I’ve been quiet. Too quiet. The fact that I haven’t really written anything here for Kick Out at 2! in a very long time is well, depressing. Truth is when Shane and I started this site it was meant to be nothing but a running commentary of our thoughts of the current product of professional wrestling. We started it, we were full of ideas and we had content flowing on the site on a regular basis. Truth is over time, wrestling got stale for me. For two years people like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan were going against the grain, forcing change and putting the “Entertainment” back in the company’s name. WWE was on fire, a hotter fire than it had been in a long time. Then it burned out… then I burned out.
While Shane had been keeping the site going with his journey into WCW, I felt like I honestly wasn’t pulling my weight. It was hard for me to write about anything but honestly my heart just wasn’t in wrestling anymore. I had simply become so disenchanted with wrestling and almost totally lost the passion and the love that I’ve always had for it. I knew that WWE didn’t give a damn what I thought or what millions of others fans thought. For the last 3 years, no matter how much we voiced our frustration, flat out told Vince and his powers that be that we didn’t want to eat what was being force feed to us, WWE has been consistently pushing bad ideas as their main roster down our throats.
I haven’t watched an entire episode of RAW in at least 2 years, following the product through PPV’s alone on The Network because it seemed like storylines simply didn’t matter, they were dropped with no explanation, no new characters were being made and WWE was simply refusing to grow as a product in the entertainment field. It then got to a point where I wasn’t watching PPV’s. I eventually returned and watched The Royal Rumble with my friends on Xbox Party Chat. We loved the fact that AJ Styles made his debut and once we saw Triple H become World Heavyweight Champion we felt for a few weeks that maybe, just maybe WWE was reading the writing on the wall. With all the injuries they are having and Roman Reigns simply not getting over as the cookie cutter baby face Vince wanted him to be, I figured Vince was going to the right thing and force some changes by having Dean Ambrose challenge for the title at Wrestlemania.
Not only was I wrong again but Wrestlemania as a whole was quickly shaping up to be the worst Mania I have ever seen. Not only was it bad but it was worse than I could have possibly imagined. The story of this Wrestlemania wasn’t the Championship, it was The Authority. The fact that WWE made a story out of WWE’s ratings being in the toilet and built an entire angle out of Shane fighting for control to make a change seemed like a perfect setting to change it up. Having Undertaker beat Shane was a complete waste and an incredibly mis-booked storyline. Dean Ambrose not getting a win over the monster that is Brock Lesnar was another waste and in a world where Chris Jericho has been consistently putting over younger talent for two years, was there any reason for AJ Styles “Wrestling’s hottest free agent at the time of his signing” to not get the win and a Wrestlemania moment against the established veteran?
WWE claims that their attendance record was over 100,000 when in reality it was just slightly over 94,000 but regardless, when you have “100,000” people unanimously “booing” someone, you do not put the title on that person! 20 some years ago Vince had the idea that Lex Luger was going to be the superstar to replace Hulk Hogan, wanting to initially over look the likes of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Today he is wanting Roman Reigns to be the next John Cena, overlooking the likes of Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Bray Wyatt even Zack Ryder. The point here is, especially now with the possibility of calling any NXT talent up to the main roster, ANYONE but Roman Reigns deserves to be World Champion. Because of WWE’s inability to tell a compelling story with him, Roman has had the title sling shot back to him so many times that he is now a 3 Time World Champion, 1 away from tying Shawn Michaels’ career record. Shawn Michaels, the man who had the 30 some year wrestling career! Roman has been there 4 years… he hasn’t earned that and he surely does not deserve it.
Speaking of NXT. NXT Dallas Takeover was absolutely wonderful! This promotion is single handedly been the only thing that has kept my interest in wrestling from totally fading away. NXT Dallas hooked me back. Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe was incredible and people are going to really have to step it up if they want to take the “Match of the Year” title away from the Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura match. Triple H knows how to run a wrestling show and from what I’ve seen it seems like WWE will be in good hands once Vince does decide to hang it up, which honestly needs to be sooner rather than later.
I broke down and actually watched RAW this week, meaning that I watched the 90 Min version of it on HULU. Let’s face it, 3hrs is simply too long for a weekly wrestling show. Surprisingly enough I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. Seeing a lot of the NXT guy’s debut was nice and honestly gives me some hope that WWE could potentially get better. I had heard that Zack Ryder lost his Intercontinental Championship and was pretty pissed about that but honestly seeing the way it unfolded I kind of feel like Zack may be front and center for what could potentially be a good story for him. I really hope he wins it back as I feel he could be a very credible champion and he clearly deserves it. Cesaro returning was absolutely incredible and the Fatal Four way to determine the number one contender was really, really good. All four of those guys that were involved in the match deserve to be champion. I really hope that AJ makes an impact with the WWE audience and he isn’t simply served up to the “all powerful Samoan Overlord”
There are a lot reasons that wrestling fans such as myself have to be upset with the way that WWE is currently handling their own product and rightfully so. However with the amount of pure talent on the roster, the untapped potential and the seeds of improvement that I hope were sown Monday Night I can only hope for the best. I won’t say my relationship with WWE is over but it has clearly taken a beating and it’s going to take some time to make a full recovery, if it ever does…
I really hope it does.
Robbie C.
Every year, the same topic gets brought up: “Who do you think will win/lose at WrestleMania? Is this the year that the streak gets broken?” yada yada yada. And of course I have my predictions (on display later this week, right here at kickoutat2.com), but my answer is universally the same. “To me, it doesn’t really matter. It’s about the show.”
3 other quick records and I’m wrapping this up. First is Shawn Michaels, who I talked about earlier. Shawn is 6-11. In a career that most say is top 3 as the greatest of all time (even more argue as to it being the #1), he hasn’t won half of the matches he was in at WrestleMania. Does that define his legacy? Absolutely not. My view he won most of those matches by either stealing the show, or making his opponent look better than he did before the bell rang. Not bad considering he IS “Mr. WrestleMania”. Another example is Triple H. Triple H is 7-9 at the “Granddaddy of ’em All”. Still less than .500 at WrestleMania, but, has had moment after moment of spectacle at the event. Which leaves me to Example #3….
The Undertaker. 20-0. What an epic feat. It stands where no measuring stick can reach. It is unrivaled in Professional Wrestling as a streak that will never be matched. Does it define the Undertaker’s career? To me, mostly. When his name is brought into discussion, the first thought is the streak. Starting in January, talk begins of “Who will be the one to attempt to beat the streak this year?” 20 have shown up, and 20 have fallen. Not all the matches have been great, and Giant Gonzalez knows what I’m talking about. His last 4 matches, in my opinion, have been his best. I’m sure you’ve seen them, so you’re welcome for me pointing that out.
Only one thing is certain when it comes to The Streak. It will end when and only when The Undertaker wants it to. For years the feasibility that the streak could possibly end has always been the fun element that has added to these matches at Wrestlemania. With all the cards being stacked the way they are this year, I very well see this being the year The Streak comes to an end. There is still part of me that wants The Streak to continue, possibly seeing The Undertaker hang around and make it a perfect 25-0 but the realistic side of me says this is the year history is made and one of the best in the business passes on his legacy to the future and current Best in The World.
Kick Out At 2! 