The formatter threw an exception while trying to deserialize the message: Error in deserializing body of request message for operation 'Translate'. The maximum string content length quota (30720) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This quota may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 2, position 32005.
The formatter threw an exception while trying to deserialize the message: Error in deserializing body of request message for operation 'Translate'. The maximum string content length quota (30720) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This quota may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 1, position 32208.

1. Day 548 - Social Media: Good or Bad for the world of wrestling?

2. Day 549 - 10 Fearless Predictions for the 2nd Half of 2011

2.5 Day 550 - Raw Running Diary

4. Day 551 - Operation: Save Smackdown (Again)

Day 548

*By Request*

If you know anything about me, you know I'm really big into the world of social media. Going all the way back to the blog site Xanga, where I had a few different blogs going at the same time, through MySpace, to Facebook and now to Twitter (@HustleLOP, but be warned, I tweet a lot). It's always been a great way to keep in touch with people, as well as to create relationships with new people, and now, with Twitter, it's a fantastic way to get breaking news before it hits the rest of the internet and/or television.

The world of pro wrestling was very late to join the social media explosion, but when they arrived, they really made themselves known. You can't go five minutes on WWE programming without the mention of WWE's Facebook page having more fans than the Facebook page of so-and-so or such-and-such, or the mention of the Twitter accounts of various WWE personalities. Impact has mentioned their fair share of Twitter accounts on-air, as well.

The question, however, is whether the social media craze is helping or hurting the business?

Just about every single one of you, at first thought, would say that it's helping. No matter what your opinion of Zack Ryder and his internet show happens to be, you can't deny just how popular he has become in the IWC, and it's all thanks to Twitter, where he has been able to spread the word about his show. At this very moment, he has nearly 136,000 followers on Twitter, and they all hang on his every tweet, waiting for his new video to be posted on a weekly basis. I'm not arguing against any of that at all, but the thing is.. what has it really done for him? All the Twitter followers. All the views on YouTube. All the signs on Raw and the pay-per-views. All the Ryder-related chants. All of it, mixed together.. and not only does he not wrestle on television, but he rarely even makes appearances on television. Therefore, you can make a very strong argument that social media hasn't done much of anything for Ryder just yet, because it's pretty clear that we, the IWC, don't really matter much in the grand scheme of things. If Twitter and YouTube never existed, Ryder would probably still be in the exact same spot that he's in at the moment. Some would say he would have been released a long time ago if not for social media, but I disagree. They've got to keep someone around to job, don't they?

While Twitter can be a fun place to get to know the real people behind the personas and characters we see on television, I think the problem is that there's still too much of a muzzle on them, whether it's by order or whether it's because they're afraid of getting in trouble. Let me preface that, actually, by saying that I completely understand that some rules need to be put in place. As a publically traded company.. one that markets its product towards a younger audience and that has a TV-PG product.. you can't just have your workers on Twitter saying whatever the hell comes to their minds, getting themselves in trouble and possibly costing the company money by pissing fans and sponsors off. I get that. That's fine. However, you just can't help but feel that a lot of wrestling personalities (especially the WWE ones) aren't really being themselves, and that we're getting very sterilized versions of what they're really like, and that's a shame. This is going to make for an awful comparison, but take Charlie Sheen, for example. One of the main reasons he saw such a ridiculously big spike in popularity on Twitter was due to the fact that he had no real filter between his brain and what he'd type. He'd tweet what was on his mind, no matter how controversial it was, and often, no matter how little sense it just so happened to make. He was a must-follow for a long time, up until he began tweeting more and more, all while making less and less sense. That's why CM Punk is the only WWE employee that I would consider a must-follow right now. Punk has basically been "shooting" on Twitter since he signed up for an account. When there's something to be negative about, he's negative about it. He's never seemed to worry about being "politically correct" or being one of those "yes men" he referenced in his Raw promo. That type of honesty and candor is refreshing these days, and I will forever appreciate him for it.

I know what a lot of people are thinking about in regards to tonight's topic.. John Cena and The Rock continuing their feud. I'll say this much, right here and right now.. I'm tired of it already. It's been about three months since WrestleMania 27, and their feud hasn't had much of anything happen just yet. It's the same thing from both guys, over and over again. It's a picture of Rock, standing next to something funny looking, along with some sort of caption saying that he took a picture with Cena. It's a tweet from Cena, saying that he's live and in person for the WWE Universe, while Rock is posing for pictures and doing everything but appearing live and in person for the WWE Universe. It highlights the problem with booking a main event a year in advance, and especially when half of that main event isn't a regular performer. First and foremost, the average WWE fan doesn't have a Twitter account, so they aren't following the "thrilling" back and forth between Cena and Rock like they could/should be. If not for CM Punk mentioning the match during his Raw promo, I guarantee you that a lot of fans had completely forgot that Cena and Rock were set to face each other at WrestleMania 28. Perhaps not the hardcore wrestling fans, but the casual ones, for sure. Every time Cena and/or Rock tweet the same old shit to each other, it makes me look forward to their match less and less, because it makes me realize just how far away the match is. Something tells me that isn't the preferred reaction that the company is going for.

