ASK TITO: Survivor Series Predictions, More WWE Releases, MJF vs. CM Punk, Rock's 25th Anniversary, and More

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The weekend Excellence in Column Writing is back in your face with more snappy answers to your questions submitted via Twitter, Emails, and your Comments below. Man, I just cannot wait until 2021 is over. This is seriously “2020 Part Deux”, as the economy is still struggling (hello inflation), political and civil unrest still exists, COVID just won’t go away and creates side quarantine/vaccine drama, and on top of all of that, Pro Wrestling still isn’t that good. Yeah, you have WWE and AEW still around, along with Impact and NWA (see ya, Ring of Honor), but it’s just QUANTITY and not QUALITY.

Earlier this week, I wrote a column entitled How I Would Use CM Punk in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) + Other Creative Ideas in which I sat down and presented a serious Creative idea for AEW to utilize. Basically, it would involve the heat that Tony Khan has on him for being too involved, needing to turn CM Punk heel, and creating a dominant heel faction. With Punk being heel and in charge of said faction, he would cut heel promos not just on the wrestlers, but the fans too. Take advantage of our times with political, economic, vaccine, and civil drama and cut promos on the fans about it. I laid out my case, as many fans have been asking me what I’d do with CM Punk instead of how AEW has presented him.

Many of you were receptive to that column and I appreciate it. However, many diehard AEW fans were on the attack. “It’s another NWO angle” or “AEW’s Creative is just fine, have you seen the 18-49 demo?”. Actually, I have seen that demo and it has been sinking lately along with total viewership. AEW Dynamite is now consistently under 1 million viewers and is getting close to being under 900,000 total viewers. AEW Rampage is now consistently under 600,000 viewers and is getting close to being under 500,000 viewers. I would argue that AEW has more than enough talent on that roster to sustain something, especially with the recent signings of Punk, Bryan, and Cole. It’s the CREATIVE, stupid, that is wrong with AEW and causing it to spin its wheels.

What the WWE and AEW both need is a CREATIVE SPARK that causes not just the storylines to change, but the presentation of them as well. Go back in history and see how it is done…

During 1996, Eric Bischoff was embarrassed by how WCW Uncensored 1996 turned out and he had enough. He changed the way that WCW Nitro was presented, how the wrestlers were booked, and the storylines. He wanted reality based storylines and then he came up with an awesome angle to debut newly signed Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. They did an invasion angle but never revealed their names and acted like WCW never signed them. It was brilliant. Then, he convinced Hulk Hogan to turn heel and join them to form the “New World Order”. For 83 straight weeks, WCW Nitro then spanked WWE RAW and to this day, we’re still talking fondly about those 1996-1997 WCW years as the “best ever”.

Also during 1996, as competition was heating up with WCW, Vince McMahon sought to change-up the Creative Team a bit after giving more Talent Relations duties to Jim Ross. First, he added Jim Cornette to the team provided his experience on the Creative Team in WCW and running Smokey Mountain Wrestling. Then, Vince took a chance on later adding WWE Magazine writer Vince Russo to the team. Cornette sured up the in-ring product while also helping the amazing debut of Kane with the Hell in a Cell match while Vince Russo was changing the tone of how WWE was being presented. Russo saw the chaotic 1990s around him on television and began injecting adult themes into WWE storylines. After RAW had a record low viewership number during early 1997, Vince McMahon put the pedal to the metal to push Vince Russo’s involvement even further. The “Attitude Era” was quickly forming and WWE bounced right back and began growing again through late 1997. By 1998, with Stone Cole, Rock, Degeneration X, and a better used Undertaker in place, WWE was back on top and kept growing to absurd heights through 1999.

Right now, WWE’s Creative Team consists of Vince McMahon overseeing an operation led by Bruce Prichard and contains about 30-40 failed Hollywood and comedy writers. Weekly, Vince McMahon is frustrated by that group’s output and often rewrites parts of the show by himself. That’s right, a 76 year old man is forced to rewrite a 3 hour show because of what Bruce and the writers cannot do. Why doesn’t Vince just FIRE Bruce and all of the damn writers instead? During 1998-1999, Vince McMahon had total trust in Vince Russo to write entire shows and Vince would just make a few suggestive edits. Go find someone that is as hungry as Russo was during 1996-1999 to participate along with coming up with storyline ideas that match the climate of society.

