Unresolved TNA Storyline: Why Hasn't Hulk Hogan Tried to Get His Robe Back?

by Brian Phelps

http://wrestlerway.blogspot.com

Back on the November 1, 2012 edition of Impact Wrestling.... Matt Morgan appeared at the opening of Hulk Hogan's new beach shop and stole one of Hulk Hogan's one of a kind robes (A robe that Hogan fought Andre at Shea Stadium in).

In the time leading up to this incident and after, Hogan has appeared to be trying to use reverse psychology to motivate Matt Morgan into being the monster that Hogan knows he can be. What doesn't make sense about this story arc is... why hasn't Hogan tried to get his robe back? Even if he's trying to motivate Morgan wouldn't it make sense for Hogan to at least appear to WANT HIS PRICELESS ROBE BACK therefore motivating Morgan to keep it? Morgan steals Hogan's robe (a priceless piece of wrestling memorabilia) and Hogan never even makes mention of his robe again... despite the fact that Morgan continuously wears it to the ring. What's the point of Morgan stealing Hogan's robe if Hogan doesn't even appear to care about it? Think about it. Morgan stole Hogan's robe in order to get under Hogan's skin and to get revenge on Hogan for not noticing him, but Hogan doesn't appear to care about the robe so doesn't that make Morgan stealing it pointless? Doesn't it make Morgan's mission to get back at Hogan a failure?

I mean, if you're going to steal something from someone as an act of revenge you wouldn't break in and steal some Q-tips and bobby pins from their bathroom would you? NO. You'd take wedding rings and flat screens. Hogan ruined this story arc the moment he appeared he could care less about the robe. Instead of making it seem like Morgan took something priceless from Hogan... Hogan has made it seem as if Morgan merely took the last Hot Pocket from his fridge (You know... mad for a day and then forgotten). What's the motivation in stealing something that no one care about? Or was Matt Morgan just overcome with a moment of kleptomania? Could this be the beginning of Morgan's "Klepster" gimmick where he "hulks up" via theft?

Unresolved Storyline: Why Is Brad Maddox Still On WWE TV?

by Brian Phelps

http://wrestlersway.blogspot.com

Ahh, it's time once again to call out WWE on unresolved story lines, and story arcs that contradict themselves. I'm sure we all remember "rogue" referee Brad Maddox? He's the infamous referee that costed Ryback the WWE Championship with a low blow at Hell in a Cell 2012. Vince McMahon told Brad Maddox that he would give him a million dollar contract as a wrestler if he could defeat Ryback. Brad Maddox failed to defeat Ryback, and thus should never have been seen again (kayfabe wise). So why was he on RAW December 3rd asking Vickie Guerrero to sign him to a contract? So, he got another shot at a contract by facing Randy Orton (which he lost again). Why was he even allowed in the arena? Some may say that it's because he is still a referee; however, on the December 14th episode of Smackdown Josh Matthews mentioned that Maddox is no longer a referee. So... if he is no longer a referee, and he lost his shots at a contract then why is he still being allowed into the buildings? WWE seems to be contradicting themselves on the whole Brad Maddox story. 

Unresolved Storyline: What Happened to Vince McMahon Being Relieved of Duty?

by Brian Phelps

http://wrestlersway.blogspot.com

Am I the only one that seemed to notice that in 2011, Vince McMahon was "relieved" of duty (or fired) as far as running RAW and Smackdown were concerned. So, how is Vince still coming out and making decisions on RAW? His power was never reinstated. He just showed up one day and acted like he was never "fired" from running RAW/Smackdown. I hate how WWE's continuity is constantly contradicting itself.

FAQ: Who Are 3MB in WWE?

Answer: 3MB is a faction in WWE that consists of Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre, and Jinder Mahal. The faction is an extension of Heath Slater's "One Man Band" gimmick. 

Official WWE Survivor Series 2012 Theme Song (Outasight - Now Or Never [Official Music Video])

Official WWE Hell in a Cell 2012 Theme Song (FOZZY - Sandpaper Featuring M Shadows [Official Music Video])

Official WWE Hell in a Cell 2012 Theme Song (Black Veil Brides - In The End [Official Music Video])

FAQ: Who Were The Radicalz in WWE?

The Radicalz in WWE

Answer: The Radicalz were a faction in the WWF (WWE) during the Attitude Era that consisted of Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn. Most people forget this, but The Radicalz had actually already been a faction before they jumped ship to WWF from WCW. In WCW, The Radicalz were known as The Revolution and were basically the same exact group with the exception of Shane Douglas instead of Eddie Guerrero. Shane Douglas was a part of The Revolution faction in WCW, but did not jump ship to WWF with the other members. If you actually look up the term "Radical", it is actually extremely similar to the concept of "Revolution" or "Revolutionaries". Both terms indicate a desire for change.

The Revolution in WCW 

WWE's "Are You Serious?" Distorts Truth Regarding WCW Again

by Brian Phelps

On the Nov. 11th edition of WWE's popular "Are You Serious?" youtube show, Road Dogg and Josh Matthews took the WCW to task for having Jay Leno wrestle a match for them. Now, why the WWE is bashing WCW for having Jay Leno wrestle for them is beyond me considering they've had far lesser stars wrestle for them (RECENTLY I might add). As far as I'm concerned, the WWE are the last ones who should be making fun of WCW for that.

How is a company that had D-listers like Seth Green and Maria Menounos, and reality stars like Snooki wrestling matches for them going to say anything about WCW having Jay Leno wrestle? I'm sorry, but if memory serves me correct at least Jay Leno is a LEGIT celebrity and not some D-List actor or fly by night reality tv star. Also, Jay Leno at the time was the king of late night television and this story and the publicity it generated was a huge deal at the time.

