sense, then just winning The IC belt and then losing again. In all honestly, The WWE needs to realize that Ziggler is a star, and give him another chance. Letting him have a microphone a bit more wouldn't hurt either.


3. Batista


You would think winning The Royal Rumble and Headlining WrestleMania 30 would keep you off of this list, but unfortunately for Bootista, that's not the case here. Batista was doomed to fail from the minute he stepped back into the squared circle. He didn't succeed in capturing the title at WrestleMania, and soon joined Orton and Triple H for a Evolution reunion to battle The Shield. Nothing The Animal did this year was memorable. That's not necessary his fault, he was just outshined by the rising star that was Daniel Bryan.


2. Cesaro


Where did things go wrong for Cesaro? He had one of the most requested signature moves in all of wrestling, He won The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30, and he even became a "Paul Heyman guy." He also competed in The Elimination Chamber match for The WWE World Heavyweight champion, where he was elimated by John Cena. All of these variables should have spelled succesus for The Swiss Superman in 2014, but The WWE seemingly kept changing plans for Cesaro. It started when Cesaro won the Battle Royal at WrestleMania, after turning on his Real American teammate, Jack Swagger. in a pre show fatal four way match for The Tag Team Titles. The next night on Raw, Cesaro fired Colter as his manager, and quickly allighed himself with Paul Heyman. This relationship allowed for him to develop heat, by his manager resorted to cheating, to help Cesaro win. The WWE made the mistake of having Cesaro lose to Sheamus at PayBack, leaving Cesaro with a loss only one month after his big win at WrestleMania 30. The fall from grace continued, as he lost The Money In The Bank ladder match for the vacated WWE World HeavyWeight title a month later.


1. Paige


She may have won The Divas title twice this year, but 2014 was still a bust for The Anti Diva. Title reigns aside, Paige suffered from a lot of misdirection storyline wise. She was played off as a scared little girl during her debut, their was little to no storyline behind most of her early title defenses, and her eventual feud with AJ Lee was lackluster and failed to live up to expectations. Paige should have been portrayed as The Anti Diva from the beginning, instead WWE just slapped a tired gimmick on her and had her compete in a battle of The Crazies, with Lee. Its bad enough that one of the most anticipated Diva feuds in WWE history was reduced to a underwhelming mess, but the fact that the company is now keeping her off TV, is just the latest in a long line of clues that WWE doesn't know what to do with Paige.


Cena Running Things Backstage Source Says

Posted By Brian Thornsburg on 12/27/2014


Chances are, if your a WWE fan, you hear rumors about your favorite superstars on a daily basis. Some that can make you angry, some that can make you think, and of course, there are ones that just make you want to laugh.


The latter was my reaction when I was commenting on one of my friends Facebook status about wrestling. Myself and others had been commenting for hours about why fans hate John Cena so much. Some argued his gimmick was stale and that he repeatedly refuses to put over new talent, while others retaliated with, he is a huge role model for the kids.


The conversation became heated, as conversations about John Cena usually do, when a man started commenting about how he had a source inside The WWE, that stated he had first hand information of Cena making terroristic demands to WWE Creative backstage.


The man on Facebook then sent us three articles stating, that the finish we saw at Night of Champions, was not the orginal finish that was planned for the pay per view. the article went on to say that, Cena was originally supposed to lock in The STF, but Brock would fight out of it and make Cena pass out to the kimora lock after four minutes of struggling.


The reason for the change, according to the article, was that although Cena had orginally agreed to the first finish, he later asked that finish be changed, becuase he thought it would make his character look weak.Cena also reportedly said, that if the finish was not chhanged, he would quit The WWE. After hours of compromising, a new finish was reportedly written at 8:25 pm during The Night Of Champions pay per view.


Despite the compromise, it was also reported in the article, that both Lesnar and Heyman were deeply angered by the sudden change in storyline. Brock was apparently so angry that The WWE would give into one superstars demands, that he threatened to quit The WWE as well.


It also said, that it was John Cena's idea to keep Brock Lesnar off tv and that Lesnar was orginally scheduled to face Big Show at Hell in a Cell and Randy Orton at Survivor Series, but Cena wanted both of those storylines changed as well, so Lesnar would continue to stay off TV and look weak compared to Cena.


The most shocking statement from the source, was that Cena even kept Lesnar off of The Slammy edition of Monday Night Raw, by asking that The Superstar of The Year award go to Roman Reigns, instead of Brock Lesnar. The source says the reason for this, is that Cena thinks himself versus Roman Reigns for The WWE World Heavyweight title at WrestleMania 31 would be better for business.


