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The August 25th episode of Raw kicked off with a Hall of Fame forum featuring three of the biggest names in professional wrestling history. Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair went on to engage in a half-hearted debate about John Cena that served as a microcosm for a glaring problem in WWE. The conversation centered on whether or not Cena still had it. But as each legend went through the motions, unnaturally reciting scripted talking points, a greater question arose. Do any of these guys still have it? The answer to that question should be yes. In fact, there shouldn't even be a question. Like a great ...

Curtis Axel's plane will veer downward now that his co-pilot Ryback is at home healing up. Axel's biggest opportunities as of late came by way of the tag team division. Without his partner, he's destined to fall lower on the card, as evidenced by what WWE has asked him to do since he's reentered singles competition. RybAxel has to be temporarily shelved. Half of the duo just underwent surgery. Ryback addressed his fans from his hospital bed, telling them that he needed to repair some nagging injuries: His absence removes Axel from the tag team division unless WWE seeks out another partner for him. That's bad ...

Let’s be honest: Randy Orton’s character is woefully stale, something even his recent feud with Roman Reigns hasn’t managed to rectify. His promos are dull, predictable and monotone. Despite the tantalizing hint a few weeks back that his feud with Reigns had reignited his vicious streak, Orton's character hasn’t developed too much either. He still gets regular TV time as a member of the all-powerful Authority stable, but he doesn’t seem nearly as important as Seth Rollins, Triple H or Stephanie McMahon. His clean loss to Reigns at SummerSlam might also be an indication that the bookers are finally seeing the limits ...

Villainy and viciousness delivered the best WWE moments of the week. From Randy Orton channeling his inner predator to Goldust and Stardust becoming more savage, fans saw the heels taking center stage. Brock Lesnar was the star of Monday's Raw without even showing up. Tyson Kidd wore the most grating of grins after stealing a victory on Thursday's NXT.  Nikki Bella and Bray Wyatt didn't join in the success of their peers. Nikki keeps failing with a mic in her hand. WWE keeps forgetting that Wyatt is supposed to be a monster. The week's standout performances instead belonged to the WWE production team, Orton and ...

Ryback delivered one of the best WWE promos of his career by way of a viral video shot from his hospital bed. The Big Guy is one of the stars of the week's best WWE-related tweets, Instagram photos and other social media. Goldust and Stardust, a new WWE cartoon and The Honky Tonk Man made their way onto the list as well. Social media gives fans access they didn't have before. That was especially clear this week. Take Ryback's loopy speech, for example. The powerhouse was set to have surgery to repair some nagging injuries. He addressed fans in hilarious fashion: WWE needs to ...

My previous article provided an overview of the strategy which WWE has adopted in their pursuit of more subscribers for the WWE Network. The five-prong strategy (new content, new geographies, new distribution platforms, new features, marketing campaign) makes sense, but it's not enough. There’s still much more that could be done to improve WWE Network adoption rates.   Business analysis When a businesses are concerned with the profitability of a product, they have many options on how to address the situation. They can raise the product's price. They can work on lowering cost of goods for the product. They can target increasing distribution of ...

The August 28 episode of NXT was one of the biggest and most newsworthy in recent months, and it came at a time when the brand is putting the final touches on the card for its next two-hour live event special, Takeover II. William Regal is the new general manager, and he wasted no time making a monumental decision. Confronted by three men who all believed they were the rightful No. 1 contender to Adrian Neville's NXT Championship and pressured by Neville himself, Regal booked a Fatal 4-Way match for the title on September 11. Later in the night, Neville teamed with ...

Shortly after their SummerSlam main event, Triple H unceremoniously announced a rematch between John Cena and Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions. Thus far, WWE has presented Cena as a more of a threat to Lesnar in order to create hope in the minds and hearts of his supporters. In order to justify a rematch rather than a rerun, WWE may feel the need to book a match different from their August squash. While there will almost certainly be differences from the Staples Center slaughter of Cena at SummerSlam, a significant change can be as simple as having the rematch end in a referee ...

Brock Lesnar is The Beast Incarnate and the current WWE world heavyweight champion. The new champ defeated John Cena at SummerSlam on August 17, and while he is not a full-time Superstar, his impact is felt even when he's not around. And that impact is leading many fans to believe Lesnar will ultimately have a hand in truly stopping Cena's reign atop the company.  In fact, it could very well be said that he is the fan favorite to end Cena's run as WWE's top star. When fans think of the term "fan favorite," they likely think of a babyface.  It's a logical ...

The August 28 episode of NXT featured the appointment of William Regal to the role of general manager, the announcement of the NXT Takeover II main event and a huge tag team headliner. Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd were informed that all three of them would challenge Adrian Neville for the NXT Championship at Takeover II and then competed in a heated main event that saw Kidd and Breeze pick up a hard-fought win over their popular opponents. Bayley and Charlotte had a confrontation two weeks out from their clash over the NXT Women's Championship. The champion again warned her ...