Fav Five: April and May 2012

Yeah buddy, after a month off, it’s time for Lo-Down Wrestling’s Fav Five. I never got a chance to publish the one for April; so I decided to do April and May’s Fav Five in one article.

April 2012

5.  John Cena

John Cena has been actually enjoyable to watch in his feud with Brock Lesnar. Their match at Extreme Rules was quite good with Cena pulling out the victory despite Lensar destroying him for most of the match. It made Cena look strong and managed to gain some respect from the Cena Haters. Shame he ruined it the next day.

4. John Laurinaitis

I like John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the GM of both RAW and Smackdown?) a lot. However, since he became the Supreme GM, he doesn’t seem to be as enjoyable as he has over the last few months. Despite that, I have enjoyed that he always displays the Brother Love suit that he wore at Wrestlemania and he has effectively made Teddy Long his bitch.

3. Sheamus

Sheamus became World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania and he has been fun to watch. His match with Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules was one of the best matches of the night and showed how well they work together.

2. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar has been brought in to “legitimatise” the WWE. Since then, he has been destroying John Cena, including busting him open twice. I was surprised when he lost to Cena at Extreme Rules; however, in hindsight, he didn’t really need to win. All Lesnar needed to show was how dominant he can be and he did.

1. Daniel Bryan

As evidenced by my Wrestlemania review, I was just a bit unhappy when Bryan lost the World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds. However, instead of being buried, Bryan is more over than ever before and he seems to go from strength to strength. Bryan has improved so much since becoming World Heavyweight Champion and he is now the person that I most look forward to seeing in the WWE.

May 2012

5.  The Big Show

 Even though The Big Show’s heel turn was predictable, Show has been good to watch. The best heels are those that have a genuine reason to be bad and Show does. His upcoming match with John Cena at No Way Out could be a good match to watch.

4. John Laurinaitis

John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the GM of both RAW and Smackdown?) has been more fun to watch than he was last month culminating in a match against John Cena which wasn’t too bad. Laurinaitis is still uniquely entertaining along with his employees David Otunga and Eve Torres; and his bitch Teddy Long.

3. CM Punk

The inaugural LDW Wrestler of the Year has been fun to watch over the last month with his rivalry with Daniel Bryan and being the unwilling part of a triangle along with Bryan and AJ. It is starting to develop into an interesting dynamic between the three.

2. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan keeps going as strong as ever. His rivalry with CM Punk has been amazing so far with a tremendous match between the two at Over the Limit, making it one of the matches of the year so far.

1. AJ

AJ is the best Diva to watch in the WWE and she hasn’t wrestled in the last few weeks. Since Bryan blamed her for his loss at Wrestlemania and dumping her; she fucked up Natalya in a match; bitchslapped Kaitlyn into the following week where she got bitchslapped even harder; and slowly getting insane. Now, AJ has turned her attentions to CM Punk, which was been really fun to watch. 

Fav Five: March 2012

It’s time for the Fav Five for March. I would like to point out that this is based on what happened before Wrestlemania.

5. John Cena

In the feud between Cena and The Rock, I feel that Cena has outperformed him at almost every turn. It seems a little bit that Rock is trying too hard while Cena is just doing it naturally.

4. Dolph Ziggler

Over the last few months, I have grown to really like Dolph Ziggler. I love his Show Off gimmick with the theme music; and, although I like Z! True Long Island Story, I look forward to Ziggler’s “Ask the Heel” segment. Ziggler is a joy to watch in the ring and is, at the minute, the best seller in the WWE.

3. John Laurinaitis

John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim GM of RAW?), while down from the number 2 position, is still fun to watch. I know that some people don’t like how he says things and the mistakes he makes, but that’s what I love about him.

2. Cody Rhodes

Cody, while a great wrestler, is in the Fav Five for his brilliant videos showing Big Show’s Wrestlemania Lowlights over the last few weeks. I wasn’t really into his feud with Show but the videos have made me interested.

1. Daniel Bryan

The man can do no wrong. He is the best thing to watch on Smackdown right now and his relationship with AJ can be compared to the relationship between Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. I know I’m basing my Fav Five on what happened before Wrestlemania, but the interview that he did in the Pre Show was hilarious.

