Pretty fun match between Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles. Am I wrong or they devote the ENTIRE 2nd hour to the US Championship?

How did they leave things with Seth after the town hall? Was he on again to whine more?

8 hours ago, SirEdger said:

Pretty fun match between Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles. Am I wrong or they devote the ENTIRE 2nd hour to the US Championship?

Basically, yes. Can't complain, even Drew McIntyre showed personality.

1 hour ago, Cowboy Hats 4.0 said:

How did they leave things with Seth after the town hall? Was he on again to whine more?

He did in a backstage segment. He also seemed to whine even during his entrance, as he got a weak reaction (at least compared to KO)

Drew must have been inspired to up his chop game after being in the ring with WALTER, Randy didn't seem too happy taking those shotgun chops from him. 

Seth vs Punk at Wrestlemania. All Seth does is call him out at any opportunity, including local Chicago radio shows.

It's a classic angle with a hotshot trying to get a veteran to come out of retirement.

Seth had the heel turn planned for months, which is why he has been acting like a jerk.

Punk is all in. It's a big secret and everyone is getting worked a la Andy Kaufman/Jerry Lawler.

Vince was said to be pissed that Seth did what he did since he hates when guys promote a match that won't happen.

If Punk is coming back to wrestle, why waste his return on a low rated FS1 show and not a big show like Survivor Series that just happens to be taking place in Chicago?

The "It's all a work, brothers" types are very seldom correct anyway, and if this is a work its less Kaufman/Lawler and more "Eric works the boys in WCW".

So they gave Seth clean decisive wins over Brock and turned him heel after the fans rejected him. If they had done those things with Roman years ago, he'd almost certainly be a much bigger star today. Instead, they stuck to the John Cena playbook, and now he's probably damaged beyond repair. And they applied the lessons learned to someone far less suited for the top guy role. WWE: always fighting the last war.

As soon as it was clear Roman wasn't going to be constantly in the title picture, fans calmed down on him. Just like how the hate for Cena largely went away when he wasn't always in the title match and being Super Cena  every PPV. It's always been a rejection of the forced push rather than the guy directly.  Instead of making the fans want what the company wants, they keep presenting it as "here's the guy we're making a star now, you better accept it or else".  Combined with them constantly kneecapping everyone else with start-stop 50/50 nonsense, it just led to the fans not wanting to accept what they are told they should like.

People liked his run as IC champion so I don't blame them for thinking he was worth another shot on top. It was his actions out of the ring (ie. social media) that turned the fans away. I did think it was a mistake to begin with because he always seemed like a jackass and thought it would have been exposed eventually no matter what they try to do with him.

No chance the WWE would have had Roman Reigns cower in the corner because of the Fiend. 

They say the best wrestling characters are just their real personalities “turned up to 11”. 

If Colby Lopez with the volume turned all the way up doesn't lead to a new boom period, the WWE creative team needs to pack it in.

Even before his Twitter shenanigans, Seth was always one of those guys better suited to be heel. He never seemed to click as a babyface, and it was only "Burn it Down" somehow getting over that got a reaction. Once his music stopped that was usually it. 

It amuses me greatly that one of the major reasons CM Punk left was to generate enough buzz on his return that he could main event WrestleMania. He leaves to avoid HHH and now he is being programmed with HHH Jr and almost assuredly wont get the Main Event spot against Rollins. 

It is all speculation but all the rumors of Vince being "pissed" or "irate" seem like disinformation. If it made it on TV even if it was in response to chants, I feel like there is a high likelihood of it happening. Now I could be wrong, but I would definitely bet on CM Punk wrestling at WrestleMania. 

Considering Punk's stance on part-timers getting the prime spots at Wrestlemania, I seriously doubt all of this was Punk angling for a main event. It's not impossible, but it is very highly unlikely. He stayed away for like 5 years, had done MMA fights and other things, wasted his physical prime staying away, all of it just to get the spot? That's a next level sort of long con...and would be contingent on Vince playing along which is far from guaranteed. Just no.

I believe Vince wants it to happen, since Seth started the Twitter banter toward Punk almost immediately after he appeared on the FS1 show. I doubt Punk cares since as stated he wasn't interested in facing Hunter at Mania, why would he want to face Huntercito instead? It seems like it's Vince trying to bait Punk into wanting to do it since he seems to really believe all wrestlers want their WWE Mandated Wrestlemania Moments but there's nothing to suggest Punk gives two shits about any of that. 

Especially given that five years later...has main eventing WM ever meant any less? Maybe the boys and girls in the back still value it, but we’ve all seen how things have gone since probably 32 (2016), where crowds are well beyond burned out six+ hours into a sports entertainment slog.

