A few weeks before Wrestlemania, rumors began to surface. A mass exodus from Impact Wrestling was on the horizon, with the piece de resistance being the potential WWE return of Bobby Lashley. When the rumors were proven to be true, it should have been enormous news, but there was a major problem.

Bobby Lashley had returned.

It’s now almost two months later and Lashley’s return has fallen flatter than Titus O’Neill on a ramp. Easy jokes aside, let’s take a look at why the return has been such a failure.

First off, we must look at the return itself. In the world of WWE, MMA is currently king. Brock Lesnar is Universal Champion, Shayna Bazler is NXT Women’s Champion, and Ronda Rousey is treated as the biggest coup to the women’s division ever. In Bobby Lashley, you have a man who has been successful in the world of MMA, to the tune of a 15-2 record in his career. He’s every bit the legitimate fighter that Brock Lesnar is, but in the two months he’s been back, I can’t think of one instance where his MMA background has been mentioned. Not one.

Without that MMA background, he’s just Bobby Lashley, a guy that hasn’t been seen in WWE for about a decade. What was he doing in the decade away, baking cookies?

Now, I might be able to look the other way on this glaring omission if the re-debut itself positioned Lashley in a positive way. It did not.

Perception is everything in wrestling. Think back to 1999. In WCW, Chris Jericho was in the cruiserweight division and everyone in that division was positioned as such that they were less than the “important” members of the roster. They were a side show, and they would always be the side show. Realizing this, Chris Jericho left WCW to join the WWE. Now, had WWE debuted Jericho in a segment with Taka Michinoku in their Light Heavyweight division, I’m sure he would have done ok in that role, but he again would be treated as someone that lacks importance. Instead, the WWE chose to debut him in a segment with their biggest star, The Rock. This told the audience right away that Jericho was important, not fodder.

Conversely, the returning Bobby Lashley returned as the latest guy to interrupt Elias, which, while fun, tells the audience that he’s just like everyone else. Midcarders galore had interrupted the former drifter, so those new to Lashley see him as just another guy annoyed by the midcard heel.

Imagine though, if instead, his return went something like this: Paul Heyman is gloating in the ring about how even WWE’s golden boy Roman Reigns couldn’t defeat Brock Lesnar. No WRESTLER can beat Brock Lesnar…….and cue Lashley’s music. Out he comes, with Michael Cole explaining how Lashley is back after a decade of dominating in MMA. He stands toe to toe with Lesnar and they fight with no one getting the upper hand. They are pulled apart and the segment ends.

In this scenario, Lashley looks like a killer and a savior, and you don’t even have to follow up on that segment for months. That feud is ready to go when you want, and Lashley in the meantime looks like an enormous deal and someone to fear.

Going back to reality, we got Lashley the former star and quite honestly, he didn’t look or seem any different than he was in 2008. That’s not a good thing, considering his run from that time period was largely mediocre due to his total lack of personality. To alter that perception, this past Monday WWE decided to air an interview with Lashley to show the fans “what he’s all about”. What we got was an awkward sit-down where Lashley showed no range of emotion and told stories about his sisters. I suppose this is supposed to make us see him as a “family man”, but this is another case of WWE not understanding what they have.

The presentation of a Bobby Lashley should be simple. He’s similar to Brock Lesnar in that he’s huge, a successful athlete, and powerful. He also sounds like a 12-year-old when he speaks, so limiting that is always for the best. All you need to do is show him killing people and give him reason to do so. For a good idea of how, see how TNA booked him (yes, I’m praising TNA. Enjoy it while it lasts because it won’t happen often).

As it stands, we have a musclebound midcarder who’s happy to be back after a long hiatus, and one who’s first run we can’t even talk about because he once wrestled on behalf of our current US President. This is fixable though with an eventual turn on Braun Strowman. Maybe then we’ll get the Bobby Lashley we all want to see. It certainly can’t be any worse than the flop of a run we’re getting now.