Wrestlemania XXVIIII Predictions

It’s Wrestlemania baby! The Showcase of the Immortals! The Grand Daddy of Them All etc etc. The card for this looks stacked so let’s take a look.

Randy Orton will take on Kane in a feud that doesn’t really make sense to me. The reason that Kane is after Orton is because after a match between the two last July, Kane offered his hand to Orton. If that was the case, why did Kane attack Cena first when he returned? You know what, I don’t really care. Anyway, I expect Randy Orton to win this one.

Predicted Winner: Randy Orton

Cody Rhodes will be defending his Intercontinental Championship against the Big Show. This is the first time that the Intercontinental Championship has been defended at Wrestlemania in 4 years. I have loved Cody’s videos showing Show’s Wrestlemania lowlights. I would love to see Cody retain his title; however, I think that Big Show will become the Intercontinental Champion for the first time.

Predicted Winner: Big Show

Team Teddy will take on Team Johnny for control of both RAW and Smackdown. It’s a shame it’s not a Survivor Series type match as that could be an entertaining contest. I think that Team Johnny as I can’t see any value of Team Teddy winning. If he does, it looks like we will be having a lot of tag team matches, playa.

Predicted Winners: Team Johnny

Divas Champion Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres will take on Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos. Ok, I have a few questions about this match:

·         Who is Maria Menounos?

·         When the fuck did Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres join forces?

·         When did Natalya and Beth end the Legion Divas of Doom?

·         Why should I care about this match? Seriously, why should I?

Thanks to the WWE fucking the Divas around, I expect this match to last less than 5 minutes. Due to the fact that a celebrity is involved, Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos will win this one.

Predicted Winners: Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos

Sheamus will challenge Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship. I think that Bryan has been an excellent Champion over the last few months and Sheamus has been looking strong since he won the Royal Rumble. This is a tough one to call but I think that Sheamus will be the first Royal Rumble winner since the Undertaker in 2007 to become World Heavyweight Champion.

Predicted Winner: Sheamus

It’s the End of an Era as the Undertaker will go for 20-0 against Triple H in Hell in a Cell. Even though I’m a big Triple H fan, I wasn’t looking forward to Undertaker vs Triple H III. However, the story going into it and the fact that it’s in Hell in a Cell has made this a very intriguing contest. Plus there is the Shawn Michaels factor as he is the special guest referee and it’s all down to him. Whilst Michaels has beef with both of them, I hope he does what Triple H did when he refereed the Cena/Punk match at Summerslam and stay neutral throughout. I think that this will be a great match and, although they may be times when you think Triple H will win the match, I fully expect Undertaker to win and to go 20-0.

Predicted Winner: Undertaker

The WWE Championship is on the line as “Best in the World” CM Punk defends the title against “Best in the World in Everything he does” Chris Jericho. I know a lot of people are going to Wrestlemania to see Rock vs Cena; however, this has the ability to be the match of the night. The feud for this has been ok with Jericho playing the personal card to get under Punk’s skin, which I don’t mind. However, I just don’t think it’s necessary. This is a really tough one to call. I would be happy with both these guys winning. I’m going for Jericho to win this and become the new WWE Champion.

Predicted Winner: Chris Jericho

The main event (obviously) will be The Rock taking on John Cena in the match billed as “Once in a Lifetime”. The feud has been slowly simmering for over a year and, whilst it may have dropped the ball sometimes, I, along with millions of people, am really looking forward to it. This will be an exciting match and John Cena has to win this, he just has to.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

Whilst I’m looking forward to this, I won’t get to see all of it til Monday night. I hope you enjoy the show and I’ll post my review late Monday night.

Team Johnny vs Team Teddy

After Wrestlemania on Sunday, the fate of both RAW and Smackdown will be decided by only one man. Either Teddy Long or John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim GM of RAW?) will be running both shows and it will be decided by a 12-man tag team match. Let’s look at the wrestlers involved in each team.

Team Johnny

David Otunga (captain)

Ironically, the captain of Team Johnny could be considered the weak link as he is the only one who had not won a singles title. The two-time Tag Team Champion could be the dark horse in this match.

