ASK TITO: More on Road Dogg, Jey Uso, Netflix Ditching WWE for NFL?, Observer Awards, and More
The Excellence in Column Writing is upon you and answering your questions sent in via email (mostly with long-time readers), social media, and the comments below with a focus primarily on current events questions. I gotta say, I had some interesting reactions to my LAST COLUMN where I was noting some cracks in Triple H’s WWE dam, particularly with the fallout of Royal Rumble 2025, the lead-up to Wrestlemania 41, and bringing back a yes-man and lack of creativity stooge like Road Dogg to co-write WWE Smackdown.
On the latter point, I 100% stand by my comments about Road Dogg. If you watch Smackdown from the renewed brand split during the Late Summer of 2016 through the end of 2016, that was an exciting show that did MORE WITH LESS as it had a smaller roster with Cena/Ambrose/Styles as your main event, just 6 women in the Women’s Division, Rhyno and Heath Slater as Tag Champs (Heath was on fire at this time), and Miz and Dolph Ziggler holding up the midcard. The NXT leader writer, who made for some great NXT moments during 2015-2016, made the most out of this tight roster and the shows were create and Smackdown was able to compete, and occasionally defeat, Monday Night RAW in viewership.
Then, fast forward to 2017, and AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose were essentially pushed out of the Main Event scene to allow John Cena to stand out from them and then Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt took over after that in highly embarrassing fashion. Any progress that Miz or Ziggler had as stars was quickly erased and Miz was moved eventually to RAW where he was depushed and made to look stupid. Then, you had the infamous Jinder Mahal push and embarrassment, all on Road Dogg’s watch.
You could say that “Vince McMahon micro-managed Road Dogg”, which is what AJ Styles was alluding to on Social Media. OK, then why didn’t Vince McMahon micro-manage the lead-writer of Smackdown from Fall 2016 to late 2016? That writer made AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose as equals to John Cena, made Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch into legitimate stars, helped Carmella get instantly over with a great feud with Nikki Bella, gave Heath Slater freedom to cook with his “I got kids” character, finally took the shackles off of Dolph Ziggler to let him play a great babyface, and let the Miz stop being portrayed as a joke and pushed as a serious heel. Do you remember the Miz cutting that crazy promo on Daniel Bryan during August 2016 that had real emotion and had everyone questioning whether that was real or not?
Just saying, facts are facts… Smackdown was good to great during the latter half of 2016 and suddenly got worse during 2017 when the creative team behind it was changed. You cannot give me the “but but but but Vince McMahon” argument when the writer from 2016 had to deal with Vince too. The FACT is that 2016 had better creative ideas that Vince didn’t have to micro-manage versus Road Dogg probably needing the Vince crutch because he had no clue what he was doing. I’m perfectly fine with Road Dogg being involved with the WWE as a road agent to help wrestlers construct a match or cut promos, but to write storylines? Ehhhh, we have 2017 as evidence against that.
HOWEVER – If Road Dogg has a successful 2025 with the WWE Smackdown roster, then I’ll be happy for him evolving. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m wrong.
BUT – Having to write for 3 freakin’ hours of Smackdown on a Friday Night has kind of set him up to fail. I expect a post-Wrestlemania WWE Draft to cause most of the best talent to be moved to RAW, anyway. I guess we’ll have to see how good Road Dogg really is when he has Jey Uso as his World Heavyweight Champion following Wrestlemania 41.
2017 WWE Smackdown makes me nauseous. It was an embarrassment to the WWE and pro wrestling with the way they ruined great progress made by many talents during 2016 while shoving that weird Orton/Wyatt feud and Jinder Mahal push down our throats. Anyone within the WWE who had a hand in those decisions being made deserves a FINGER OF SHAME.
Again, watch WWE Smackdown during the latter half of 2016 and then watch 2017… All I need to see when stating my opinion about Road Dogg getting anywhere near creative.
Onto your questions.
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If not Jey Uso, who should have won the Royal Rumble in his place?
This question comes from the Comments section… See, I told you that I read those comments closely.