Eric Cordova is the host of the Mouth of the South Shore Radio Show which can be found and followed at:

Originally, I was going to write this article for Friday, solely based on this tiny storyline going on in NXT. Then I read Cordova’s Commentary on the “Not So” Greatest Royal Rumble. Great read on the women. Then I saw Impact. Then I saw Backlash. It seemed like I was getting more and more fodder for this. You know the drill with main roster WWE. Their love of buzzwords, twisting perception, etc. But one buzzword that actually seems to resonate with many in a positive manner is “Women’s Revolution”. In short, Women’s wrestling in North-American TV no longer sucks. It’s no longer about their looks. Not that those are bad things, but {most} wrestling fans have grown to be sophisticated and long for quality in the ring. You can’t blind them with just being tall on in the case of females, by having a large rack. WWE has in fact developed a complete generation of women and are already working on the second one. Just look at NXT the past few weeks.

Since Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title, we’ve gotten a completely clean slate on the division. There is no more Ember Moon who could be seen as the last of the first generation of women in NXT. She carried what Asuka left. Her streak, her dominance and before her was Bayley with the rest of the 4 Horsewomen. NXT is now starting clean, introducing us to the likes of Lacey Evans, Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair and one that has struck a cord with me lately: Dakota Kai.

See, Dakota has something I consider odd. When you binge Raw, Smackdown, 205, NXT and whatever other show WWE musters, you notice trends. And Dakota is breaking one by showing something a lot (and I mean A LOT) of people refuse to show in wrestling. Fear. She fears Shayna Baszler who broke her arm twice. Now to the “muy macho” world of WWE and pro wrestling at large, fear can be seen as synonymous with weakness. A big no-no for them. It shatters their image of manliness. Or wo-manliness here. Provided Saudi Arabia doesn’t make a generous donation. But fear is not a sign of weakness. No, it is a very powerful storytelling device that can show many things. Perseverance. Courage. Self-Improvement. That all starts with fear and can give a very dynamic story. Something you can see in say Jessica Jones where she fears Killgrave (The Purple Man for us real nerds) for the horrible things he did to her. That’s just one of many examples. But it gives Dakota Kai a point of interest and something very different to the norm. And if I do say so, a very positive story about how to deal with bullying if it does end up with Dakota eventually beating Baszler. It’ll certainly be better than Nia Jax dominating Alexa Bliss and then giving a pre-written Be A Star ad, that’s for sure.

But hey, that’s not the only dynamic story involving women on TV. Nope. Our pals on Impact Wrestling are also having their own “out of nowhere” renaissance of women’s wrestling. With Allie, Rosemary, Taya Valkyrie and Su Yung on top, Tessa Blanchard coming in, Kiera Hogan being an out of nowhere surprised. Last week Impact gave us something different when they headlined with Rosemary vs Su Yung. No, it wasn’t different because women closed the show. No, beforehand we saw what felt like a genuine friendship. Allie begging to help her best friend Rosemary who in turn, refused. Worried for her friend’s safely. The match takes place and Su Yung summons a casket. Planning to throw Rosemary in there, but Allie appears against the wishes of her friend to help. But just as Rosemary predicted, Allie falls in danger. But Su Yung ends up attacking Rosemary, driving her through a table as her best friend is forced to watch in horror. Now what? Allie disobeyed. Rosemary is hurt. Su Yung is still getting the upper hand. Is Allie heartbroken thinking this is all her fault? That is a gripping story right there. There’s emotions for you to grasp.

What’s Raw offering? Well, while people can relate to Nia Jax being bullied for her weight, that goes straight to the dumpster when you see her dominate a person a third of her size. As Backlash showed, fan’s did not buy it or her phony Be A Star promo afterwards. And what’s Smackdown offering? Not Asuka’s streak. Not a strong Charlotte reign. Nope. WWE decided to trade all that in favor of Carmella. Who in her second singles match of 2018 (besides the cash in) had a terrible match with Charlotte. That is what was selected to follow one of the best women’s matches in WWE history. It certainly was the best in Wrestlemania.