Right now.. late in the PM hours of July 2nd, 2011.. there's a lot more negatives than positives about social media in the professional wrestling world. Don't get it twisted.. I'm a big fan of the two having a steamy relationship and making babies.. but they're going about it all wrong right now. I know the "muzzle" I talked about earlier isn't going away at any point in the near future, so that can't change, but what would be a nice start is finding every wrestling personality that tweets in kayfabe, and slapping them across the face repeatedly with a rainbow trout. It's 2011, you rat bastards. Stop living in the age of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, when everything in the wrestling world was "real".

Another step would be to push the guys who actually find ways of getting themselves over on the internet, without having to use television time to do it. It's a wild idea, I know.. pushing people that the fans want to see.. but it's wild enough that it just might work. There's absolutely nothing to lose in attempting to push a guy like Zack Ryder. I've said it before, and I'll say it again.. I don't mean having him main event and giving him WWE Title shots. I'm talking about starting things off slowly and just giving him regular time on television, possibly working up to a shot at the United States Title. The fans want to see it. If he's pushed, and the live crowds don't receive him like the internet crowds do, then just stop the push. How fucking difficult is that to figure out?!?

Now, if we could only find a way to get The Rock back on WWE television to help remind the fans that he has a match coming up next year, and not making his appearance more of the same shit he's always giving us when he's on our televisions..

Writer's Note: Reader Appreciation Month is now upon us. There's going to be plenty of column requests granted this month, and of course, there are those prize giveaways that I've been mentioning for a couple weeks now. Stay tuned for more details on that, but for now, go ahead and "like" my Facebook Fan Page, if you haven't done so already. It's the place to keep up with my next moves before I officially make them. Go ahead and add yourself to the list here..

The HiPE Playlist: "Poe Mans Dreams" by Kendrick Lamar & GLC.. "The Spiteful Chant" by Kendrick Lamar & Schoolboy Q.. "HiiiPoWeR" by Kendrick Lamar.. "I Love Dom" by Dom Kennedy.. "2mph" by Dom Kennedy & Big K.R.I.T. .. "By Any Means" by Rick Ross, Wale, Meek Mill & Pill.. "Fall For Your Type" by Jamie Foxx & Drake.. "Be Alone" by Childish Gambino.. "Freaks & Geeks" by Childish Gambino.. "My Shine" by Childish Gambino

My heart don't pump Kool-Aid!

Hustle
E-mail: HIPRNFeedback@gmail.com
Facebook:

Add Me As A Friend

MySpace:

Add Me As A Friend (well, if you still have a MySpace page)

AIM: YaBoyHustle808
Twitter:

@HustleLOP

Formspring:

Ask Me Questions

-Team Sleep--------------------------Day 549

*By Request*

The one and only Tito wrote a column in early-January where he made some predictions for the 2011 calendar year in the world of pro wrestling. He recently posted a blog over in the LoP forums where he went over those predictions for accuracy, now that we've reached the halfway point in the year. I guess that stuck in people's minds, because when I asked for column requests to be taken care of in Reader Appreciation Month, the overwhelming choice for "Most Requested" is what I'll be writing about today.. predictions for the second half of 2011. Get it? Got it? Good. It's time for me to pull out my crystal balls and see what I can see over the next six months. Shall I proceed? (Yes, indeed.) Less dew eet!!

No New World/WWE Champions Will Be Crowned: Allow me to clarify first and foremost. By "new", I mean "people that have never been World/WWE Champion before". Sorry, Alberto Del Rrrrrio. Sorry, Dolph Ziggler. Sorry, Alex Riley. Sorry, Kofi Kingston. Sorry, John Morrison. Sorry, Cody Rhodes. Sorry, Daniel Bryan. The list goes on and on. Yes, I realize that there are two Money In The Bank matches coming up in two weeks, and that usually means someone new (in the context I'm using it) will get a title shot, blah blah blah. I haven't made my MITB predictions yet (although you know I will have a column for it when I do), but I'm sticking to this prediction. That means we're either getting MITB winners that have been World/WWE Champion in the past, we're getting MITB winners that cash their shots in and lose, or we're getting MITB winners that will hold onto their shots into 2012. Either way, I think we're likely to have John Cena dominate on the Raw end for a while, and if he loses, it will be to CM Punk, who has already won a World Title. On Smackdown, I think you're likely to have battles between Randy Orton, Christian and Sheamus for a bit, and while Mark Henry should be thrown into the mix, as well, I don't see him winning the World Title at all.

