Blame The WWE For Batista's Failed Return To The Company

Everyone can agree the Dave Batista’s return can only be classed as a major failure. If you didn’t see this coming you really should have. In the build to his return he was made to seem a much bigger deal than he actually was. There was talk that WWE had planned his return as more of a surprise and not how they ended up doing it. Regardless of that fact, it was doomed to fail based on a couple of factors.

First and foremost was the WWE over estimated the level of star Batista was. He was always a guy in my opinion that was carried more often than not by the people he worked with. WWE viewed him as an “A” level star and he clearly wasn’t.

His debut was weak and being friends with the biggest heel in Triple H was not exactly the way to make a top babyface talent. WWE fans already had picked their top babyface and it wasn’t Batista and it wasn’t John Cena. It was of course Daniel Bryan who had been the chosen one for quite sometime.

WWE unwillingness to put Bryan over and forcing Batista down the throats of the audience came to a head at the WWE Royal Rumble. It caused the WWE to change course and the plan for Bautista was dead and eventually so was his ill fated babyface run.

His in ring work was terrible when he first returned. He would limp his way to Wrestlemania 30 as part of the now three-way match that ended up being Daniel Bryan along with Randy Orton. He would be the man to take the fall to Daniel Bryan.

He would move on to the reformation of Evolution and would like in the past be carried by five superior talents to create two solid three on three match-ups and than it was over.  It was one of the worst return runs in terms of the dollars spent to return that was gotten from it in WWE history.

I don’t put a lot of blame on Batista and in fact think if he doesn’t come back, I wouldn’t blame him in the slightest. He is off to promote his movie "Guardians of the Galaxy" as was always planned. In the end the WWE screwed this up and they made one of their most typical mistakes at the core of this.

They saw a former star that was going to be in a main stream motion picture for big movies franchise like Marvel Comics and so this as a way to gain mainstream attention. They promised him the moon and the stars to come back. At the time they figured the Daniel Bryan fad would eventually die off and they could make Dave the champion and parade around with their championship getting that "oh so important" main stream attention.

They also saw him as mentioned as a higher level star than he really was and fans did not embrace him as such. He was not the big draw that he was expected to be.

I would like to think the WWE has learned from this experience but I will sit on the sidelines and wait to see if they actually have. The days of going to the well and being bailed out are coming to a close. The well has all but dried up at this point for them. Brock Lesnar is perhaps the lone exception to that, but even given the salary he is paid for the amount of dates he performs I am not sure how cost effective it is.

The time has come to create this era’s stars and count on them to build and grow the brand back to a level closer to the glory days. I am not saying having returning stars isn’t something they can do but in the right context. The way that Wrestlemania 30 started with that iconic moment with Austin, Rock and Hulk Hogan sharing a ring was fantastic. It was however just a moment and did not involve anyone being involved in matches or storylines. It was just that nice nod to the past of this great company.

There is only one match with a legend vs. a current star that I see as possible at this point and it would be CM Punk against Steve Austin. I would say not only is it possible it may be required for Wrestlemania 32 if they plan on heading to the Dallas Cowboys stadium and filling it.

This currently seems so unlikely with Punk himself declaring himself retired and Austin seeming to have little interest in an in ring return. But to suggest a Goldberg, Sting or any other old dinosaur you care to bring back from the dead would draw I see it as being out of touch with things. The match with the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar was a harsh look at what happens when you go past your expiry date in the ring. The Undertaker is one of the most respected people in the history of this company but to watch him stumble his way through that match with as we learned a severe concussion was sad to watch. His streak ending overshadowed the fact that he had no business being in the ring in his condition at that stage.

It is so hard to accept when sports legends skills lose the battle with father time. Even harder when wrestlers who have tricks,smoke and mirrors suddenly are exposed as normal humans like you and me.

WWE has spend a lot of money in all of their developmental aspects and it is time to have faith in that money spent and create a new generation of stars and let them shine. That should be the lesson for the WWE coming off the whole failed Batista run they have learned.

Why am I not confident that they have learned much of anything from it? History, which they constantly seem to try to go back too with diminishing results of success as their go to answer to problems as this magical fix.  You want to use history for something WWE, how about for promoting your network. That is the place to do it not in the ring with the current roster today.

If anything has been made clear by the WWE audience in the last 2-3 years they want change. They want change yesterday and they still haven’t got it. CM Punk and his rise to stardom was all about a man that wanted change and an audience that embraced that man and said so do we. Punk is gone and the audience remains with that same desire for change.

