I haven't been able to see too much wrestling in the past week, but I have been able to see some. As some important things happened (including things involving some of my all-time favorite wrestlers), I feel the need to share my views on them:

Kaitlyn turns on AJ- I didn't like it, for pretty much the reasons I stated in my debate with Rabid about it. Kaitlyn doesn't fit in with Beth and Nattie because her limiations as a worker makes it hard to believe they would let her join. I think it will turn out good for AJ, but I think this was a very poor way to do it.

WWE has lost sight of the things that got the Chickbusters over: Their ultra-babyface-ish character-work. AJ should still be the fangirl living her dream. A well-written Mary Sue who can both work and be used for the occasional comedy segment. Beth and Nattie (Nattie, specifically) should have taken out Kaitlyn, thus leaving AJ heartbroken that her mentor would intentionally injure her best friend. Then the Divas of Doom should have asked AJ to join because more than any other diva on the roster (aside from Beth and Nattie [and maybe FCW's Naomi Knight]) AJ fits the "pin-up strong" motto. I would then have AJ be conflicted for a few weeks and not know what she should do... until she gets a backstage peptalk from either Trish or Lita (she's a fangirl, so they are her kayfabe heroes) that makes her decide to go after the Divas of Doom and chase the belt.

I would have AJ take Beth to the limit at the Royal Rumble, but lose due to interference. I would then have Beth throw Nattie in AJ's way as a roadblock at Elimination Chamber and have AJ win. Then, at Wrestlemania, I would have Beth get the advantage (due to interference by Nattie), until, eventually, Kaitlyn makes her return, giving AJ emotional support and stopping Nattie's interference, so AJ can win the Divas Title.

Kane Returns- Didn't like it. Attacking Cena makes no sense. Mark Henry was the one who took Kane out! It is clear that they only did this so Cena could have a big match at TLC (and losing his first match back will do nothing for Kane). The new outfit is dumb, and the whole thing with having a second mask on was stupid. The outer-mask looked like a prop from a generic sci-fi movie... and it served NO PURPOSE AT ALL! We all knew it was Kane due to the videos from the last few weeks, the chokeslam... AND THE FACT THAT IT WAS KANE'S MUSIC & TITANTRON PLAYING!

Impact: I didn't see much of it, but I did like some of the things I saw. The Knockouts stuff wasn't so good in the ring, but it made sense (aside from using Madison to try to take Mickie out, as opposed to any number of the other heels on the roster... especially Jackie Moore, who has a reputation for being legitimately tough and hasn't suffered any abuse at the hands Karen yet).

The main event was good and did a great of setting up for AJ vs. Roode at the PPV.

The stuff with Abyss and Bully Ray was good.

The Garrett Bischoff stuff was dumb.

And the segment with Devon, Pope, Morgan and Crimson... WAS F*CKING AMAZING! UTTERLY PERFECT! In just this one segment, they made me care about this angle by doing nothing more complicated thanproviding a reason for how Pope is a bad influence on Devon's kids, and showing how he is influencing them. Not complicated stuff.

Big Red Machine wrote: Kaitlyn turns on AJ- I didn't like it, for pretty much the reasons I stated in my debate with Rabid about it. Kaitlyn doesn't fit in with Beth and Nattie because her limiations as a worker makes it hard to believe they would let her join. I think it will turn out good for AJ, but I think this was a very poor way to do it.

WWE has lost sight of the things that got the Chickbusters over: Their ultra-babyface-ish character-work. AJ should still be the fangirl living her dream. A well-written Mary Sue who can both work and be used for the occasional comedy segment. Beth and Nattie (Nattie, specifically) should have taken out Kaitlyn, thus leaving AJ heartbroken that her mentor would intentionally injure her best friend. Then the Divas of Doom should have asked AJ to join because more than any other diva on the roster (aside from Beth and Nattie [and maybe FCW's Naomi Knight]) AJ fits the "pin-up strong" motto. I would then have AJ be conflicted for a few weeks and not know what she should do... until she gets a backstage peptalk from either Trish or Lita (she's a fangirl, so they are her kayfabe heroes) that makes her decide to go after the Divas of Doom and chase the belt.

I would have AJ take Beth to the limit at the Royal Rumble, but lose due to interference. I would then have Beth throw Nattie in AJ's way as a roadblock at Elimination Chamber and have AJ win. Then, at Wrestlemania, I would have Beth get the advantage (due to interference by Nattie), until, eventually, Kaitlyn makes her return, giving AJ emotional support and stopping Nattie's interference, so AJ can win the Divas Title.