For Tony Khan and AEW, it’s him and the Executive Vice Presidents doing everything. The 2019 AEW Dynamites really fizzled out by year-end, as the Dark Order and Nightmare Collective created collective groans and allowed NXT to actually win a few nights of the “Wednesday Night Wars”. On top of that, Kenny Omega’s booking of the Women’s division and the Young Bucks fumbling the Tag Team division was not only present during 2019, but still exists to this day. Tony took more of the reigns during 2020 and while it was slightly better, he let Matt Hardy and Miro go down the drain quickly by their presentation. During 2021, he started giving the EVPs more Creative input again and what did we get? A horribly failed Impact Wrestling storyline that did the company no favors. Once again, Tony is taking more control of the product and trying to present 5-6 total hours of television per week in addition to trying to run a Soccer club and NFL team as well.

Numbers don’t lie, folks… WWE RAW is struggling to be above 1.5 million right now while Smackdown is stuck at just above 2 million on a Network channel. AEW Dynamite is below 1 million and sinking fast. AEW Rampage dying quickly. NXT is just there, not improving at all. DVR replay numbers aren’t growing and WWE numbers on Hulu are non-existent. 70% of WWE’s YouTube views come from International Markets. Why? Because International Cable Providers are NOT placing WWE programming on Basic Cable packages.

And if you want to give me “there are many ways to watch television these days”, then I’ll pose a question to you if there are “multiple ways to attend events these days” too. Right? Attendance for live events is DOWN. Yeah, I understand the COVID-19 stuff, but both promotions experienced an attendance surge when both came back and now both are struggling to sell tickets. For those who don’t remember, Attendance for BOTH WWE and AEW shows began to decline during late 2019 and both shows were heavily tarping off arenas through early 2020 before the pandemic exploded. WWE merchandise sales have been down for years.

But what do I know? I’m just a columnist for 23 years for LoP/NoDQ, two big wrestling websites with thousands of readers per week, and a wrestling fan for 33 years. I’ve just talked to wrestlers and promoters, read many books, and viewed hours upon hours of televised wrestling events. On top of that, I have advanced degrees that help me use my analytical skills to spot trends and crunch data. But none of that matters to a cult like wrestling fan who is delusional to think that both WWE and AEW can survive with their current creative direction.

So yeah, 2021 cannot end fast enough.

On to your questions.

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What are your WWE Survivor Series 2021 Predictions?

I predict that the show, like many other WWE shows lately, will be a massive letdown. Is that good enough for predictions?

Real quick, because I hate doing Predictions:

– Team RAW over Team Smackdown for Men’s – Maybe this is when WWE tries to push Austin Theory?

– Team Smackdwon over Team RAW for Women’s – We’ll see if the Shayna Baszler push is for real or not.

– Becky Lynch defeats Charlotte Flair, or it will be a no-decision. Hopefully, the ladies lay in some stiff stuff out of pure hatred for each other.

– Big E will defeat Roman Reigns. Yup. Otherwise, if dispatch Big E now, he’ll do nothing for RAW moving forward as champion.

– Usos will defeat RK-Bro due to some tension between Orton and Riddle.

– Damian Priest over Shinsuke Nakamura

If the above card is wrong, blame Wikipedia!

*****

What are your thoughts on the newer AEW Feuds (Bryan Danielson vs. Adam Page, CM Punk vs. MJF)?

If Danielson is the first opponent of Adam Page’s following his big Pay Per View win, then he’s going to lose. If that is why Tony Khan signed Bryan to a deal, that’s quite an expensive jobber. That said, Adam Page might be able to FINALLY show everyone that he can actually wrestle and Danielson might pull that out of him. I cannot be the only one who just rolls his eyes at the association with Page and the Dark Order, am I? Just looks goofy when he’s celebrating his AEW Title win with a bunch of guys dressed up for a costume party.

FINALLY, CM Punk is going to wrestle a serious contender in MJF… That said, AEW has wasted MJF for the past year and I really worry about CM Punk’s in-ring ability through 2021. His matches have been just OK and with age, he has clearly lost a step and is showing hesitation on things that you’d expect someone in their late 40s to show. It’s just sad that WWE stripped Punk of his join for the Pro Wrestling business and kept him away for 7 years.

They are going to be good feuds… But I really see both Danielson and Punk putting over both Page and MJF. Maybe they should, but is that really why you bought them as free agents?

*****

Any thoughts on the recent WWE releases?

In case you missed it, the following WWE/NXT talents became unemployed on 11/18:

John Morrison
Top Dolla
Ashante Adonis
Isaiah Swerve Scott
Tegan Nox
Drake Maverick
Shane Thorne
Jaxson Ryker

I don’t wish unemployment on anyone, but when I barely recognize your name as a performer, that’s problem. You’re not sticking out in a crowded WWE field and thus you become expendible. Then you have John Morrison who had a big return but has underwhelmed, insomuch that he became second fiddle to the Miz. And that says something.