What’s my point? Well, it’s simple. The true appreciation for the “Women’s Revolution” doesn’t come from Raw and Smackdown who are yet to shake all the cobwebs of their “Divas” days. No, it still comes from the alternatives. Time will tell how WOH will shape up in ROH. But for now, if you want your women to be as dynamic if not more given the two examples above, than the men, you’re better off searching for it in NXT and Impact. It’s great that women now get to have big time matches and have prominent spots on your rosters but, we as fans also crave good storytelling to go with it and WWE’s main roster is just not delivering right now while it’s developmental field continues to show them up and now the same company that let themselves go for 5 years and fell on hard times is actually picking itself up to offer something WWE doesn’t yet again with it’s own new crop of women.

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Thank you for reading. My name is AB Morales, Puertorican Dirt Sheet writer, a friend of KB for years. You can find and follow me here:

Facebook | Where I have my own personal blog with daily wrestling updates and even cover anime and videogames once in a while.

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A week ago today, the WWE turned heel.

I’m not kidding guys. Chant it loud and proud, because for once, one of the most famous taunts in wrestling is true and real.

YOU SOLD OUT.

But hey, it’s not unexpected. After all, one of their own once said that “everyone has a price”. And if rumors are true, the WWE’s price is somewhere in the range of 9 figures for an event. That’s a lot of money, and to be fair, I’ve agreed to hypothetically do a bunch of a ridiculous things for far less money (who didn’t play the “would you do this for a million dollars” game as kids?), but then again, I don’t have all that much money to begin with. Desperation is a powerful tool, greed is an evil one.

All of this leads us to last Friday’s Greatest Royal Rumble, a royal-serving celebration of a country with very controversial values, stances, and actions. It was an overly glorified house show, with the biggest moment being the crowning of the Woken Wyatt team as Tag Champs. The problem was, it was not treated as a house show, it was treated as a major show, with some wondering whether it was “bigger than WrestleMania”.

This becomes problematic because treating it like an important show means that you had some major talents that were not involved in such a major show. And what’s worse, the reasoning for those talents not being involved ranges from troublesome to downright disgusting.

The most obvious, glaring omission from the show was anyone lacking a Y chromosome. In Saudi Arabia, women just recently were granted the right to drive cars, so it should come as no surprise as to their ban on female in ring performers. What’s worse though, is that an ad aired for the show and female performers were accidentally shown in the ad. As a result, the kingdom APOLOGIZED to its people for such a display. If you are a feminist, THIS should be your battleground. For anything we see in America, we certainly don’t apologize to our nation for daring to show talented women performing a sport!

What a major step back for a revolution that, if you believe the rumors, may culminate in main eventing WrestleMania next year. And to think, these women could be THE attraction at WrestleMania, but one month later not be featured at all on the next “huge” show.

That alone should raise some eyebrows, but it isn’t the end of the issues. Another talent that did not appear on the show was Sami Zayn. He is of Syrian descent and felt uncomfortable performing in a country that does not get along with his people. And again, if this were a house show, it probably wouldn’t be a big deal. But when you promote this as a huge event and advertise that he will be there, it makes you look quite stupid to not have the decency to ask first.

Lastly, the semi-main event of the show featured Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. In the week leading up, there was speculation that Paul Heyman would not be in Brock’s corner for the match, so rumors spread as to why. But here’s something that is not a rumor. Saudi Arabian law forbids entry into the country if your passport has been stamped by Israel. So, if Heyman, a Jewish man, took his kids to their homeland at some point, Brock would have been advocate-less on Friday.

Of course, nothing of what I said made any difference in WWE’s decision-making. But what makes it worse is the insufferable pandering the WWE does when they do these shows. I mean, if you watched the show in a vacuum, you’d think the Saudi royal family were these wonderful, hospitable people and the Saudis are the most wonderful people in the world. I don’t want to put down an entire nation and I’m sure there’s a lot of great people there, but the incessant gratitude was nauseating if you thought about even half of what we have discussed. It’s status quo for wrestling though. You give us money, we’ll put you over. For proof, see the obnoxious post-Mania crowds that the announce team called “passionate”.

Money talks, and WWE listens.

And therein lies the biggest problem, WWE is profitable. Had this show flopped or had the Saudis not given WWE handfuls of guaranteed money, these criticisms might mean something. But because the WWE can collect in the tens of millions simply for showing up once a year, it will all fall on deaf ears. Not that I’m deluding myself into thinking the WWE will read my column or anything.