I may be wrong or I might be right, but the Divas of Doom and the 'Pin-up Strong' are not about knowing how to wrestle, but about not looking like (and I quote) "cute"/"perky"/"Barbie doll" divas in the company. They have made some allusion about some chicks being models before wrestlers, but at the end, in the WWE Universe, EVERYONE knows how to wrestle (even the boss, managers, announcers, etc), so they're not gonna make it seem like the Divas Champion doesn't know how to wrestle, they just make it seem like the Divas Champ is only there cuz she's pretty. SOOOOOO, Kaitlin is the perfect match for the divas of doom, cuz she's even more fit than Natty...plus she's blonde. This is why i was saying some weeks back that they should bring the Alpha Female to enforce the Divas of Doom.

I think this is just you trying to make AJ relevant thus i agree with the story.

Big Red Machine wrote: Kane Returns- Didn't like it. Attacking Cena makes no sense. Mark Henry was the one who took Kane out! It is clear that they only did this so Cena could have a big match at TLC (and losing his first match back will do nothing for Kane). The new outfit is dumb, and the whole thing with having a second mask on was stupid. The outer-mask looked like a prop from a generic sci-fi movie... and it served NO PURPOSE AT ALL! We all knew it was Kane due to the videos from the last few weeks, the chokeslam... AND THE FACT THAT IT WAS KANE'S MUSIC & TITANTRON PLAYING!

I completely disagree, it's all about swerves and surprises.

Attacking Henry was 100% predictable, everyone was expecting that, a face return with the mask would have been far too stupid. This is deranged Kane again, he will take out whoever is standing there. We still don't know if he'll go after Henry later on (especially with the face turn rumors for Henry), but does it matter that he goes back to attack Henry?? not really, he's obviously in his dark realm again, he can take out his revenge on many other people, or even just create chaos.

Furthermore, i think it adds to the Cena situation, people were cheering that Cena got chokeslamed! it may be because of Kane, it because the hate Cena, but everyone cheered the fact that Cena was lying in his back while the Big Red Machine was on top of him.

Having two masks serves a purpose too. Of course it's not to hide that this is Kane, EVERYONE KNEW IT WAS KANE, Cole and Lawler said it, what we didn't know was whether he had the mask and what mask was it. It makes the debut of the new mask and the pop ever better, if he had showed the mask from the get go, it would have been impossible to get a look at it until he chokeslamed Cena, and it would have lost a lot of the surprise of seeing the new mask.

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: Kaitlyn turns on AJ- I didn't like it, for pretty much the reasons I stated in my debate with Rabid about it. Kaitlyn doesn't fit in with Beth and Nattie because her limiations as a worker makes it hard to believe they would let her join. I think it will turn out good for AJ, but I think this was a very poor way to do it.

WWE has lost sight of the things that got the Chickbusters over: Their ultra-babyface-ish character-work. AJ should still be the fangirl living her dream. A well-written Mary Sue who can both work and be used for the occasional comedy segment. Beth and Nattie (Nattie, specifically) should have taken out Kaitlyn, thus leaving AJ heartbroken that her mentor would intentionally injure her best friend. Then the Divas of Doom should have asked AJ to join because more than any other diva on the roster (aside from Beth and Nattie [and maybe FCW's Naomi Knight]) AJ fits the "pin-up strong" motto. I would then have AJ be conflicted for a few weeks and not know what she should do... until she gets a backstage peptalk from either Trish or Lita (she's a fangirl, so they are her kayfabe heroes) that makes her decide to go after the Divas of Doom and chase the belt.

I would have AJ take Beth to the limit at the Royal Rumble, but lose due to interference. I would then have Beth throw Nattie in AJ's way as a roadblock at Elimination Chamber and have AJ win. Then, at Wrestlemania, I would have Beth get the advantage (due to interference by Nattie), until, eventually, Kaitlyn makes her return, giving AJ emotional support and stopping Nattie's interference, so AJ can win the Divas Title.

I may be wrong or I might be right, but the Divas of Doom and the 'Pin-up Strong' are not about knowing how to wrestle, but about not looking like (and I quote) "cute"/"perky"/"Barbie doll" divas in the company. They have made some allusion about some chicks being models before wrestlers, but at the end, in the WWE Universe, EVERYONE knows how to wrestle (even the boss, managers, announcers, etc), so they're not gonna make it seem like the Divas Champion doesn't know how to wrestle, they just make it seem like the Divas Champ is only there cuz she's pretty. SOOOOOO, Kaitlin is the perfect match for the divas of doom, cuz she's even more fit than Natty...plus she's blonde. This is why i was saying some weeks back that they should bring the Alpha Female to enforce the Divas of Doom.

I think this is just you trying to make AJ relevant thus i agree with the story.