Mark Henry

Mark Henry has been languishing around the mid card for years before deciding to put people into the Hall of Pain like a boss and becoming World Heavyweight Champion. His momentum may have stalled over the last few weeks since his return from injury. However, his match with The Great Khali proved how dangerous he can be.

Christian

Christian won the  Oh right, I forgot, Christian is injured for the match. Who’s his replacement again? Oh, yeah.

Drew McIntyre

A last minute replacement for the injured Christian has a lot to prove. The former Intercontinental Champion is very grateful to Laurinaitis for keeping him in a job so expect him to start to repay that in this match.

Jack Swagger

The former United States and World Heavyweight Champion is a tremendous talent and has been performing well since getting the services of Vickie Guerrero.

Dolph Ziggler

The Show Off has been amazing this year and will show everyone how awesome he is. Also, expect him to sell some moves like he’s been thrown out of a car at 80mph.

The Miz

The most must-see WWE Superstar in Miz-tory is finally on the Wrestlemania card after saving Laurinaitis from a cobra last Monday. This is the chance to show that his Wrestlemania main event last year was not a flash in the pan.

Team Teddy

Santino Marella (captain)

Santino is the only person taking place who is a current Champion. Santino has been impressive over the last few weeks and expect an entertaining performance.

Zack Ryder

I feel sorry for Zack. He was the breakout star of  2011 and he needs to evolve from that but I don’t think the WWE will let him. He could be the surprise package.

The Great Khali

Khali is only in this match as part of the deal to get Zack on the team and I don’t know what Teddy (or WWE) see in him. He’s a former World Heavyweight Champion but he is so immobile. The Big Show is one inch taller and almost 100 lbs heavier, yet he can move more than Khali can. Plus he only has like two moves. Expect Khali to slap his way through the match.

R-Truth

R-Truth is a talented wrestler and, although he is slightly insane, could be really useful in this match.

Kofi Kingston

Without a doubt, the most talented wrestler on the team. If Teddy has a chance of winning, he could be on the shoulders of Kofi.

Booker T

This was a surprise when Booker announced himself on the team. Booker is a 6 time World Champion and, although he doesn’t wrestle much, could be the dark horse in this match

Verdict

If we look at this as if this was a real life match, Teddy’s team has no chance. It seems like a bunch of misfits including a guy who (seriously) can’t wrestle. Johnny’s team has 4 former World Champions and the ability to destroy people. They have to win this. However, don’t write Teddy off. They only need one pinfall to win and they have the ability to pull that out of the bag.

LDW Fav Five: February 2012

It’s time, once again, for the Fav Five, inspired by Booker T. It has been a decent wrestling month with 2 decent PPVs and some good (and bad) television.

5. Santino Marella(?!)

Even though this is only the second ever Fav Five, I never in my wildest dreams thought that Santino Marella would be in it. However, you can’t deny what he has done over the last month. When he won the battle royal to become the final entrant in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber, I was like “What the fuck?!” However, Santino’s performance in the Chamber match was really good and it made me realise how good a wrestler he can be. I would like the WWE to do one of two things: either cut down on the comedy aspect and evolve him slightly so that he can be a guy at the upper mid-card level; or have him more main event type matches and have him slowly get more serious as it starts to get to his head.

4. Sheamus

Sheamus has been on a roll since winning the Royal Rumble last month. Sheamus has been built well over the last month and I’m really looking forward to his match against Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania.

3. Bully Ray

I know that I always say that Austin Aries is the best thing in TNA right now. However, I have been really impressed with Bully Ray over the last few weeks. He is tremendous on the mic and he has been an excellent performer in the ring. Ray has come a long way from when I first saw him as a stuttering Bubba Ray with the Dudley Boyz at Survivor Series 1999.

2. John Laurinaitis

I love, love John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, the interim RAW GM and candidate to be the GM of Smackdown?) Along with his legal advisor, David Otunga, Laurinaitis has been such a joy to watch on TV and I really hope he becomes the GM of Smackdown.

