Tag Archives: Brock Lesnar

The 2022 Royal Rumble was Four Hours of…Content

There’s usually a buzz that surrounds any of WWE’s Big Four pay-per-view events. I did not feel any buzz this past weekend when WWE had their second-biggest event of the year, the 2022 Royal Rumble.

You could make excuses as to why this event didn’t feel very big, but the biggest one is that WWE no longer has larger-than-life stars.

WWE is getting paid big money for their weekly television, ~~pay-per-views~~ premium live events, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pays them handsomely for two big shows every year for the foreseeable future. They just had an investor call on Thursday and announced their first-ever year $1 billion+ in revenue ($1.095 billion in 2021). They aren’t motivated to make big stars right now. If they made another guy as big as The Rock or Steve Austin, they would have to pay them more and wreck their pay structure. They had their biggest profit ever and they still cited ‘budget reasons’ when they fired dozens and dozens of on-screen talent, and even more off-air employees.

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Review: Wrestlemania 34

After last year’s Wrestlemania 33, a marathon of mediocrity, I didn’t have high expectations for Wrestlemania 34.

The previous night’s NXT Takeover: New Orleans show was one of the best overall shows WWE has ever produced, so I came into this year’s Mania with some apprehension.

Why was I a bit weary about this Mania?

First off, I knew it was going to be a seven-hour show (if you include the pre-show) and I didn’t want to hold Wrestlemania up to the high standard of the NXT Takeover events. It should be the opposite as NXT guys are still learning to wrestle ‘WWE style’ and the main roster guys should be the ones blowing the roof off at shows.

Did Wrestlemania 34 disappoint or did it rank among the best Wrestlemania shows of all-time?

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Top 10 WWE Matches of 2017

I started to compile a list of the ten best wrestling matches of 2017. The list of contenders was loaded with New Japan matches, a couple from Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and not many from WWE.

This year has just been an insane year for great matches all over the world. I decided to save that list for later this month and just focus on WWE with this post.

I was surprised there weren’t many top matches with women wrestlers in WWE. The top ten matches in WWE the last two years had plenty of contenders from the women’s division. I think when you have a belt on Alexa Bliss for most of the year (on Smackdown and RAW), and every brand PPV usually only has one women’s match (usually just the title match), you’re cutting down the opportunities for women to have great matches.

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Review: WWE Survivor Series 2017

I don’t always review WWE pay-per-views, but I usually do them for the ‘Big Four’ events. ‘Survivor Series’ would need to be a great show to surpass the previous night’s ‘NXT Takeover: War Games’ event that was insanely good.

I didn’t have high hopes for ‘Survivor Series’, but there were some matches that intrigued me. Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles was the match I was most looking forward to watching. I guess there were also certain match-ups in the main event that we’ve never seen before like Braun Strowman & Shinsuke Nakamura and Triple H & Bobby Roode that occurred, which were pretty cool.

Was the 2017 ‘Survivor Series’ worth all the hype?

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 55

I’m a self-confessed vintage toy nerd. I collect vintage wrestling action figures from the 80’s & 90’s. I started purchasing some vintage toys out of nostalgia. Well, WWE and Mattel sucked me into their new stuff. I now buy a few figures a month. You can view photos of my collection on my Instagram account.

The lineup in WWE Elite series 55 is the second series with the new packaging. The lineup is a bit underwhelming. New collectors will enjoy the ‘American Badass’ Undertaker flashback, but it’s too much like the Elite 18 figure. Also, Enzo and Cass have had too many elites in the last year, so these might sit at retail, especially Big Cass.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 55 are Neville, James Ellsworth, The Undertaker, Enzo Amore, Big Cass & Brock Lesnar.

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Review: WWE SummerSlam 2017

After last night’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III, the WWE main roster had to put on a PPV to follow up that amazing show. I wouldn’t say they failed to do so, but the show was too damn long.

If you count the pre-show and the main card, it was SIX HOURS LONG! You could watch two NFL football games, or roughly four football matches (I didn’t want to exclude my International readers). It wasn’t as long as Wrestlemania and thank God.