I'm not saying that she doesn't know how to wrestle, or that they would make it seem that way. This angle's success is going to be based on smarks getting behind the Divas of Doom (like Punk vs. Cena was). If you put a gal who can't wrestle well with them, smarks will crap on it.

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: Kane Returns- Didn't like it. Attacking Cena makes no sense. Mark Henry was the one who took Kane out! It is clear that they only did this so Cena could have a big match at TLC (and losing his first match back will do nothing for Kane). The new outfit is dumb, and the whole thing with having a second mask on was stupid. The outer-mask looked like a prop from a generic sci-fi movie... and it served NO PURPOSE AT ALL! We all knew it was Kane due to the videos from the last few weeks, the chokeslam... AND THE FACT THAT IT WAS KANE'S MUSIC & TITANTRON PLAYING!

I completely disagree, it's all about swerves and surprises.

Attacking Henry was 100% predictable, everyone was expecting that, a face return with the mask would have been far too stupid. This is deranged Kane again, he will take out whoever is standing there. We still don't know if he'll go after Henry later on (especially with the face turn rumors for Henry), but does it matter that he goes back to attack Henry?? not really, he's obviously in his dark realm again, he can take out his revenge on many other people, or even just create chaos.

Furthermore, i think it adds to the Cena situation, people were cheering that Cena got chokeslamed! it may be because of Kane, it because the hate Cena, but everyone cheered the fact that Cena was lying in his back while the Big Red Machine was on top of him.

Having two masks serves a purpose too. Of course it's not to hide that this is Kane, EVERYONE KNEW IT WAS KANE, Cole and Lawler said it, what we didn't know was whether he had the mask and what mask was it. It makes the debut of the new mask and the pop ever better, if he had showed the mask from the get go, it would have been impossible to get a look at it until he chokeslamed Cena, and it would have lost a lot of the surprise of seeing the new mask.

Just because it is unpredictable does not mean it is good. Why is Kane deranged again? You need a reason (or else they are going back to the well for the 900th time). And even if he was, he would go after Henry. Deranged Kane is pretty much only fueled by anger.

While this might help the Cena thing, there were many other ways to do that without having Kane do something that makes no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, the Cena thing is a slow-burn type of storyline. It doesn't need something happening for it every week. The only thing it needs every week is for the fans to have a split reaction, and the announcers to mention it. It also doesn't help the angle as much if a babyface attack Cena, because, to Cena, it makes sense that the fans would cheer for a babyface, and thus, it won't effect him as much.

A feud with babyface Henry and heel Kane wouldn't work. Why the hell would we want to cheer the guy who purposely injured someone, rather than the guy that he injured? Where is the payoff?

As for the new mask... we saw it in the videos.

Big Red Machine wrote: Just because it is unpredictable does not mean it is good. Why is Kane deranged again? You need a reason (or else they are going back to the well for the 900th time). And even if he was, he would go after Henry. Deranged Kane is pretty much only fueled by anger.

While this might help the Cena thing, there were many other ways to do that without having Kane do something that makes no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, the Cena thing is a slow-burn type of storyline. It doesn't need something happening for it every week. The only thing it needs every week is for the fans to have a split reaction, and the announcers to mention it. It also doesn't help the angle as much if a babyface attack Cena, because, to Cena, it makes sense that the fans would cheer for a babyface, and thus, it won't effect him as much.

A feud with babyface Henry and heel Kane wouldn't work. Why the hell would we want to cheer the guy who purposely injured someone, rather than the guy that he injured? Where is the payoff?

As for the new mask... we saw it in the videos.

so you're pretty much saying there's no point in bringing back Kane unless he came back as a face to fight Henry?

we did see A mask in the videos, but not this one.

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: Just because it is unpredictable does not mean it is good. Why is Kane deranged again? You need a reason (or else they are going back to the well for the 900th time). And even if he was, he would go after Henry. Deranged Kane is pretty much only fueled by anger.

While this might help the Cena thing, there were many other ways to do that without having Kane do something that makes no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, the Cena thing is a slow-burn type of storyline. It doesn't need something happening for it every week. The only thing it needs every week is for the fans to have a split reaction, and the announcers to mention it. It also doesn't help the angle as much if a babyface attack Cena, because, to Cena, it makes sense that the fans would cheer for a babyface, and thus, it won't effect him as much.

A feud with babyface Henry and heel Kane wouldn't work. Why the hell would we want to cheer the guy who purposely injured someone, rather than the guy that he injured? Where is the payoff?

As for the new mask... we saw it in the videos.

so you're pretty much saying there's no point in bringing back Kane unless he came back as a face to fight Henry?
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With the way he went out... yeah.