First and foremost, let’s state the obvious. IT’S A JOKE that Jey Uso has challenged Gunther for his World Heavyweight Title, which was created out of thin air a few years ago, instead of challenging Cody Rhodes for the undisputed WWE Title. Cody’s title has all of the WWE Title lineage, along with practically any WWE or WCW title lineage. What Gunther has around his waist was made up out of thin air with nothing backing it. Sure, Seth Rollins did a great job defending it and it has some merit based on that, but given a choice between the titles, I don’t know how anyone would even dare discard a chance at the REAL WWE Title that is around Cody’s waist.
Thus, Jey Uso has been set up to fail…
Secondly, I’m not digging Gunther as World Heavyweight Champion. I enjoyed his Intercontinental Title run and found that entertaining, but he’s missing that “main event” gravitas that is needed to make a wrestler feel special in his position. For the record, I said the SAME THING with Damian Priest. Being big and tall DOES NOT guarantee that you’ll be a great Main Eventer. You need more, especially on the feeling of being “larger than life”. I just haven’t felt anything special with Priest or Gunther and worry that it’s not a major accomplishment for Jey Uso to overcome when the champ has been underwhelming. Now, if Jey walked into Wrestlemania 41 and defeated Cody, that would be much more beneficial to his career because Cody is holding THE title and has carried himself reasonably well as champion (though had weak opponents, but always puts out credible looking matches).
Jey Uso getting pushed is NOT for me or my generation of wrestling fans, us 35+ year-olds. The younger generation are into his VIBE, as clearly seen by the merchandise sales and massive entrances. I 100% get the idea of pushing him based on those factors… BUT, like Gunther and Priest, he’s lacking that “larger than life” look and aura about him. Do you honestly think that Jey Uso, based on the way he’s currently been presented, is one of the tougher wrestlers on that roster who looks credible enough to defeat anybody on the roster? To me, if a real fight broke out between Gunther and Jey Uso, my money would clearly be on Gunther. But I would suspect based on their past and experience that CM Punk or Roman Reigns could handle Gunther or at least make it competitive. Jey still looks and wrestles like a midcard wrestler to me and that’s why I worry that when he wins a World Title, that’s his peak. JUST like Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, or even the murderous bastard named Chris Benoit. Once the mountain was climbed, it was a slippery slope downward because they just didn’t look credible defeating other Main Event wrestlers other than their fluke World Title win.
Who should have won the Rumble instead?
Well, you had a Rumble featuring the 2 biggest stars in the company, CM Punk and Roman Reigns. Either guy, or possibly both, should be challenging Cody Rhodes for the top WWE Title at a Wrestlemania. Roman needs to prove himself against Cody in their rubber match while CM Punk has a real story of wanting to headline Wrestlemania before he retires. That’s captain obvious, to me, on who would have won the Rumble instead of Jey Uso.
“But but but but one of them may win the Elimination Chamber”. For one, Roman isn’t in the Elimination Chamber, as he’s selling the injury from Seth Rollins at the Rumble. Two, the Elimination Chamber SUCKS and shouldn’t be the consolation prize to the other spot for the Rumble. I hate that, as the Elimination Chamber is often used to correct any mistakes of the choice made for the Rumble winner. How about this? Select a better Rumble winner?
Others to possibly consider other than Jey Uso… I think there is still some peak left with Drew McIntyre, who had a fantastic 2024 year and I think he’d be a better physical opponent for Gunther’s style. Too early for Bron Breakker and Jacob Fatu, in my opinion, but I think both will be stronger long-term stars than Jey Uso.
So there, Punk, Roman, or Drew should have won the rumble instead. Answered your question.
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Do you think Netflix will opt-out of their WWE RAW deal in order to get more NFL?
There’s a chance… Remember, the WWE deal with Netflix has an opt-out clause midway through the 10 year deal. In other words, Netflix could call it quits through 2029 with the WWE…
Why is that important? Reportedly, Netflix is interested in obtaining the Sunday Afternoon packages that are currently owned by CBS and FOX. With the financial issues of CBS’s owner Paramount Global and the real possibility of it being sold, I could easily see a situation where CBS is outbid by someone.
