The Chief

Shitty. I know he had some health problems but last I heard it sounded like he was getting his life back together.

Where did that HHH/Christie Hemme rumor come from? I always thought they didn't feel she was worth the huge Diva Search contract they were paying her so they cut their losses.

I think that Lashley was the straw that broke the camel's back, not Brock. They still went big on Batista, Cena, Edge, and Orton post-Lesnar. The MVP losing streak gimmick happened after Lashley left. Regardless of what you think of MVP as a talent, they did see him as a potential star at one point. The losing streak was done as a deliberate attempt to test him and not any kind of disciplinary issue. They did similar stuff to Bryan when they first brought him in. I think you can definitely look to Lashley as a breaking point.

That's a great point. We're over two years into this singles push now. At what point do they have to accept that it's not going to work and try something else?

I remember when they used to go out of their way to show fans in the audience dressed like Paul Bearer or Goldust or Jeff Hardy. When did that change? Are they just upset that nobody dresses like members of the current roster?

Wow. I forgot how much I loved the FAR OUT Van Hammer theme song

A likely scenario is "heel" HHH playing to the crowd with DX crotch chops and suck its while Roman stands there "gee shucks" smiling like an idiot.

I think 2008ish is a good start for whatever era we're in currently. The PG turn is a good pick for a turning point. They also started diluting the brand extension which was so prominent in the 2000s. You also have a lot of the old guard fading away like Michaels, Edge, Batista, Taker, etc. It makes me feel dirty saying Social Media era but I think that's a fair representation of where we are now. They play to the Internet a lot more now than they ever did. Watch some of those 2010 shows where Cole is doing his heel shtick, he goes out of his way to shit all over Internet favorites like Bryan and Kaval. So even though they were shitting all over it, they were at least paying attention. Look at the previous decade when they had guys like London and Kendrick and completely ignored them. Now we get guys like Owens and Neville on the main roster and their past accomplishments and fan bases are talked about. The network is a big part of their current business model so that's another big change. They have an entirely different approach to scouting talent now which I don't feel we've felt the full effects of quite yet.

Odd that Eddie in the early 00s has been mentioned a couple times now. He didn't look healthy at all, way too much mass for his frame, bacne, veins popping out. And we all know how that turned out.

I think this hits at a larger problem - what is Roman Reigns' character? Who is he as a person? I mostly watch the PPVs, so maybe I've missed some development there, but he just seems like a big dude who does a few high impact moves. I'm not sure what emotional resonance he has, whereas the guys described above worked, to varying degrees, because people felt something for them. Well when he was with the Shield it was pretty much heavy-duty clean-up hitter who gets his point across in one sentence when needed. If he has to do more than just speak to you, then you're dead. He was an action hero with an aura of mystique. Not surprisingly, that got over. With the big main event push they've made it all about believing in yourself, never give up, I can, I will, making the family proud and all of that hokey crap. It's a shame the company has such a narrow view of what a top babyface has to be because their success rate is far greater when they have deviated from the norm as opposed to plugging guys into roles that don't fit them.

Odd that they leave in Megadeth but they still dub over Jericho's WCW theme and Ernest Miller. Both Jericho's WCW themes are production library music so there shouldn't be an issue. The Cat's "I'm The Greatest" theme I THINK is by Jimmy Hart/Howard Helm so not sure what the issue would be there?

NXT has no problem booking a clear heel/babyface dynamic so it's not like the company can't do it.

New Day should just beat the shit out of Rock. There's three of them, come on... Edit: New Day was great as usual but I don't get the point of that. Was the Rock going to announce something? Or was he coming out planning on New Day interrupting him? I obviously put too much thought into these things

I love the idea that WWE has T-shirts "ready to go just in case" for any Indy star that might sign, a la the T-shirts they prepare for both NFL teams for conference games.

Which makes established law-abiding citizen Brock Lesnar quietly leaving after his elimination all the more bizarre.

Rusev would have been a great way to kill a secondary PPV for Reigns. Boy, he sure looked like crap tonight though.

Reigns isn't that tall by wrestling standards. Reigns was struggling to not be put in the hold by holding his arms down to the floor, are people really confusing that with AJ being too short to apply his move? AJ has given the move to plenty of people Reigns height or bigger in TNA and in New Japan.

Agree. I'd also like to hear a solution for what he should do for people who think it's an issue. Retire? Wear lifts? Take what Big John Studd was taking?

I don't think you can ever have a brand new guy win the Rumble so having a "cool" guy eliminate him is fine. It's not like they had Kane toss him in three minutes. Plus you can make kayfabe sense out of it since he's used to competing in TNA where they have reverse battle royals so he was caught off guard.

Mr. Perfect? What are you even talking about?

Looked fine to me.

Is Rusev in this? I've seen a few different "official" lists floating around.

Fantasy scenario for good surprise entrants: It's gotta be someone who's still reasonably mobile and healthy, isn't on bad terms with the company, and has kept his name out of the news. Ken Shamrock comes out as number 22 and tees off on Brock Lesnar.

They never even attempted to explain the most recent PTP's breakup, did they?

It's pretty sad that 2016 Chris Jericho could be looked at as a legitimate potential winner. I have no clue what they do with the Rumble match so I guess that's a good thing. I'm just hoping they tell some interesting stories within the match itself this year. They've been absolutely terrible with the layout of these matches lately. Book it in three acts, have a hot opening angle, run a different angle through the middle, and finish up with a hot final four. Make the eliminations mean something. Set-up new programs. If they can pull that off and have a couple nice surprises, I'll be happy.