Apparently Mauro will not be on commentary tonight 

1 hour ago, FMKK said:

Apparently Mauro will not be on commentary tonight 

Yeah, and apparently Corey Graves apologized for the comments he made about Mauro Ranallo on that podcast he does.  So I'm guessing he got his ass chewed out.  I hope they pull Tom Phillips out of mothballs for tonight's episode.

CM Punk left with a boo-boo face because he didnt get to main event WrestleMania. He can say all he wants that he doesn't care. But methinks he doth protesth too much. He is trying to convince himself more than anything else. That's my take on it. He didnt waste his physical prime at all. You can main event Wrestlemania well into your late 40s even early 50s. He saw how Brock and Batista came back and got slotted in the main event. He can be pissed about it all he wants, but he is shrewd enough to know "two can play at that game". It is all speculation, but it is fun. 

Much to the delight of many of you, Mauro won't be on NXT tonight either.

On that note, Corey Graves apologized on his official WWE podcast:

"What's up, everybody? Welcome to After The Bell, I am Corey Graves. A ton to get to this week as we do every week but before we go any further, on a personal note, I needed to address something. This past Saturday, during the 'Takeover: WarGames' event, I sent out a tweet. It was an unpopular opinion, as I often do with the intention of just stirring up a little controversy, maybe have something fun to talk about on TV or here on the show. It was maybe not the most professional way to go about things, and it was never meant to offend or disrespect or disparage anybody. That was never my intention. If it was taken as such, I apologize deeply. That was not my intention. I would never intentionally cause anybody undue stress, especially a co-worker. So, I apologize."

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/11/corey-graves-apologizes-for-mauro-ranallo-comments-662764/

Mauro's health and well-being come first, so I hope he is okay.

I am personally struggling with this whole situation.  The part of me that is a former Mental Health worker would never take any enjoyment out of somebody having a breakdown of any kind. Quite the opposite. 

However...if I am being honest...the part of me that is a Pro Wrestling fan, and wants to enjoy NXT and actually watch the show with the volume up? I have to admit I'm not entirely upset by this news.

That may make me a terrible person, but at least I'm somewhat conflicted about it?

It is perfectly acceptable to hope for the best where the guy is concerned but also want to see the best product possible, and if that means an absence of someone, so be it. 

Remember that time he was on SD and stepped away from WWE after the JBL debacle, only to return signing a better deal? Just crossed my mind, dunno why.

2 hours ago, C.S. said:

Much to the delight of many of you, Mauro won't be on NXT tonight either.

On that note, Corey Graves apologized on his official WWE podcast:

"What's up, everybody? Welcome to After The Bell, I am Corey Graves. A ton to get to this week as we do every week but before we go any further, on a personal note, I needed to address something. This past Saturday, during the 'Takeover: WarGames' event, I sent out a tweet. It was an unpopular opinion, as I often do with the intention of just stirring up a little controversy, maybe have something fun to talk about on TV or here on the show. It was maybe not the most professional way to go about things, and it was never meant to offend or disrespect or disparage anybody. That was never my intention. If it was taken as such, I apologize deeply. That was not my intention. I would never intentionally cause anybody undue stress, especially a co-worker. So, I apologize."

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/11/corey-graves-apologizes-for-mauro-ranallo-comments-662764/

Mauro's health and well-being come first, so I hope he is okay.

I kind of hate those kind of apologies. No attempt to really take ownership, just the usual "sorry you got offended" deal. How else was the tweet supposed to be taken Corey? This is just "It was just a prank, bro" done in WWE style.  I'm sure there will be additional apologies dealt to Dave and Bryan for attacking their professionalism by.....*checks notes* calling out a publicly posted tweet. 

1 hour ago, The Thread Killer said:

I am personally struggling with this whole situation.  The part of me that is a former Mental Health worker would never take any enjoyment out of somebody having a breakdown of any kind. Quite the opposite. 

However...if I am being honest...the part of me that is a Pro Wrestling fan, and wants to enjoy NXT and actually watch the show with the volume up? I have to admit I'm not entirely upset by this news.

That may make me a terrible person, but at least I'm somewhat conflicted about it?

It doesn't make you a terrible person. You didn't say that Mauro was a terrible human being; you just said that you don't enjoy NXT as much as you'd like because of his commentary style. However, it's OK to feel bad about what he's going through and hope that he pulls through and resume his normal activities. 

At least, I think we can all agree that the way Corey Graves did it was the stupidest way he could've ever done it. I'm not expecting WWE to hand out punishment for Corey Graves or anything now that he apologized, even in a seemingly half-assed way. But if somehow, something even more serious would've happened to Mauro over this, imagine the shitstorm WWE would be through at the moment. Eventually, Vince won't always be bulletproof. If employees  must be accountable for their actions, so should the Chairman for enabling that type of behavior.