The key here is timing… CBS and FOX’s deals run though 2033. However, the NFL does have an opt-out clause itself to be 4 years before 2033. And look at that timing… 2029.
It’s a real simple matter of Netflix saving $2.5 billion on the latter half of the WWE deal and applying said cost savings to either one of the Sunday Afternoon packages. Those packages, by the way, currently cost over $2 billion, so thus an interested Netflix will need to find savings somewhere because the NFL audience dwarfs the WWE one which will cause Netflix to boost bandwidth and other costs.
I believe that if Netflix has a shot at getting the NFL, they’ll use the 5 year opt-out clause for sure. Then, they’ll apply the saved $2.5 billion on the remainder of the deal towards the NFL expenses. Otherwise, if they retain WWE and then buy the NFL Sunday Afternoon package for over $3-4 billion per year, I’m assuming, then everybody better get ready for major subscription increases. But, if they delete a deal for a weekly RAW show that is only generating 2-3 million viewers, then they’ll have major costs savings and additional money to absorb the massive NFL deal.
If I were WWE, I’d make sure that they treat their USA Network partner well with Friday Night Smackdown… When 2029 comes around, they might need them to host Monday Night RAW and then maybe the shop around Smackdown to another network?
My real curiosity is where the WWE Network stuff goes after the Peacock deal expires next year. Netflix is hosting PLEs now in other countries, but does that happen in the United States too? Could Netflix be wise to acquiring WWE Network, too, and then letting go of RAW for 2029 while retaining the rights to WWE’s PLE stuff? To me, that would make more sense for Netflix to have BOTH WWE and the NFL, but just not having Monday Night RAW.
If Netflix is serious about acquiring the NFL Sunday Afternoon package, RAW’s days on Netflix will be numbered for late 2029 to be the end of that show’s run there.
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What are your thoughts on the 2024 Wrestling Observer awards?
Let me preface this first about those Observer boys… For years, they’ve given us great written content and were the premier location for insider wrestling news. I’ve appreciated all of the stories that they’ve broke for the past 4 decades and the news coverage of major events, such as the Montreal Screwjob in particular, were well written and researched. I subscribed to the newsletter for a while and enjoyed it, for the most part.
BUT – Dave Meltzer, in particular, is incredibly biased in his views and it’s only become worse with time. If you read him during the 1980s or 1990s, he always had a tinge of being anti-WWE and when the early 1990s came along, he really leaned into the scandals that were plaguing the WWE at that time (steroids, sexual harassment/abuse, etc.). Ditto with when WCW was crushing it during the NWO era, as he was bashing the product back then and had a pure disdain for Eric Bischoff that he could never get over and still affects him to this day. Meanwhile, as he’s bashing WWE or WCW, he’s preaching how great Japanese wrestling is… If you subscribe to the Observer newsletter, you’d get great stories and insider tips, but hear non-stop propaganda of how incredible wrestling is from Japan. Then, you’d watch New Japan or All Japan yourself and wonder what was Dave hyping?
The Dave you see today has always been that version… BUT, he’s become worse in his biases and propaganda because the wrestlers who worked New Japan, along with wrestlers working the California independent scene, have become friends with Dave and have a certain influence on him. They grant him access, he grants them even more favorable coverage than before. Much of those workers have helped form or joined All Elite Wrestling, so thus Dave dies on that hill to defend AEW no matter what. He’s become the FOX News of wrestling which tries to portray itself as a legitimate news organization but is overshadowed by the propaganda and bias presented for 1 viewpoint.
You might ask yourself, “how does Mr. Tito have any ground to stand on” when commenting about Dave Meltzer or the Wrestling Observer. Because I’m not forcing you to pay for anything, nor am I a trusted insider news source who needs to present himself as credible for doing so. I’m just a singular writer for a website, but Dave is much more plugged in and tries to present himself as a trusted news source when he’s lost that. If you don’t believe me, just look at how he presents himself on the Observer podcasts or how he attacks people on X/Twitter. Again, I have NEVER advertised myself as a credible and unbiased news source, HE HAS. Big, big difference… I’m an opinion writer, he’s someone presenting himself as a news writer who inserts his opinion all over the news, sometimes claiming that his opinions are the news.