Why CM Punk Is Not Walking Though That Door Till After July

 There is a lot of interesting stuff going on in WWE and not a lot of it has do with what is going on in the ring of late. More than a few people on the talent side of this company are not all that happy with the money that is coming their way. They have a right to be upset but technically the WWE isn’t doing anything wrong. So for those still holding out hope for C.M Punk to return prior to his contract coming due in July it isn’t happening and here is why. In my view, it is not that his body is too beat up to compete. This is a man that once made a return from a fractured skull ahead of time required to heal. It is not about being constantly harassed by fans which if that were a problem he would have been gone long before he was. I think without knowing anything personally, this is about Punk getting his fair share and in the end money. I am not saying Punk is greedy, I actually think he is taking a stand and setting the agenda or precedent for all contracts in the WWE for talent in the post WWE Network era. More about the morals of the whole thing and taking a stand.

To understand what is going on do you remember the Hollywood writers strike that got rid of all your favourite shows?  It was a dispute largely based on the right to compensation for writers that had their work used for digital content. The writers in their contracts did not have any rights to profit from it and hence were paid nothing extra based on that. They felt this was wrong and had a strike and walked out. Writers are part of a union and wrestlers are not. Jessie Ventura a large part of his issues with Hulk Hogan is based on Hogan killing an attempt at union Ventura was trying to create back in the 1980’s. Still in 2014 many feel a union will never be part of professional wrestling industry.

So the WWE Network unlike traditional PPV is digital content and as such wrestler’s payoffs for PPV’s have been drastically reduced. It is only common sense with two major cable providers dropping their PPV’s in the U.S. There has been other talk about video game payoffs being reduced as well but that might have been not of the WWE’s doing. THQ the makers of their video game series up until WWE 13 went bankrupt. It is safe to assume in the hurry to make sure the WWE video game came out on a time a rather quick deal was cut to ensure a game would be made. The WWE likely didn’t do so well on that deal based on being up against the clock. No, this is primarily a war over digital content and the future of how the company will be handled.

Punk had stated in his interview with Ariel Helwani that the WWE had not yet met with talent to explain how the WWE Network would affect their pay. This was the weekend prior to Punk leaving back in January of this year. It has been reported by several respected wrestling journalists and publications that to the best of their knowledge that meeting for talent has still not taken place in the middle of May.

The recent issues with Batista recently being reported likely have more to do with money promised than the promise of a run with WWE World Championship. Everybody really does have a price and that is a shoot as far as wrestling goes. WWE has not been meeting his to levels they had promised.

So that is why Punk likely is not back until later that his contract set to expire in July. If it was a shoot that he signed his contract the night of defeating John Cena at Money in the Bank that would make it July 17th 2014. Many say it simply goes to end of June. In any case for any Ring of Honor fans expecting CM Punk to show up in Nashville, Tennessee it is not going happen just based on the fact the contract will not be done with WWE. Also from all the reports that I have heard Punk is still being paid and their may be an understanding between the two that if he remains quiet that will continue.

I mean think about if Punk was retired why would someone known for being so outspoken have not taken to any forum open to him and speak is mind.

So in the end, C.M Punk maybe doing everyone in WWE a favour by sitting at home waiting for his contract to end, time will tell.  He may be just a greedy, smart and at the end of the day shrewd business man. At the end of the day a guy who in wrestling likes to have power could make himself the most powerful free agent in wrestling if he irons out a new contract that deals with the digital content and compensation issues. While Punk will likely not share that info with the public, I am sure he would to people he consider friends in the company.

At that point when the cat is out of the bag the WWE may have to look at re-working all the talents contracts.  This is something the WWE is trying very hard to avoid at all costs. It should be made clear that Vince McMahon is the biggest advocate to get Punk back. So it all makes for an interesting plot to sort out for the WWE. They still have yet to have a confirmation on where their T.V deal is at as well. While the product in the ring has been rocky with highs and lows since Wrestlemania the business side of things has become even crazier.

CM Punk may be the guy that sets the rules for the new world of WWE Contracts. If Batista doesn’t comeback after his break to promote his movie and Punk is not talking with them in July after his contract expires it might be reason to raise eyebrows assuming no one else causes a fuss prior to that. Funny how John Cena the face of the company is not all that concerned about things least not that anyone has said.  I guess when you are on that level they pay you enough to earn your silence.

This will be a year that will drastically impact on the future of the WWE for perhaps a generation to come and very little of it will be happening in a squared circle.

IWC Podcast Episode 4 The Rocky Road to Wrestlemania

We are back for another week with the normal cast of character myself and Chris Walder. We talk about the build or lack of build to Wrestlemania 30. Some thoughts on that as well as some thoughts on what ROH is doing right that TNA and WWE are not. Also some pretty cool booking ideas that I spitball for Mania and beyond.




Thanks for listening and please spread the word about the IWC podcast and the Condo on the Moon Blog.

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Raw Notebook: Realism and Proper Babyface Booking

In my transition into writing on wrestling I have tried to not fall into the typical stereotypes of what I see out there. Doing blogs or podcasts after Raw is the standard thing to do if you cover wrestling. I am not saying I will never fall into that standard type of things, but at this point I am focused on building myself an audience for this.