Whether they read it or not though, here’s the truth. WWE should be ashamed of itself for pandering so hard to a backwards culture and for their willingness to sell out their women, Syrians, Jews, and whomever else was and is hurt by their event in Saudi Arabia. And all for a show that wasn’t even that good.

Eric Cordova is the host of the Mouth of the South Shore Radio Show which can be found and followed at:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MouthOfTheSouthShoreRadioShow/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/MOTSSRadio

Website – Listen LIVE every Wednesday at 9pm at https://www.i95sportsnetwork.com/

The year is 1999, and for some reason, the millennium came early.

I’m sure everyone remembers or has checked out the WWE network to see one of the great debuts in WWE history. Instead of the countdown clock existing to usher in a new year, it ushered in a new superstar in Chris Jericho.

In August.

Shortly after Jericho’s debut, a strange symbol started appearing on the Titantron. For weeks, we saw only this symbol, wondering what it meant. At the Royal Rumble, we found out that it meant Red Hook was invading the WWF in the form of Tazz.

Had those two guys been around today, things would be a bit different. They’d both be young, hungry, and coming from smaller wrestling organizations than WWE. Thus, a year in NXT would likely be in the cards and if the NXT crowd takes to them, the internet would be abuzz with their impending debuts the week after Wrestlemania.

Ho. Hum.

While I do see the value in the system that has been created today, I struggle to see how the overly formulaic strategy is, in the words of the family that runs the place, “best for business”. After all, didn’t spontaneity allow that same family to become THE family in wrestling?

It did, but that isn’t an excuse to rely on a calendar to do all your work for you. Instead of feuds dictating gimmick matches, the calendar does. And while many have addressed that, few have addressed the backlash to reserving debuts solely for Wrestlemania week.

Just this year, we were treated to one of the best TakeOver events ever. For me though, the thing that holds it back is what holds back every Takeover on Wrestlemania weekend, the predictability. When 60% of your matches feature individuals and teams that are near certainties to get the call up, you know they aren’t winning their matches. And the bigger problem, is what happens afterwords.

I remember hearing a while back that due to some of the main roster flops of his “babies”, Triple H wanted all NXT talent set to debut to have 6 months of storylines ready to go. This was so that each debuting talent would have a real opportunity to succeed on the main roster. Fast forward to today, and outside of The Iconics, who else debuted with a story?

The answer is nobody, and worse, people who were somebodies in NXT are coming to the main roster were little fanfare. A lot of smarter fans (many of whom likely read this site) said things like this before Wrestlemania weekend:

“I’m picking Baszler because Ember will probably go to the main roster after Mania.”

“I got Black because Almas and Vega should be headed up north” (because it’s still the 80’s and the main roster is considered “New York”……)

When you know someone is leaving, it negatively effects what you’re watching (see Lesnar, Brock vs Goldberg, Bill 2004), and why this has become the status quo, I can only venture a guess, laziness.

Yes, the ever-present trope of rematch clauses, trilogies, and now set debut times are conveniently easy for the writers. And because us fans have fed into it, and we look forward to the post-Mania debuts, we let it happen. I admit, even I’m guilty of getting hyped for the returns and debuts the night after Mania. Of course, it’s kind of like getting the date with the hot, lame cheerleader. The idea of it happening is far better than when it actually happens.

The sad thing is, WWE is capable of debuting these talents with fanfare and importance. Samoa Joe burst onto the scene as HHH’s muscle and he has been treated as a main eventer ever since. Kevin Owens debuted against John Cena and has never faltered. Both took place organically within an existing storyline, so their debuts were treated as an important continuation, not just a “hey look, they’re here!” scenario.

The point is, while I’m not totally against the post-Mania debuts, I certainly think we can do better. The calendar should not be dictating what happens in wrestling, the stories should. When wrestling is at its best, things just fit. We’ve seen it before. I don’t want writer laziness to take away from us ever seeing it again.

Eric Cordova is the host of the Mouth of the South Shore Radio Show. The show airs live on Wednesday nights at 9pm at i95sportsnetwork.com and TuneInRadio (i95). Follow the show at the Mouth of the South Shore Radio Show page on Facebook and @motssradio on Twitter and Instagram.

IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling

Hi, my name is AB Morales, otherwise known as Killjoy from WrestleZone Forums. A good buddy of KB since he started this website and he’s offered me a column spot here. Thank you very much for your time and reading my first piece here and I hope to do more.

It feels like it was such a long time ago, but years ago the options for wrestling were quite scarce. WWE was obviously the most accesible. But if you were not a fan of WWE for one reason or another, the pickings were slim. But alternative did exist. It’s name was controversial. As was it’s image. It was TNA: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Now, it wasn’t controversial because it was this edgy product pushing the boundaries. No, it’s because for many, it was a terrible product that just looked nice. But for others, it was the wrestling company that wasn’t embarrassed to say it was wrestling. That wasn’t shilling its cellphone app as if you were too dumb to know how your phone worked. For all it’s faults, TNA was there to be the second choice. And many took it. But as we know, over time they fell behind with the advent of other the counter online services and the rise of other companies across the world. TNA was no longer the alternative. There were far more now.

As TNA, now Impact Wrestling, struggled to grasp to its audience and dealing with it’s own internal turmoil, their fanbase dwindled. Their brand name diminished in the public eye and the company has been on the bring of death several times. But come 2018, there’s a VERY minor sense of optimism towards the now called Impact Wrestling. Coming off a Pay-Per-View most consider good. Other’s as it’s best show in years, there is a sense of establishment to Impact that it has not had since losing its Spike TV deal in 2014. Characters are being established, they’re grasping their placement on the card and for once, you can feel optimistic about their weekly TV. Sure, it’s not perfect. It still has the faults TNA is known for. But Impact once again feels like an alternative worth selecting.

With the likes of Pentagon Jr, Brian Cage, Aerostar, Drago, Fenix and Hijo del Fantasma from Lucha Underground coming in to bolster their roster, Austin Aries being both a familiar and established top star for the promotion and other acts like the new LAX, Allie and Rosemary growing their name as well as the feud between Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan seemingly giving Impact it’s highest ratings on Pop TV since the advent of the Broken Universe, things do seem to be looking up for Impact. Not to mention, it also seems like after a lot of turmoil and chaos that the company has finally found a stable management.

At the end of the day, what I’m trying to say is that Impact Wrestling is not as bad as it used to be. I know that’s not the most endearing thing to say, but as someone who went through heck and high water for TNA’s sake for many years, I want to give it another go. While no one can deny the superiority of NJPW or that ROH is another choice, Impact is still the most accesible alternative to the WWE out there. It’s also far more open to work with other companies as evidenced by their alliance with Lucha Underground which has been a great help to both promotions. While time will tell if Impact Wrestling has indeed found it’s second footing, I can say that I’m cautiously positive about them right now. They’re clearly in a better place now than they have been the past 3 years.

Thank you for your time, my name is AB Morales. You can find me in the following.

Facebook | Where I have my own personal blog with daily wrestling updates and even cover anime and videogames once in a while.

Twitch | Where I stream videogames and do occasional art streams.

Twitter | Where I do….., well it’s Twitter.

This is a new series that will be airing every Friday.  Eric Cordova is someone I’ve known for a long time and I’ve read and listened to his takes on wrestling for years.  He’s got a very good mind for this stuff and he’s worth checking out.  Every week he’ll be having a column here and I can highly recommend you check it out.  He’ll be around in the comments so please let us know what you think as he’ll be there to respond.

Just Wait Until Next Year

By Eric Cordova

Before we get started, I’m going to suck up a bit. My friend KB has allowed me to share some thoughts weekly on his site, and for that, I am grateful. So, every Friday, be on the lookout for some commentary and I look forward to interacting with the rabid KB fans I hear so much about. With that out of the way, let’s talk wrestling, shall we?

After last year’s Wrestlemania, two stars shone brighter than the rest. In one main event, Brock Lesnar captured the Universal Championship, while in the other, Roman Reigns retired the Undertaker (except if a man in jorts calls him out of course). With those two results, obviously the paths would have to clash at some point, perhaps in New Orleans at next year’s Wrestlemania?

And therein lies the problem.