1.  Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan is the best thing to watch on Smackdown right now. I love his entrance when he is shouting “yes!” as he goes down the aisle and there was a great bit in his interview last week. Smackdown came from Seattle and Bryan told the crowd that he’s from there (about 110 miles away in Aberdeen) and then says that he went to Las Vegas as soon as possible. I thought it was a great move to get the crowd on his side and then get them to boo him in the next sentence. I’m really looking forward to see how the feud between him and Sheamus over the next few weeks.

Is John Laurinaitis Really a Bad Guy?

John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) had his job review on RAW this week and was about to be fired when he was saved (inadvertently) by the arrival of the Undertaker. While Laurinaitis spoke to the crowd and apologised for his actions, he was booed mercilessly. This led me to wonder whether Laurinaitis deserves this vitriol.

A lot of people are comparing his feud with WWE Champion CM Punk to the feud between Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin but there are a lot of differences between the two. The only similarity between Laurinaitis and McMahon is that they don’t believe the current WWE Champion is the right face for the company. With McMahon, he  had to deal with a person who was a beer drinker and hell raiser who was the complete opposite of the WWE were during the late 80’s and early 90’s. With Laurinaitis, he is dealing with a person who left the company with the WWE Championship and I feel that Laurinaitis doesn’t understand why the fans are cheering a man who disrespected the company by his actions. Not only that, but Punk’s actions had extremely significant consequences involving the upper echelons of the company. In a way, it can be argued that Punk’s actions over that time were far worse than Austin ever did in his feud with McMahon. If you think about it, yes, Austin did continually embarrass Vince McMahon but did Austin ever leave the company with the WWE Championship? Did Austin ever deliver a promo in which he tore through the entire company breaking “the fourth wall”?

John Laurinaitis’ actions since becoming interim RAW General Manager haven’t really been that bad. Laurinaitis is not the head of the company. He may have a lot of power in that company but he is effectively middle management. Laurinaitis doesn’t have any beef with any of the wrestlers except for Punk and, for the reasons that I mentioned earlier, that’s understandable. Nor has Laurinaitis given any favouritism to any wrestlers recently. I know that Laurinaitis was supportive of Kevin Nash, R-Truth and The Miz last year, but that was to help him become interim RAW General Manager. Since then, especially with The Miz, he hasn’t been supporting them as they are no longer needed to help him. As for Dolph Ziggler, Laurinaitis has not shown any favouritism towards him either. Ziggler is effectively a pawn in Laurinaitis’ feud with Punk only because he doesn’t want Punk to be the WWE Champion. The only person that has legitimate beef with Laurinaitis is Triple H. It was obvious (not wrestling obvious where it’s all revealed as if we’re 5 year olds) that Laurinaitis was helping Miz and R-Truth distrupt things with Triple H, which resulted in Laurinaitis getting his current position.

Laurinaitis is not as bad as people think. I mainly think that the reason that the fans boo him is not only of his feud with arguably the number one person in the company, it’s because of his real life role as Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. It doesn’t help that he took over from the extremely popular Jim Ross. One of his responsibilities is releasing people and wishing them well in their future endeavours. He has released a lot of good talent  over the years (Mickie James and Gail Kim come to mind as they’re two of the best female wrestlers around at the minute) but that’s not entirely his fault. If the Creative Department don’t have anything for you, no matter how talented you are, there is a high chance that you will be released.

In summary, I say give Laurinaitis a chance. He has made mistakes and is a jerk but what boss isn’t? At least he is man enough to admit them and try to rectify them. Plus, he has given you some good moments and matches over the last few months. How is that a bad thing?

Lo-Down Wrestling’s Fav Five: January 2012

Time for me to debut a new feature in which I name my top 5 wrestlers from WWE and TNA over the last month. I know I got this from Booker T but, unlike Booker, it won’t change from minute to minute, just month to month.

5. Kane

Kane, since he has come back re-masked, has been trying to get John Cena to “Embrace the Hate” by attacking Zack Ryder and scaring Eve Torres at every opportunity. I enjoyed the segments involving them on RAW on the 9^th January despite Zack taking decades to change the tyre, and Kane disappearing like Batman when he was attacking Cena before that. Kane, along with Cena, Ryder and Torres, are now one of the things that I look forward every week on RAW.