As myself and others began to take in what the articles were saying, we all came to diffrent conclusions about the information. A few people started to bash Cena, saying he was the reason that other superstars arent getting over in The WWE, and that The WWE is dead if Cena wins at The Royal Rumble.


Others, like myself, began to seriously doubt the story altogether, and thought the source was giving false information. This lead me to question a friend of mine named, Dave Boddy. Boddy is a former proffessional wrestler and keeps in contact with people inside The WWE as well. He is also the founder of the anti bullying orginization, Boddy Guards United.


When I asked about whether he thought Cena would actually quit The WWE over not getting the finish he wanted, Boddy stated "Nope, I do not think he would, he has invested so much of his life to just up and quit due to a creative decision. It will take more for Cena to leave."


When I asked Boddy about the possibility of Vince McMahon letting Cena bully and terrorize him into his agenda, he states that " this is not WCW. Vince has so much control on his company, there is a possibilty Cena has creative control due to his dominant position, but Vince would not allow someone to cost him money."


Hours after my interview with Mr. Boddy, i found a major plothole in the story this man had told us. I was watching Monday Night Raw, when out of no where Brock Lesnar's music hit. and he made his way down to the ring to confront a scared, Chris Jericho. It seemed like either John Cena failed in his attempt to keep Lesnar off tv, or the story was nothing more then a rumor.


The latter seemed to be true, as later in the night, The WWE Universe witnissed Lesnar interupt Cena and Rollins main event cage match on Raw. The Beast Incarnate proceeded to nail Cena with several suplexes and a F-5 for good measure, as Rollins and Heyman shook hands over their secret alliance. Rollins then pinned Cena for the win.


Lets be honest. If anything that this man told us that night was true, none of what happened on Monday Night Raw would have transpired. Brock Lesnar wouldnt have appeared, Lesnar wouldnt have interupted the cage match, he wouldnt have dominated Cena and Rollins certainly wouldnt have gotten the win that night.


Like it or not, Cena is the torchbearer for The WWE. Like he says, the future will have to go through him, but that dosent mean he's going to resort to tantrums and changing storylines to keep superstars off tv to stop that from happening. Cena is as excited for the future of The WWE as everyone else, and is ready to pass the torch to the next generation when the time comes. Maybe that time will come at WrestleMania 31.


Dolph Ziggler Is Rolling Stone Magazine's, Wrestler Of The Year

Posted By Brian Thornsburg on 12/27/2014


Question. When you think of title like, Wrestler of The Year 2014, does Dolph Ziggler even come to mind?


Sure, he won the IC title, battled with several members of the Authority, and even was the sole survivor for Team Cena at Survivor Series, but do these accomplishments justify the honor of Wrestler of the year.


Ziggler Has Lackluster Year Compared To Others


Despite being the most consistant superstar on the roster in 2014, Ziggler has had a lackluster year at best . He didnt compete for The WWE World Heavyweight Championship, he lost The Andre The Giant Memorable Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30 and spent much of 2014 chasing The IC Title against The Miz.


Why Rolling Stone would award Ziggler the title, when other superstars like John Cena, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, AJ Lee, and Brock Lesnar accomplished major milestones in 2014 is beyond confusing. Its almost as if they awarded Ziggler, simply for not getting injured.


Think about it. Why not John Cena, The man who has remained in the championship picture since The Money In The Bank pay per view. Why not AJ Lee, who became a two time Divas champion and the most consistant Diva in years ? Why not Brock Lesnar, who conqured The Undertakers 21-0 WrestleMania streak?


Deserving Young Superstars


Even if The Rolling Stone didn't want to give the award to a obvious choice, like Cena or Lesnar, there are still so many young rookie candidates that had stellar years as well like Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, and Paige.


Look at the accomplishments by these young stars this year. Rollins won his first Money In The Bank Ladder match, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt both had great feuds that stole the show during many pay per views, and Paige became Divas Champion for the first time in her career. How does Ziggler's year compare to any of this?


Injuries played a Role


Its safe to say that injuries played a huge role in Rolling Stones decision on who would win this award. Daniel Bryan would have won it for his amazing victory over Randy Orton, Batista and The Authority at WrestleMania 30, but a neck injury sidelined him after The Extreme Rules Pay Per view.


Bad News Barret would have also been a great pick for Wrestler of The Year. Barret was on a role in 2014, winning The IC title from Big E Langston at The Extreme Rules Pay Per View, but ultimately suffered a shoulder injury later in the year at a Smackdown taping.


Roman Reigns would have also been a strong candidate for Wrestler of the year, had it not been for a lacerated spleen injury right before Night of Champions. Reigns was right in the midst of a awesome feud with Randy Orton, and had been in the WWE World Heavyweight title picture two times already this year. Not to mention his participation in The Shields feud with Evolution.