Of course, the Internet Wrestling Community is doing their usual phony outrage over these releases, trying to show a) how knowledgeable they are as wrestling fans or b) compassionate they are as wrestling fans. Well, how about these apples? If you were so compassionate about each of the wrestlers released, why weren’t you buying their merchandise to help support their roles? Because if Nick Khan’s spreadsheets sees revenue generated per wrestler’s salary high as a ratio, that wrestler gets kept. So quit it with your phony outrage or virtue signaling as a fanbase because I can see right through your BS.

If you want to blame anybody, blame AEW. Their failures to get ANY Free Agent signing over, especially since 2020, is causing all of these WWE talent cuts. You have Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley making a real impact in AEW during 2019 but what else do you have? Matt Hardy, Miro, FTR, and now even Punk/Cole/Bryan aren’t drawing viewers?

Once again, more Triple H NXT signed talents getting the axe. It’s just another day… His system has not only failed to stock WWE with future MAIN EVENTERS but his talents are failing to draw, at all, on USA Network for Tuesday night. ALL OF YOU crapped on me during 2019-2021 when I warned you that something was broken in NXT and none of you listened. When you sign former TNA talents, other veterans, and smaller wrestlers and push those as your top stars, it won’t work. Just look at AEW who is literally doing the same exact thing right now.

*****

Thoughts on Kenny Omega needing time off?

He deserves it. Like him or not, guy has an impressive motor in him to wrestle any match, any time. In addition to being in AEW, he has been wrestling for other promotions. Omega is not getting any younger and that mileage adds up. That said, if I were Tony Khan, I would restrict Omega from wrestling elsewhere moving forward. You have to preserve one of your top stars for your promotion and not take a chance of him getting hurt elsewhere.

I also think that Omega needs some time off to reflect on the past 2 years with AEW… It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, as his work seemed to take a step back from what we saw in New Japan. Maybe he’s getting older, but I believe without that NJPW filter, some bad habits appeared from his past. I personally thought that his AEW Title reign was kind of weak and didn’t help AEW’s bottom line in terms of interest in their promotion. I don’t believe that he’s as big of a star than some people think, as New Japan is NOT popular here in the United States despite what Dave’s propaganda sheets try to tell you. NJPW’s viewership numbers were seriously non-existent on ratings sheets when with AXS, for example. And that was on a Friday where competition wasn’t there to hog the top 150 spots!

Over-exposure happens easily in the Pro Wrestling business and stepping away for a moment to allow your fans to forget you briefly but then appreciate later what you did is an asset. Now, he can do a surprise return to create some new momentum.

*****

What are your thoughts about Ric Flair’s recent comments on Becky Lynch?

He’s working ya… His daughter is wrestling Becky Lynch this Sunday. Furthermore, Ric also has a new Podcast to promote called “Ric Flair Uncensored”. Thus, everyone needs to get used to hearing Ric Flair making many takes like this.

I light of the Dark Side of the Ring stuff and that probably denying him entrance into AEW, I’d expect this podcast with Mark Madden will be where Flair will have to make his Pro Wrestling money now. I’d expect to be showered with controversial takes and on top of that, lots of Ads on his Podcast too. If you thought that Conrad’s shows plowed you with ads, think about what this show will do to be Ric Flair’s primary income. And remember, Ric learned from Conrad how to advertise heavily on Podcasts.

Honestly, just ignore any controversial takes that he’ll present here… They’ll be pushing for shock value and at that stage in Ric’s career, he needs that as an attention seeker. We’re just starting out, so imagine what else he’ll uncover or say?

*****

Any reflective thoughts on the Rock’s WWE career having its 25th year anniversary?

Seems like the internet is celebrating the Great One’s silver anniversary everywhere… First of all, please READ David Diaz’s “Right Place, Right Time?” column on the Rock posted here at NoDQ.com. You’ll love it and it’s a great tribute to the Rock.

