Letter From the Editor #1 – Punk’s Disrespect, TNA Logic & More

First and foremost I want to give a huge shout-out to my awesome staff here at WrestlingRumors.net, and welcome each and every one of you, the readers at home. As you can tell by our layout and (hopefully) in the quality of our articles, we are striving a little bit more each day to bring some class and dignity to the wrestling “dirt sheets”. I would also like to apologize for some of the site maintenance and crashing issues many of you may have dealt with in the past few weeks – they are being worked on, and hopefully will be completely resolved in the near future.

And now, to the matter at hand…

***CM Punk tossed Paul Bearer’s iconic urn on the ground this past Monday night on Raw. We’ll probably never know if the slip up was accidentally or planned, but it happened. More to the point, Punk has spent the past two weeks disrespecting the passing of one of pro wrestling’s all-time great managers. He’s also a close personal friend and mentor of the Undertaker. The million dollar question floating around on social media recently has been “should we be fine with this?”

Yes. Absolutely. Mourn the loss of Paul, and cherish the memories you’ve gained over his decades-long career. But anyone that knew Bearer would tell you he’d be the first to make light of this tragedy; he’d probably be the one in the back running down the promo with Punk on Monday, if it were at all possible. ‘Taker is the most respected voice of the WWE locker room, barring no exception – there will probably never be a more feared and looked-up-to man in the history of the business. Even Punk, uppity and disrespectful as he may be when the time calls for it, wouldn’t cross that line if he weren’t sure it was 1) cleared with the Deadman, and 2) good for business. Their match at WrestleMania is going to sell the card for a lot of people. In wrestling, there is no such thing as “too much”. Respect and disrespect – good press and bad press – all translates to dollar signs. If you’re uncomfortable with the angle, not many would blame you. But know that CM Punk is doing his job, and doing it well.

***As of Tuesday, TNA will have tapped all of their “One Night Only” pay-per-views going through February of 2014. These events range from tag team tournaments to Knockout debuts and more. They’ve had a lot of criticism online from fans over these shows – why spend money on shows we can read about online? My thoughts, and I think TNA is following the same sort of logic, is that fans reading about these shows over the next few months will actually build more anticipation, not less. Why buy WrestleMania this year, when you already know the outcome of all the main events – yet we’re all cashing our stocks and selling our kids for that $60 PPV buy. Tens of thousands of people will spend much more in NY/NJ come April.

Here’s the reality: wrestling fans, or at least enough of them to make a profit (they hope) aren’t paying to be surprised. I’ll pay to see good matches, even though I have to report on spoilers and know the results ahead of the time. When August rolls around, people might pay $15-20 to see epic rivalries rehashed. Angle/Joe, Roode/Storm, Hardy/Aries, etc. There’s still money to be made of ECW fans and the sequel to Hardcore Justice being tapped this Tuesday.I will probably fork out the cash in July to see Serena Deeb and Cheerleader Melissa wrestle for TNA.

As somebody who has seen the cards and read the results for all these results, I can tell you I want to see them. NOW. I don’t want to wait three, four or seven months to see some of these matches and it’s infuriating! That’s what TNA is banking on – they’re already recorded, they did them all in a matter of weeks, and now they can only make money off their pre-recorded endeavors. It’s kind of “indie” for a bigger company like TNA, but it’s by no means a bad move, and I not only understand but support their logic. My only complaint is that the creative team is kind of boxing themselves into a corner – either that or things aren’t going to make sense in November when the Aces  & Eights fight for a World Cup trophy. But at the end of the day, wrestling fans are crying and whining for “more wrestling” and “better wrestling” – TNA is trying to deliver, and if you really support what you claim to support, you’ll buy (or at least watch) the events when the time comes.

***Brock Lesnar and Triple H are selling WrestleMania for me right now. They’re the only two (three with Heyman) on the roster with the Road to WrestleMania intensity needed to pry $60 from my wallet. Hell, they’re the only two – outside of maybe Swagger and del Rio – who seem to be aware that WWE’s biggest event of the year is only two weeks away. I was originally disappointed in the two rematches scheduled way ahead of time, but I’ll also admit when I’m wrong. Cena and Rock (read: WWE creative and management) are doing nothing to sell their match. The new WWE title might help, but it hasn’t been seen on Raw outside of video packages in two weeks.

Heyman’s promo skill is a big part of the reason Lesnar/Hunter works. I just want to point out that while Triple H’s “career” is on the line in his match at WrestleMania – which he will almost definitely win – there’s more to that idea than what meets the eye. Guarantee it. The Game’s career extends far beyond his limited in-ring appearances; Heyman will make a play for the WWE day-to-day, and I’d bet my next paycheck on that.