It’s really been a while since my last post here in these forums and needless to say I’ve missed being able to share my thoughts on a regular basis but unfortunately, with so many things on my plate as well as WWE not particularly good for quite some time, I just couldn’t spare the time.
Nevertheles, being this is my very first post for 2019, allow me to first and foremost wish everyone a very happy new year, one full of joy, love, luck and most importantly health. Aside from that and as it pertains to us wrestling fans, let us hope that this will be a much better, more entertaining year cause God knows we could use it after a very abysmal 2018.
Now, there’s definitely a lot that has happened since I last shared any kind of thoughts, between AEW being officially announced (though, to be honest, it’s not something I have followed too closely) and the various tit bits in WWE but I’d be remiss if I were to not first take a moment and dedicate a few words for the late Gene Okerlund.
Gene Okerlund’s passing was a very awful start to the new year and one that personally hit me quite hard for the simple reason he was amongst the legendary characters to which I grew up watching WWE, or WWF back in the day. Aside from the Hogans and the Warriors and the Savages of the world that entertained us in the ring and aside from Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura or Bobby the brain Heenan who provided the outstanding commentary of the time, there was also this little bald dude backstage doing the interviews with the talent, a role equally important. The man was simply gifted, being able to put all the talent (whether a heel or face) over, sell like no one else (that being a storyline, an upcoming PPV or his hotlines), genuinely funny and a guy that everybody just loved; plain and simple.
So many great moments and memories, it’s obviously impossible to talk about them here but, hey, God bless youtube. There’s a plethora of videos to check out with some of the most memorable moments of his career so let those do the talking for me…
Speaking of Okerlund, this brings me to RAW and Hulk Hogan showing up for his tribute. My understanding is that Hogan coming to RAW was quite the controversial topic from the moment WWE made the announcement for, well, very obvious reasons. While I understand the difference of opinion (again, for obvious reasons), I feel it was the right move given the relationship those two had and, to be blunt, a darn good opportunity for WWE to do so. It’s a well known secret that WWE have wanted to bring Hulk Hogan back on TV and though these were certainly not the ideal circumstances, they pretty much knew Hogan wouldn’t get booed out of the building last night. Case and point, he got a pretty good ovation and though not the biggest pop he’s received, I feel for the most part the reception was probably better than what even he himself would have expected. On a personal level, I had no problem whatsoever and very much enjoyed the promo, especially the second half of it after the awesome video tribute.
Moving ahead to last night’s go home show for the Rumble, I can’t really say it got me all pumped about the upcoming PPV and found it hard to go past a 4/10 rating. Granted, the Royal Rumble PPV usually sells itself and it’s not like WWE really have to do much however I do feel RAW last night could have used a bit more edge. Anyway, here are some random quick thoughts:
- Brock Lesnar defending against Fin Balor is certainly something I find very interesting and at least it’s something fresh that we haven’t seen before. I also like the dynamic of the smaller guy going against the big guy and given recent history, albeit Lesnar versus Daniel Bryan or Lesnar versus AJ Styles last year, I think this could be a cracker. If only Balor would come out as the Demon…
- I’m having a hard time understanding the Revival storyline and them constantly being screwed over. How is it that we’re supposed to have sympathy for a team that is considered the heels? Aren’t we supposed to root against them? This booking is really weird…Then again, what’s to say about the entire tag team division overall?
- Speaking of tag teams, amber alert for AOP?
- Why is Baron Corbin still dressing up with a vest and all?
- Dean Ambrose: lousiest booking ever? Talk about an underwhelming IC title run…not to mention the character in general...
- Am I the only one that get's this strange vibe from Vince every time he appears for a segment or comes out to the ring for a promo? Granted, we all know that he doesn't really want to do this anymore and is practically forced to do so for obvious reasons but I always get that vibe that he'd rather be anywhere else...
- They could not possibly mess up Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch for Mania, could they?