What’d like to say is that the WWE sought after talents like the Rock during the 1990s. When Jim Ross took over Talent Relations, he was looking throughout the nation at unique athletes who had all of the intangibles of a Pro Wrestling main eventer but just needed the training. Guys like Kurt Angle, the Rock, and Brock Lesnar were guys that weren’t pro wrestlers until the WWE offered them employment. However, each of those 3 guys had the intangibles of being freakish athletes, had the look, had charisma, ungodly strength, and looked legitimately dangerous. Sorry, but If I saw Rock or Brock in an alley, I’d run…

If you ever read or heard about how Jim Ross met with the Rock, they went to a diner to eat and Ross observed how Rocky talked to him but also noticed how all of the ladies gravitated towards him. Then, he noticed how friendly all of the guys were to him, as they weren’t intimidated by his good looks on how they attracted other women. Just by sitting at a diner, Jim Ross could see that he had the next big star on their hands.

Guys like Jim Ross and Gerald Brisco scoured the country for athletic talents like that they could mold into future superstars. Furthermore with Jim Ross, he put together developmental territories with Jim Cornette/Danny Davis, Les Thatcher, or Dory Funk to properly train wrestlers not just how to perform moves in the ring, but to actually work, use psychology, and to work on promo cutting abilities. In my opinion, the WWE training system has been weak since Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was disbanded and trainers for the Males was significantly changed.

Which is why, in my opinion, the WWE ought to seek out Jim Ross when his AEW contract expires during 2022 and let him manage the talent scouting process or utilize him as a consultant for Talent Relations. As great as he is as an announcer, he’s the Greatest of All Time in terms of assembling talent. Look at all of the guys he helped discover in WCW and then what he did to the WWE during the mid to late 1990s. He SAVED the WWE from ruin thanks to Austin, Foley, and the Rock, filled that midcard with future superstars like Edge, Christian, Hardys, etc, and then gave the WWE a nice reboot with the “Class of 2002” (Lesnar, Orton, Batista, Cena).

You need somebody with an eye for the intangibles that you cannot teach, such as charisma, personality, charm, speaking ability, presentation, and look. Ross has always had a great eye for talent and it’s a shame that Tony Khan and the EVPs don’t utilize him more often. WWE should pay top dollar to bring back Jim Ross and let him either run a scouting department and/or be a consultant to John Laurinaitis. Ross is older and we should utilize his brain for his opinion and take it easy on him physically.

Even when you saw Rocky Maivia debut during November 1996, you could see that this guy has everything despite him acting like a vanilla babyface. Yet, I actually saw the Rock during the Summer of 1996 when he worked a dark match before a RAW taping as his “Flex Kavana” gimmick. His arm drags were as smooth as Ricky Steamboat’s, I remembered. Then, when the WWE turned him heel and gave him creativity on the mic to develop “The Rock” persona. By November 1997, he was a star and about to have a huge feud with Steve Austin over the Intercontinental Title. By November 1998, he was WWE Champion and HE DESERVED IT. In just 2 years, he was a major Main Event superstar.

It’s no wonder why Rocky is a major movie star… He had all of those intangibles to be great and all Jim Ross had to do was visit him at a diner to see it in action.

*****

Do you have any regrets joining NoDQ?

No way. Joining NoDQ during August 2020 was “just what I needed” during that time, as I took my column as far as I possibly could at the previous place. I have enjoyed my tenure at NoDQ and in my opinion, I have produced some of my best work for the site. It’s been a good relationship with Aaron Rift, as he gives me total freedom to write whatever I want, whenever I want.

Now – Would I have liked to have done more “Debate” shows, of course. There’s actual heat with one individual that translates to natural competitiveness on screen that should have produced more than 2 videos. But I’ve been more than available and I can’t control what others want to do. That said, I’m proud of my only 2 on-screen appearances, particularly the first debate from the end of 2020 that showed everyone that we had a real “Skip and Shannon” kind of wrestling show.

But that’s OK. I’m a columnist first and I’m quite proud of the work that I’ve produced for NoDQ and hope to continue producing.

My only true regret, and this isn’t just a NoDQ thing, is that remaining Mr. Tito is the only thread holding me together as a Pro Wrestling fan. I was seriously ready to walk away during late 2018 and I said my goodbyes… Then, freakin’ AEW arrives and gets me intrigued. It caused me to write columns again, as I was hoping AEW would cause Pro Wrestling to be fun again and has for certain moments. Honestly though, 2021 feels like 2018 to me as we’re getting LOW quality wrestling from both WWE and AEW right now. So right now, my balance is wanting to continue being Mr. Tito but also having to dedicate myself to watch the current crap on screen. If I could just put down the Tito crackpipe, I would have no need to ever watch wrestling again. As you can see by my posting of 2 longer columns per week, my energy and productivity are still there and I should probably try diverting that into other personal projects for 2022.

So just chill… Until the next episode!

Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments.

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