4. Bobby Roode

I know that I constantly mention that Austin Aries is the best thing in TNA right now (and he still is); however, he hasn’t really been on TV that much so I can’t put him in my Fav Five. The second best thing in TNA at the minute has been World Champion Bobby Roode. Whilst I would have liked his heel turn to be more gradual like Daniel Bryan’s, Roode has been performing brilliantly on the mic on Impact, pissing off everybody including Sting and his own family. I think that Impact has slowly improved over the last month and one of the reasons is because of Roode.

3. John Laurinaitis

I know that he’s not a wrestler but I have really enjoyed watching John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) as he has evolved into a credible foil to Punk. What I like about Laurinaitis is the way that he kept on “inadvertently” screwing Punk over in his matches. Then Laurinaitis, aware of his job being under review, had a good role at the Rumble match then had a massive stroke of luck when The Undertaker interrupted his job review when he was about to get fired by Triple H. I’m glad that he didn’t get fired as I like Laurinaitis to continue in his role.

2. Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho was been absolutely brilliant since his return and yet he has only said one sentence since then. Jericho is excellent at playing the crowd as he showed when he returned on the 2^nd January. He spent over 8 minutes running round being happy and not saying a word then going off managing to get the crowd go from cheering him to booing him. Two weeks later, he was in a 6-man tag match with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan against Dolph Ziggler, David Otunga and Mark Henry. In probably the best hot tag ever, Punk tags in Jericho, he goes round playing to the crowd, slap-tags Bryan and goes off. He was the runner-up at the Rumble to Sheamus and is starting a possible Wrestlemania feud with Punk so the next few weeks involving Jericho will be very interesting.

1. Daniel Bryan

I know a lot of people think that Chris Jericho is the best thing going in the WWE right now. However, for me, it’s Daniel Bryan on Smackdown. His gradual heel turn since becoming World Heavyweight Champion has been awesome. Plus, I didn’t think that he had the mic skills that he has been showing in him. What I like most about Daniel Bryan is that we all know that he’s a heel, but he is at the stage that he doesn’t believe so. Bryan is using his head as well as his superb technicial skills to help him stay the Champion, provoking Mark Henry and lumberjacks in matches to inadvertently help him out. The best was when Bryan got his new love AJ to come to ringside when he faced The Big Show, and Show accidentally ran her over. Bryan sensed an opportunity and went mental at Show calling him reckless and a bastard. I have been really impressed with Daniel Bryan and I hope that he stays Champion until Wrestlemania.

CM Punk vs John Cena: 2011 LDW Match of the Year

  

The match between John Cena and CM Punk for the WWE Championship was one of the most emotionally charged matches in recent memory. Punk was in his home town of Chicago and was planning to leave the company with the WWE Championship. John Cena, as the face of the company, was determined to stop him but he had the threat of losing his job over him, thanks to Vince McMahon. I can’t remember the last time that such a match outside Wrestlemania had so much anticipation. I found this to be an interesting feud between the two because in this match the roles were reversed. Cena was supposed to be the hero who is saving the WWE by defeating Punk, keeping the WWE Championship in the company. However, even though he was in Chicago, Punk was being cheered because he represented what fans wanted in the WWE: change.

There are many reasons why this match was the Match of the Year. First of all, the entrances. Punk name was being chanted all through the night and the reaction when his music (which at the time was “This Fire Burns” by Killswitch Engage) was unbelievable. Punk’s mane was being chanted loudly with signs about him all over the place. Jerry Lawler summed it perfectly when he said it was like the NFL team Chicago Bears were in the Superbowl, and it was taking place at their own stadium, Soldier Field. It was the complete opposite when Cena’s music hit as the boos were deafening. I liked the way that Cena didn’t do his salute as he was effectively in enemy territory and it showed how serious he was taking this match.

All during the match, you can see that no matter what Cena did, Punk would find some way to get out of it. He kicked out of 2 Attitude Adjustments, and managed to get out of the STF 3 times, including one time when Punk reversed it into his submission move, the Anaconda Vice. This match had you completely hooked in and it went on for a good 25-30 minutes.