Wrestling is a living, breathing thing. As a live show, it evolves by the second, adapting and catering to the will of the fans in attendance and adjusting weekly to the audience at home. A great and many times, the WWE has fully understood this and delivered upon it.

Remember back in 2014 when The Bella Twins wrestled Paige and Emma for a grand total of 30 seconds? Twitter does, as #givedivasachance became so popular that the WWE has completely altered the presentation of its female performers.

This has happened many times, but it seems more common these days for the WWE writers to have a long-term plan and refuse to deviate from it under any circumstance.

Consider 2012. On Raw 1000, The Rock shows up and lays out a challenge to CM Punk for the WWE title. Of course, that challenge wouldn’t be for that night, but for when The Rock felt like coming back, The Royal Rumble. So, from that night in July on, we knew not to invest in any CM Punk feud because no matter what, we were getting Punk/Rock in January. This was especially unfortunate for a certain cornfed meathead.

I must ask though, would CM Punk vs The Rock have held your attention less if say, Ryback, the superstar I alluded to, won the title for a brief time in the fall? Speaking only for myself, it wouldn’t have made a difference in that match, but it would have made a major difference in the career of Ryback. Instead, we saw Ryback face loss after loss, effectively killing his main event run because of the fear of deviation.

This year, we saw Roman Reigns take on Brock Lesnar in the main event of Wrestlemania, not because he was the most over superstar, the most successful superstar, or the superstar who had the best year. We saw that match because the writers decided in April of 2017 that it was going to happen no matter what. Here’s why this line of thinking doesn’t work.

At least year’s Wrestlemania, Braun Strowman was in the pre-show Battle Royale and eliminated early by a group of competitors. No writer, or fan for that matter, could have foresaw his meteoric rise to the top of the company that perhaps should have culminated in a main event slot at Wrestlemania.

And how about Samoa Joe? From Authority lackey to being the most believable superstar matched up with Brock Lesnar, he too could have slotted in nicely to that main event slot if not for injury.

It seems that, outside of 2014, which I’m not totally convinced was an actual deviation from the plan, lately the modus operandi of the WWE writers is to decide a year in advance who the main event next year will be and stick to it like a t-shirt to skin on a hot summer day.

But why bring it up now? Wrestlemania is over and there’s no reason to be bitter about Reigns and Lesnar, especially when a true curveball was thrown our way with the Lesnar win. That’s true, but remember, it’s April of 2018, so if you’re a WWE writer, you’re already thinking about Wrestlemania NEXT YEAR.

Almost immediately after this year’s edition ended, rumors started flying about next year’s show of shows. At the top of the rumor list was next year’s potential main event. After a stellar first showing, it has already been rumored that Ronda Rousey would main event next year’s show. Most thought Ronda’s submissions and striking would be a perfect match for the technical and physical prowess from Asuka, and with both potentially undefeated, you get the ultimate in “something’s got to give”. But this is WWE, where writers decide what’s best, not the fans.

The hot rumor now is Rousey vs. Charlotte in the main event of Wrestlemania 35, because what would any female accomplishment be without Charlotte Flair?

Either way, the bigger issue at play here is that I fully believe that this match will in fact close Wrestlemania 35. Whether it deserves it or not, its fate may have already been decided. And while the women main-eventing a Wrestlemania would truly be history-making, that slot should be decided based on what makes sense come next year. Heck, maybe Bayley or Becky Lynch, or even Ember Moon becomes the hottest thing in WWE by that time. Perhaps Nia fully gets over. Or maybe something happens in the men’s division that takes the wrestling world by storm and postpones the first female main event for reasons of merit.

None of the aforementioned scenarios would be a negative, but what would be is sticking to the plan laid out 12 months prior regardless of how things play out. The rigidity of WWE’s long term booking has been a writing crutch for far too long. It’s about time they embrace a little indecision and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of listening to its fans.

Eric Cordova is the host of the Mouth of the South Shore Radio Show. The show airs live on Wednesday nights at 9pm at i95sportsnetwork.com and TuneInRadio (i95). Follow the show at the Mouth of the South Shore Radio Show page on Facebook and @motssradio on Twitter and Instagram.