SummerSlam had five title changes, which could be a record. I know Michael Cole mentioned that this show has the most title matches in one night in the history of WWE. It may or may not be correct since WWE announcers have spewed bullshit records in the past (I’m looking at you Matt Striker).

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Wrestlemania 33: A Marathon of Mediocrity

Wrestlemania is the biggest wrestling event in the world. Every year, tens of thousands of wrestling fans cram into a huge stadium or dome and watch as the WWE trots out what they believe is the best overall wrestling card of the year.

This year’s 33rd installment of Wrestlemania occurred on Sunday in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl. Stars like John Cena, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar were put in matches with weeks-long build ups.

It should have been a home run, right?

Well, unfortunately, the 7 1/2 hour show fell flat time and time again.

I thought about writing an in-depth match-by-match review of Wrestlemania 33, but I really doubt it would have been very entertaining. Many matches lacked quality wrestling and focused more on ‘entertainment’. I will instead just mention a few thoughts about each match and give my opinion of the overall state of ‘wrestling’ in the WWE.

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10 Ways to Instantly Improve the WWE

The WWE have lost nearly half of their audience on RAW over the last few years and WWE Network subscribers have hit a plateau, even after giving away free programming month after month.

The WWE is a public company and even if they want to live in a kayfabe world of record profits, it’s not what is really happening. The brand split increased the ratings for Smackdown Live, but Smackdown house show attendance is almost at record lows. The roster is so thin right now that it is really hard to keep booking interesting matches.

Here are ten ways the WWE could improve their product right now.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 37

Every Elite series released this year have been great. The last dud was Elite series 32, but they made up for it with all the recent releases. I believe Elite series 36 was the best series this year, which is a huge feat in such a stacked year.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 37 are Stephanie McMahon, John Cena, Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, Dean Malenko (Flashback) & The Miz.

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WWE Should Stop Making ‘Royal Rumble’ So Predictable

The 2015 ‘Royal Rumble’ pay-per-view happened last night in Philadelphia. Wrestling fans always look forward to this event every year. It’s arguably the second-best wrestling night of the year, just behind ‘Wrestlemania’. Unfortunately, wrestling fans were left disappointed.

The Rumble is the unofficial start to the ‘Road to Wrestlemania’. Not only are fans excited to see which surprise entrants will enter the Rumble, but the other matches help set the table for feuds through Mania. The WWE did a pretty poor job in every facet.

The WWE has been playing it safe since the WWE Network launched. Their storytelling ability has been stuck in the 80’s since they reverted back to a PG rating. What can they do to fix last night’s blunder?

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 30

I’m a self-confessed vintage toy nerd. I collect vintage wrestling action figures from the 80’s & 90’s. I had a hard time getting into new action figures. I started purchasing the old toys I had as a kid out of nostalgia. Well, the WWE finally figured out a way to suck me into their new products…release quality figures of wrestlers I grew up watching.

As soon as I saw the line-up for Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 30, I basically just threw my money at my laptop screen. I’m a sucker for the Legion of Doom (otherwise known as The Road Warriors) and the Lex Express-era patriotic Lex Luger is just icing on the cake.

I let you know when these will hit the shelves, and which accessories come with each figure in Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 30.

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Best 15 Pay-Per-Views Available on WWE Network Right Now

The WWE Network has finally launched. The launch wasn’t exactly smooth. Xbox 360 doesn’t quite work yet, but all other platforms seem to be functioning now. It took a few hours for me to get through to buy it. MLB Advanced Media is in charge of the streaming and everything on the back end. They released a statement and said they never planned for the amount of first day subscribers. This caused the issues they are still sorting out.

Well, for those who put down $9.99, you have nearly the entire WWE, WCW & ECW pay-per-view library at your fingertips. It’s a bit overwhelming at first, so we try to make it easier on you and pick out the best 15 PPVs currently available to stream on the WWE Network.

We had to narrow down the list from 30-40 to give you the best of the best. This list is in no particular order, but Macho Man vs. Ricky Steamboat on Wrestlemania III is a must-see.

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