The Wrestling Observer Awards SUCK because it’s Dave constructing the categories to get his minions to answer things according to his opinion. Like having “Wrestler of the Year” and “Most Outstanding Wrestler” categories. This year, Cody Rhodes won the Wrestler of the Year but Will Ospreay happened to win the Most Outstanding Wrestler. What was so “outstanding” about Will’s disappointing 2024 year where AEW did nothing but decline in viewership, attendance, and PPV buys while he was headlining many of those shows? Then you have that same declining AEW Dynamite show win “Best Weekly TV Show”, which it has won for its entire existence. 2019-2024 has Dynamite as the best weekly show for each of those years. Really? Really?
Don’t get me started on Match of the Year, which the WWE last won in that category during 2011 with CM Punk vs. John Cena at MITB.
And then, you look at the vote counts… Looking pretty slim, even at a time where the wrestling fanbase has grown thanks to WWE. Oh wait, the Observer hates the WWE, so thus didn’t benefit from that growth. Looking at the vote tallies, which I’m counting as 9,911 for “Wrestler of the Year” where I think most were voting.. If I apply the United States Presidential Election of 2024 as a barometer, where about 61% actually voted and 39% of eligible voters did not, we can assume about 14,000 Observer subscriptions exist? Maybe it’s more than that, but not by much and I can see many longtime readers getting sick of the non-stop AEW praise versus an obviously growing WWE.
Fightful is the credible news source now… Yes, Sean Ross Sapp does have his own opinions and sometimes, he gets into fights with fans on Social Media. HOWEVER, I DO NOT question his credibility when it comes to reporting news. He gives it to you straight forward and professionally, while not just speculating or making assumptions like Dave Meltzer now does. There’s no bias with SRS, as he reports news fairly and responsibly. Hence why Fightful keeps growing and is seen credible on breaking news stories, while everyone acts cautiously with whatever Dave posts or says. Dave has flooded the zone with his biased opinions and it makes you think less of him as a person, along with his fights on Social Media. I trust Ross with the news, while I’ve become skeptical with Dave reporting it.
Another year, another laugh at the Observer Awards. Good luck next year, but I think the Observer subscription base has become Dave loyalists like a cult and hence why the voting will be biased towards the declining AEW or the uninteresting New Japan while WWE will keep getting the shaft.
Again, you can ask “what leg do I have to stand on”, but reading my opinions doesn’t cost you a dime nor am I ever posting news. I’m just an opinion writer, while Dave presents himself as something that he no longer is.
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Any takeaways from AEW’s Collision show viewership for the Australian Grand Slam show?
Being a lead-in for the NBA All-Star activities which drew 3.4 million viewers doesn’t hurt (though that was massively down from 4.6 million last year). I’m just not impressed with a 502,000 viewership number on a TNT channel that is available to about 70 million homes.
The real story was a solid live attendance gate of just over $1 million, which is good… Makes me wonder how much better AEW would do in Australia if they promoted the event a little harder and featured better matches on the card. They had to move it to a smaller venue because tickets weren’t selling and having it as just an AEW Collision show just didn’t look good for AEW.
If Australian fans are upset at what they really received and the declining attendance seen year-over-year for AEW All-In last year, that’s 2 international areas that they’ve possibly burned out.
But again, when it comes to AEW stuff, they are charging LOWER prices on tickets and yet wrestling fans aren’t tripping over themselves to attend shows at bargain prices. There are SERIOUS attendance issues for AEW All In at Texas this year with many tickets going unsold for AEW’s #1 show.
As we’re coming off my previous Observer rant about AEW bias, what Meltzer hypes as “great” isn’t viewed as “great” by the MAJORITY of wrestling fans. WWE has much higher ticket prices and yet they can sell over 10,000 tickets for RAW or Smackdown shows. AEW has only sold 10,000 tickets for its #1 show, but at much lower prices.