The end was when the WWE made you feel that they would play it safe and screw Punk (and the crowd) over. Vince McMahon came out with John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations?) and when Cena hit the STF yet again, McMahon send Laurinaitis to go and ring the bell, but he is stopped by Cena who doesn’t want the match to end that way. Cena’s decision comes back to haunt him when Punk hits Cena with the GTS to get the win, sending the crowd wild.

McMahon, obviously, wasn’t happy with that and goes to plan B, getting Alberto Del Rio (who had won the RAW MITB match earlier on) to come out. However, Punk, who had been expecting that, kicks Del Rio in the head, gives McMahon a goodbye kiss and runs off into the sunset, never to be seen in the WWE again (well, 8 days).

World renowned reporter Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave this match 5 stars. It was the first time that he had done that for a WWE match since the Hell in a Cell match between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels in 1997. That fact, to me, speaks for itself. From the promo video and the entrances, to the match and the ending, everything worked so well. I don’t think that I have seen such an emotionally charged match since Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24 and I don’t know the next time that I will see something like that again. 

Cody Rhodes Unmasked

The last year has been a big one for Cody Rhodes. He had been performing quite well as a singles wrestler and I was quite enjoying his “Dashing” gimmick, although it took a while for it to get over with the fans.

That all changed when Rhodes faced Rey Mysterio on Smackdown at the beginning of the year. Mysterio hit the 619 and broke Rhode’s nose, resulting in Rhodes missing the Royal Rumble and requiring reconstructive surgery. When he returned a few weeks later, Rhodes was a different man, being reluctant to show his face to the crowd and wearing a protective mask. Understandably, Rhodes blamed it on Mysterio and it led to a really good feud between the two, with a brilliant segment on Smackdown with the American Dream Dusty Rhodes acting as peacemaker then turning on Mysterio (one of my favourite moments of the year); then having matches at Wrestlemania and Extreme Rules.

I thought it was a big risk for Rhodes to change his gimmick so dramatically when he was just getting over with the “Dashing” persona. However, Rhodes pulled it off brilliantly, making it one of my favourite gimmicks ever. So much was put into it which I loved: the newspaper headlines saying “Grotesque!” and “Disfigured!” as part of his titantron; his coat with the hood, inspired by the computer game Assassin’s Creed; the way he would push away the camera as he made his way to the ring so that they couldn’t show his face; his theme tune being changed slightly to make it more darker; and the paper baggers. It helped that Rhodes had taken acting classes before he became a professional wrestler as he made it seem so real. You knew that there was nothing wrong with him, but he made you see his viewpoint.

Over the year, he had various mini feuds, resulting in Rhodes becoming Intercontinental Champion in August. He had a feud with the “Million Dollar Failure” Ted DiBiase and got into a feud with his former Legacy partner Randy Orton, which resulted in a thoroughly enjoyable street fight on Smackdown two weeks ago, with Orton defeating Rhodes and damaging his face mask. I thought that Rhodes would simply get a new one. However, last night on RAW, Rhodes came out to new music, new titantron, no paper baggers and acting as if his whole masked gimmick had never happened.

It really disappointed me that Rhodes had got rid of his masked gimmick so quickly. I was expecting a transition period between the two with perhaps Rhodes wearing one of his paper bags over his head in order to not show his face; or, like Beauty and the Beast, have a Diva show him that he doesn’t need the mask, as he is fine without it.

This shows to me some of the creative problems that I think is going on with the WWE. Over the last few months, they have made creative decisions but don’t seem to have put much thought into them. It’s like they have decided to go from one city to another, but instead of showing us how they get there, we are instantly teleported there instead. Another example is the anonymous RAW GM, who we had not heard from since July and then suddenly dismissed with John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s Executive Vice President of Talent Relations?) becoming interim RAW GM.

I don’t know if the creative decisions over the last few months have resulted in TV ratings and PPV buy rates declining, but I wouldn’t be surprised. They need to put more thought with their storylines, especially on RAW, in order for things to improve.