With that all said last night’s Raw in San Antonio had me compelled to talk about it a bit. From an in ring point of view the show wasn’t anything special at all.  Although I thought a couple of things on this show for me caught my attention that was different from the standard stuff we have come to expect from Raw.

The biggest thing I noticed was the treatment of Daniel Bryan. While on the surface it seemed the standard way Daniel Bryan has been treated on the program since Summerslam.

But look a little closer and it was different. Michael Cole who I have never praised for his commentary to any large degree at any time I can recall did a good job on this show. He drove home a theme of the night about Daniel Bryan causing problems between all the various heels on the show.

The show began with a promo by Triple H in which he would be interrupted by both Batista and Randy Orton. Batista and Orton were to say the least upset about HHH granting Bryan a match that could see him be a part of their main event match.

This caused HHH to be angry with them doubting his abilities to beat Bryan. In reality everyone does expect HHH to lose to set up the main event match that people want to see. HHH cut a great promo that actually was attacking both Orton and Batista using actual feelings of the fan base on both. 

Than he dropped the bomb on Batista and Orton but more in reality the fans watching when he declared there will be a triple threat match for the title at Wrestlemania 30 but it will not be Bryan in the match it is going to be him. In other words the winner of the Bryan vs. HHH match regardless of the outcome will put the winner in the Main Event for the title.

Brilliant because now fans that feel HHH is out to bury people now have a concern that maybe he just might now win his match with Bryan. This match lacked any drama to it and now it has some for people that question HHH’s desire be it in storyline or in reality to put over Daniel Bryan.

Cole did a good job selling the fact that Daniel Bryan was the cause behind all of this drama between the three. Fans are fully aware of the history of the three in evolution and in reality most are fully aware of the friendship between the three. Daniel Bryan even in storyline causing a riff between them makes him seem more important.

During the body of the show the riff also extended to between HHH and Stephanie. This again was sold by Cole as being caused by Bryan. In the end this tension was proven to be just a work that would get revealed in the final segment.

Still now it took people plotting to destroy or set-up Bryan which makes him important. In the end the show ended with HHH and Stephanie being on the same page. Steph would come out and call for the cops to arrest Daniel Bryan for his actions last week disrupting Raw. As it turned out the Cops were fake and had cuffed Bryan while Steph and Hunter were fighting outside of the ring. HHH enters the ring and at first looks like he is going to call off the cops but instead reveals the cops are phony and a beat down of Bryan commences. The fact Bryan is handcuffed makes him seem again important and a threat. HHH if he was so confident he could handle Daniel Bryan why go to the extent to have him handcuffed to beat him down.

The combination of Cole getting it over and the storyline made Daniel Bryan feel like he was being treated by the company as a top baby face.

While many will leave the show more concerned than ever about Daniel Bryan getting to the finish line at Wrestlemania the subtle seeds have been planted that he will.

What I also liked on this show was all the subtle jabs of the reality we had mixed in the program. From the opening segment we talked about to Bray Wyatt’s promo on John Cena to Christian on commentary. The WWE on this same show introduced a show for kids called Slam City that is basically the cartoons on the net that are a modern version of the old Hulk Hogan’s Rockin' Wrestling.

The Attitude Era is dead but for fans of that era if you can add more of those “Real Life” lines into promos it will be something that will appeal to that older Attitude Era crowd but sill stays in the WWE’s PG world. If you think about Jake” The Snake” Roberts  mainly existed in that kid friendly WWE era with Hulk Hogan and still did his thing. Bray Wyatt often draws comparison to him and can have that same amount of success. In the Attitude Era we likely see Bray Wyatt not just subtle reference to Nikki Bella but he likely kidnaps her and does God knows what. Back to Jake “The Snake” Roberts and his feud with Randy Savage. He would just intimidate Elizabeth and never cross that line too far. There is no reason to think Bray could not do something similar in his current situation.

There is a way for everyone to be somewhat happy at the end of the day. WWE just has to work extremely hard at doing that. Regardless of if people will believe it or not the exit of CM Punk might have served as a wake up call for folks in the WWE to work harder at reaching that goal. It seems like at least a legitimate theory as you can’t argue that Punk’s absence has not had an impact on the company having to alternate plans and re-evaluate.  This along with the continued strength of Bryan and the lack of strength of Batista has led to the most winding road to Wrestlemania we have seen in some time perhaps ever.

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IWC Podcast Back Talking Mania, ROH, And Divas Oh My

Week two what you gonna do brother! Well I will tell you we talk about Daniel Bryan and his road after Wrestlemania. TNA's return to PPV that was called Lockdown but by looks of the crowd maybe it should have been Lockout. While TNA struggles ROH seems to on the rise? Talk about the lack of knowledge about the Mania under card. Does a Battle Royal work in 2014 as a concept. In addition what former WWE Women's Champion is not a fan of the term Diva. We look at the state of Diva's Division in WWE.