In WCW's defense, at least Jay Leno fighting is more believable than when WWE had 85 year old Bob Barker beat down Chavo Guerrero. They allowed one of their wrestlers to get buried by 85 year old Bob Barker so no offense, but WWE are the last ones who should be opening their mouth about WCW utilizing Jay Leno. I just get tired of WWE trying to act like WCW was some piece of trash company that never did anything right. Truth is, WWE has produced a product over the last couple of years that's just as bad as anything WCW ever did. They may be able to convince these younger kids who never watched WCW that it sucked and was one big joke, but anyone who was around then knows different.

FAQ: Who are The Shield in WWE?

Answer: The Shield is a faction in WWE vowing to rally against "injustice" and consists of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. The group debuted in November 2012 at Survivor Series.

The Rise and Fall of WWE

by Brian Phelps

RAWs rating has been slowly declining year-to-year since the Monday Night Wars ended. The December 3, 2012 edition of RAW scored a measly 2.55 rating. But why? Is Monday Night Football making that big of a dent in WWE's ratings? The answer is no. I'm here to break down a bucket full of reasons that the WWE's product has been going down hill.

1) UNRESOLVED STORYLINES - Why did the Nexus help Kane bury Undertaker at Bragging Rights 2010? Why did Kevin Nash speed away in a limo with John Laurainaitis? Whatever happened to the conspiracy storyline in 2011? I can't count the number of storylines that are started and stopped with no explanation or resolution. When you get people hooked on a great story and then you just abandon it on a cliffhanger all the time, you begin to disenchant the casual viewer because it slowly becomes obvious that the writing makes no sense. People want a beginning, a middle, and an end to a great story. 

2) A DECADE OF IGNORING THE TAG TEAM DIVISION (Pro wrestling history tells us that many legendary stars get their big breaks in the tag division... whether its Bret Hart in the Hart Foundation, HBK in the Rockers, Triple H in DX, Booker T in the Harlem Heat, Scott Steiner in the Steiner Bros etc). TNA has proven that to still be true today as main eventers like Bobby Roode and James Storm both got their big breaks as tag team stars in Beer Money. Tag team wrestling used to be a sort of barometer for sizing up potential break out stars. A solid tag team division is the foundation for a solid wrestling company, and WWE has ignored the tag division for years. 

3) TWO WORLD CHAMPIONS - Having 2 World Champions makes no sense... especially given that there is really no "brand separation" anymore. Having 2 world champs devalues each world champion individually. It's like the old NFL saying "When a team has 2 quarterbacks you have no quarterbacks". Being the World Champion means NO ONE is as high up as you are.... so having more than one "World Champion" at the same time is a total contradiction of the entire concept of a World Champion. There is supposed to be only one.

4) HIRING WRITERS WITH NO WRESTLING KNOWLEDGE - Hiring soap opera writers with no knowledge of pro wrestling simply because they have experience writing daily scripts 52 weeks a year with no break (similar to wrestling) is stupid. It's like a school hiring a plumber to teach Biology simply because he works a similar schedule.

5) THIN MAIN EVENT - If you have a thin main event then you wind up seeing the same matches all the time, and as a result fans begin to lose interest because it's the same matches every week. This has happened to WWE. How many PPVS in a row in 2008 did we see John Cena vs Randy Orton? How many times can we see John Cena vs CM Punk before it gets old? WWE used to have 8-10 legit main eventers (Triple H, Rock, Austin, Kane, Taker, Angle, Foley, Lesnar, Big Show) competing for ONE world title at the same time. Now you have 3 or 4 guys fighting for 2 world titles which means you only have 2 maybe 3 guys fighting for one World Title on each show. So there's no match variety anymore so it makes the product stale.

6) INABILITY TO CREATE NEW STARS - WWE has successfully created 1 star in the last 3 years (CM Punk). The WWE's inability to use John Cena to create new stars has now come back to haunt them. They have no main event anymore. The ONE guy that WWE allowed to go over Cena (CM Punk) has become a huge star. Aside from Punk, Cena has buried anyone who has come close to him (Wade Barrett, The Miz, R-Truth, Bobby Lashley etc). The few stars he didn't bury he simply avoided and never fought like (Jeff Hardy and now Ryback). 

7) STRETCHING THE PROGRAMMING TOO THIN - Instead of rebuilding RAW back into a ratings juggernaut with solid writing and building new stars, WWE watered down the product even more by adding 2 new shows (WWE Main Event and Saturday Morning Slam) and a 3rd hour to an already weakly written 2 hour RAW. 

8) MAKING A MOCKERY OF YOUR OWN PRODUCT - WWE can make fun of WCW all they want but how many times did you see Tony Shiavone main event Nitro? Or Mike Tenay main event Impact? Over the last year or two, the WWE has had ppvs headlined by Jim Ross vs Michael Cole. The 3rd most hyped match of Wrestlemania 27 was Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler. We've seen MacGruber "blow up" R-Truth, Vickie Guerrero and Michael Cole in dance offs, Khali's "Kiss Cam", Seth Green in a tag match, and battle raps with Jim Ross. I'm sorry but how much more can the WWE alienate their own fan base? When the entire WWE roster walked out on Triple H in 2011, Jim Ross got the biggest crowd pop. Something is wrong when a commentator got the biggest response over your ENTIRE ROSTER. Even their world title belt looks like a joke now. 

I could go on but do I need to? If WWE stays on the same path... eventually we're going to be watching the "Rise and Fall of WWE" on DVD/Blu-Ray.