Maybe Tony, EVPs, and Mr. Meltzer should look in the mirror and question what is really wrong with AEW and how they are handling the promotion on how it is marketed or how the roster/creative is handled. It’s just not a good presentation that fans are willing to depart their money with at the moment, though they somehow want to hand WWE bags of their money at higher prices. Go take an Economics class to understand the “Law of Demand” and what determinants can change a consumer’s demand for a product (tastes/preferences, in particular).
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Thoughts on Michelle McCool becoming a WWE Hall of Famer?
As I’ve said before, if you become a World Champion in the WWE, that pretty much makes you eligible automatically to become a WWE Hall of Famer. Michelle McCool is a 4-time Women’s Champion. Need I say more?
I laugh at the “she’s only getting in because of the Undertaker”. Then who else should get into the Hall of Fame who isn’t already in? And keep in mind that there are politics involved with the selection, particularly with WHAT the person may say at the podium. Hence why WWE took forever to put Ultimate Warrior and Bruno in, while they never put in Sid Eudy or Demolition (whom I hope get in this year). Victoria is an obvious one, but she and the WWE have been far apart for years with relations (though has improved lately). Sable is deserving of the Hall of Fame, but WWE wants nothing to do with her and is very afraid of her speaking at the podium. Chyna should get in by herself, but again, WWE probably doesn’t want her family speaking ill about her exit from the company.
Let’s stop the “bash Michelle McCool” train here, folks… She was good for her time and was a multiple-time champion. She came out of the Divas Search and made something of herself, proving the VALUE of the WWE Developmental System which has turned inexperienced into legitimate stars. Sorry, but she put years of hard work into the ring and that has nothing to do with her relationship with the Undertaker.
She’s a safe person to have at the podium, but also a deserving person of the WWE Hall of Fame honor and has 4 title reigns to prove it. Many of you are really stretching that it’s “nepotism” that got her into the Hall of Fame.
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Do you think that morale is down anywhere in the WWE?
No, as this pertains to the recently posted story about the Women’s Division members getting a bit impatient that a reader just forwarded me. I think it’s just a matter of the WWE doing so well right now that they’ve collected TOO MUCH good wrestling talent that Creative cannot perfectly satisfy each top talent.
That said, if you had credible US/IC Title with defined divisions for each, then everybody could be restrained and enjoy their lanes. The problem with the WWE since 1999 when the IC Title began to switch hands too quickly and then both the US/IC Titles being retired following the JOKE of the WCW Invasion is that every WWE wrestler is pushed like a World Title contender. However, most of them are NOT top draws worthy of that.
Hence why midcard titles should matter and act as an internal farm system to help workers improve.
What WWE needs more of is people like Chelsea Green who 100% own being a midcard champion and show extreme pride for holding that champion. Well, the IC title holder needs to show the same enthusiasm, along with anyone trying to contend for that title. Same things needs to be said about anyone holding tag titles or going for tag titles.
Problem with Triple H’s booking is that he’s mostly continuing Vince’s motto that midcard titles don’t matter. Aside from Gunther’s IC run, they really haven’t under HHH’s watch and I’m still awaiting for him to show us how the Tag Team division should operate. Sorry, but DIY sucks and proved that at Royal Rumble 2025 with how they are presented. Authors of Pain just being released further proves that.
As I said in my previous column… When you have a big and deep roster while having many titles to go after, there shouldn’t be any issues with finding things to do. If titles are meaningless with a big and deep roster, then focus needs to be placed on Creative for why things aren’t getting done.
Furthermore with the Women’s division, Charlotte Flair’s relevancy has been equaled or exceeded by other women at this point, yet the WWE is going to shove her down our throats, once again. Tiffany Stratton should definitively defeat her at Wrestlemania 41 and then allow many of these other hungry talents to get in line. If you want my opinion, any gripes about “morale” in the Women’s division is about enduring yet another Charlotte Flair mega push while many other talents, who haven’t taken extensive time off, feel more deserving.
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