Another superstar that comes to mind, is CM Punk, who could have won the award if he didnt leave the company in early 2014 over his treatment and health. If Punk would have stayed, he could very well have took Daniel Bryans place in The main event at WrestleMania 30. and won The WWE World Heavyweight title, making him a great choice for the award.


Although I do think that many other superstars are more deserving of the honor this year, maybe this is what Ziggler needs. Maybe this is the thing that will fling him into the limelight. Now that WWE knows he is capable of getting mainstream attention, Like John Cena, maybe they will be more likely to make him The Face of The WWE in 2015.


Does The WWE Need CM Punk?

Posted By Brian Thornsburg on 12/13/2014


Then. Now. Forever. That is the opening graphic a fan will see at the start of any WWE broadcast, but with former WWE superstar, CM Punk, heading to UFC in 2015, Can WWE trudge along with business as usual?


The easy answer is yes. Even Punk said during his epic pipe bomb in 2010, that he was only a spoke on the wheel, and that the company would still make money despite itself. Of course Punk going to UFC is a bit of a blow to the WWE, but its not like things have gone completely downhill since Punks departure from the company in January.


Ratings Are The Same


According to Wrestlezone.com, The Monday Night Raw Ratings may have taken a small drop after Punk's departure in January of this year, but the ratings did manage to skyrocket up to near 4.8 when Daniel Bryan won The WWE World Heavyweight title at WrestleMania.


The ratings did plummit by 16% from April to May, but many experts speculate that the drop was due to WrestleMania season ending. Despite the 16% drop off during the month of April, Raw still managed to pull in about the same numbers they did in 2013 at that time.


After Raw's ratings loss in April, they began to build steadily back up to 4.3 by July of this year. The increase may be due to Rollins turning on his Shield teammates during the Summer and then winning the briefcase at Money In The Bank. Raw had slightly higer ratings at this point then last year as well.


The biggest surpise of the ratings graph, is that the ratings for August in 2013 and 2014 were almost identical to each other. That means, that their was really no difference in viewership during Punk and Brock Lesnar's feud in 2013, and John Cena and Brock Lensar's feud in 2014.


The ratings continued to rival each other over the next three months, while 2013 gained a slight lead by the end of October, with both years above the 3.6 rating mark. The most promising sign of the data is that, despite Punks departure, Raw's overall rating increased from 42.16 to 42.22 million so far this year. For more information on these statistics, click this link.


New Talent being pushed


Ratings may be about the same as last year, but the superstars now taking the upper slots in the company are not. In 2014 alone, we have seen the rise of Roman Reigns, Erick Rowan, Ryback, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, Rusev, and Luke Harper.


Instead of having pay per views constantly being headlined by the same top stars, we have seen a wonderful variety of talent take the top billings this year. We saw Daniel Bryan versus Batista versus Randy Orton at WrestleMania 31, we got Dean Ambrose versus Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell, and we get Seth Rollins versus John Cena this Sunday at TLC.


We have alot of first time champions this year too, with Jimmy and Jey Uso winning The Tag team titles earlier this year, Luke Harper, who captured The intercontinental Title from Dolph Ziggler and even Rusev, who beat Sheamus for The United States Title last month.


Were not only seeing new headliners and new champions, but many deserving superstars recieving second chances as well. We have Damien Mizdow, who has been a fan favorite since becoming Miz's stunt double, Tyson Kidd, who recently returned from a stint in NXT, and even Kofi Kingston, Big E. Langston and Xavier woods, who have been repackaged as The New Day Faction.


This isn't to say that Punk was holding other superstars back, but is meant to show that despite Punk's departure, WWE will continue to create new fan favorites and luanch them into superstardom.


WWE Will Learn From Mistakes


WWE may be worried about lowered pay per view buy rates, less then stellar numbers for their WWE Network and their continuously stumbling stock, but at the end of the day, WWE has of course made a few mistake in their journey to grow bigger then ever, but these mistakes are nothing that the entertainment giant can't come back from, with or without Punk. Whether Punk fans like it or not, one superstar does not make a company.


For those who say that WWE is now doomed to fail and that wrestling is dead. Look at The Monday Night Wars between Ted Turner and Vince McMahon in The 90's . McMahon's flagship show, Monday Night Raw, was beat in the ratings for 84 straight weeks by WCW Nitro, putting him on the verge of losing his company, but instead the billionaire changed business tactics and eventually bought WCW out altogether and won The Monday night war!


Draft Utopia Wrestling Columnists
Brian Thornsburg
J.J. Nealy
Yoshi Winston
Rico Rohas
Tyrone Tyson
Summer Tangredi