If your enjoying the show please let people know about as we are trying to get this podcast off the ground and build an audience and a fanbase for this. We have some guests were trying to book for the upcoming weeks that we hope you will enjoy.

Yes! Yes! Yes! But What Happens After Wrestlemania 30 for Daniel Bryan?

It would appear after Raw that fans have got what they have not so quietly demanded for Wrestlemania 30. The table has been set for Daniel Bryan to be the star of Wrestlemania 30 in New Orleans. He will face Triple H sliding into the role originally cast for C.M Punk and when he wins would advance to the Main Event in a triple threat with Batista and Randy Orton.

Let’s give the WWE the benefit of the doubt and assume they book this as fans want to see it with Bryan going over HHH and winning the three way to close the show and end Wrestlemania with 70,000 or so chanting Yes! Yes! Yes!

All seems great right...but where fans often fail to think about is what comes next? So, Bryan finally has the Championship that people have wanted him to have since the summer now what?  Now what comes next and can he be anything different from what C.M Punk was in a similar position?

Will he actually be treated like the champion and the top guy in the company? Is John Cena going remain content being the second fiddle to Daniel Bryan in storyline? Probably not but he also isn't going to turn heel anytime soon. The babyface vs. babyface clash at Summerslam was deemed by Vince McMahon as a “Swing and a Miss” as far as a main event goes.

The obvious direction would be a program with Batista who was originally pegged to win the title, but thanks to a major miscalculation by WWE to reaction to his return he now is a heel instead of a face. Bryan is not exactly in a good place in a feud like this. Batista is not a guy that can hang with Daniel Bryan in terms of putting on a long and exciting high tempo match.

A guy that is sits on his couch in Chicago and seems unlike to leave it to return to WWE anytime soon. If he did the promo for a returning Punk writes itself and allows Punk to return as a heel. Bitter that the fans that once cheered for him now chant Yes! Yes! Yes! Angry that once Bryan got his matches at Mania the fans forgot about him. He is after all the Best in the World not Daniel Bryan. While he has no love for the Authority and Triple H at least he knows where he stands. While Bryan was a wolf in sheep’s clothing that stole his spot.

Bryan points out what all the fans have since Punk left that he abandoned them and was doing it about money and greed and not about loving the business like he claims he does. The two have feuded before in WWE but there would be some added realism to a feud like this that would get fans really excited.

Not holding my breath on this as it seems pretty clear CM Punk is in no rush to return to the WWE.

When you look at this roster as a whole with expected face turns for Roman Reigns and (Antonio) Cesaro around the corner the WWE is lacking top heels at the moment. Rusev should get a big heel push coming out of Mania from the lengthy build he is being given. He is not ready to move all the way to the top. Orton and Bryan we have seen far too often so he is not likely a fit for Bryan either.

As important as it was for Bryan to get his moment in the sun at Wrestlemania it will be just as important if not even more important that the follow up is strong once he gets to the top. While no one can deny how over he is once you reach that big moment if you don’t hang on to that momentum going forward the chances Bryan’s fan base gets fat and lazy and doesn’t Yes! As loudly as they did in the past is a concern. That may sound crazy but you only need to look at how fast people have jumped off the Punk bandwagon as proof that stardom can come and go real fast with very fickle wrestling fans of today.

After the big party on the night after Wrestlemania and the Yes chants blow the roof of the place what comes next? That is the question that Daniel Bryan’s short sighted fan base doesn’t have to answer that is one for the WWE to have to deal with. Add in the fact that this wasn’t their idea to begin with those who feel Daniel Bryan will have climbed the mountain with a Wrestlemania win of championship might have to think again.

The best advocate for Daniel Bryan is himself and if he is given those chances to connect with larger audiences and casual fans he can be a likeable guy just like a John Cena. It is just a matter of how really committed the WWE is in him and will they be willing to endure some bumps in a Daniel Bryan title reign to get him to that superstar main stream status like few guys have ever reached.?

Wrestlemania 30 is just a big battle in a long war that it has been to get Daniel Bryan to this point. The war and the fight are not over with 70.000 people going Yes! Yes! Yes! The funniest thing of all is the guy that appears the least concerned about all of this is Daniel Bryan. He does have going for him the fact he is a lot like a C.M Punk minus the moody attitude and unpredictability. Daniel Bryan is safe…just like a John Cena is safe. WWE has always liked the top guy in the company being the safe choice. This maybe based on battles in the past with HBK, Stone Cold and Punk to name but three. Less headaches dealing with a Cena or a Bryan and Vince is not getting any younger.