Indy Stars, Indy Stars, Indy Stars: On the WWE roster right now, you already have Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Evan Bourne and Kharma when it comes to names that were big on the independent wrestling scene before becoming truly "known". In FCW, you have Dean Ambrose (formerly known as Jon Moxley) and Seth Rollins (Tyler Black), who were also big names on the indy scene. Now we have word that The Kings Of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, have been offered WWE contracts (but have yet to sign them). In the next few months, I fully expect to see Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose called up somehow. I think Rollins gets the regular call-up, and I think Ambrose goes the NXT route. If Hero and Castagnoli sign the contracts, I do think they'll end up in FCW, but trust me when I say this.. their stay in Florida won't be for long. They're already better suited to work the "WWE style" than a lot of workers already on the main WWE roster. On top of all that, don't be surprised if the company reaches out to at least one more indy name. Personally, I'd love to see Jay and Mark Briscoe get some contracts, in an attempt to further boost the tag team division, but hey, maybe that's just me.

Improved Impact Ratings: I'm not saying Impact will reach Attitude Era level numbers or anything even remotely close to it, but TNA has been putting on a vastly improved product in the last few weeks, and I think their ratings will go up because of it. They're usually in the 1.1-1.3 range, with this past week's episode pulling down a 1.27 (up from a 1.17 the week before). I think, at some point between now and the final Impact of 2011, they should see their ratings improve some more, perhaps even moving towards the 1.5 mark. The 1.5 mark has been like a magical, mystical creature to TNA, as they've only been able to see it for a brief glimpse before tumbling down the mountain almost immediately afterwards. This is a great time for TNA to achieve greatness. They're putting on an improved product. There are more and more people becoming disenchanted with the WWE product on a weekly basis. We're on the road to TNA's version of WrestleMania (Bound For Glory). A certain Straight Edge Superstar might very well be a free agent coming up very soon, and could bring in a nice chunk of fans with him should TNA sign him. As much shit as he gets from the IWC, Jeff Hardy remains incredibly popular, and could very well be on the verge of returning soon, if he doesn't get sent to prison. This really is building to what could be the perfect storm for TNA, and I'm really pulling for them.

Take Care, Attend A Job Fair: I'm still a fan of Zack Ryder's, but I'm now officially off of any bandwagon that feels he will be used in any meaningful way. In fact, I don't think he'll be used at all. Sorry, Zack Pack, but I think your savior is going to be handed his pink slip before the year is over. Once they found a way not to use him on a three-hour episode of Raw from his hometown of Long Island, I could see the writing on the wall, and the writing was in that annoying "I tYpE LiKe ThiS" style. Eww. It would be awesome if they could find something for him to do on a regular basis, but I just don't see that happening if it hasn't happened already. I know I said, in yesterday's column, that they'd keep him around because "they've got to keep someone around to job", but that can be a lot of people. Like I said, if they haven't already found something for him to do on television, why should any of us think they will in the future, whether it's the distant or not-too-distant one?

Starrcade 1997, Part Deux: You know all of that good stuff I typed about TNA earlier? Well, a lot of you will say this paragraph ruins every single word of it. It's somewhat "obvious", but I really think TNA is building up towards Sting VS Hulk Hogan at Bound For Glory. Here's the thing, though.. as long as the match isn't for the TNA Title, I'm perfectly fine with it being on the BFG card. It certainly won't be a classic match or anything, but it's still the biggest match the company can possibly put on, as far as name value is concerned. There will be people that watch BFG just to see Sting VS Hogan. Those are the people that were huge wrestling fans back in the 90s, but who are, at best, merely casual fans now, and, at worst, don't even watch anymore and will have to hear about Sting VS Hogan from another person. With Sting VS Hogan on the card, as well as TNA Champion VS Bound For Glory Tournament Winner, and maybe even something like Jeff Hardy VS CM Punk, TNA would be thrilled.

Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy Returns To TitanLand: Some people are already going so far as to predict that Mick Foley will end up being the person announced as the Raw General Manager. It would be an interesting storyline, in the world of kayfabe. They could play up his contractual duties "elsewhere", which is why he wasn't able to make it known to the world that he was the man e-mailing Michael Cole every week, blah blah blah. I'm not really predicting he'll be there for that role, but I do think we'll see an appearance by the guy on WWE programming before the year is out. If the company is smart, they'd have him interview John Cena or something. Foley, of course, has plenty of history with The Rock, and having Foley there would be enough to keep the build-up for Cena/Rock going on television, without Rock even having to be there. Cena's character is always incredibly respectful towards the Hall Of Famers and Legends that show up, which would make it interesting to see him interact with Rock's friend and former tag team partner.

A Blueprint For Championship Gold: I think this is finally going to be the time that TNA pulls the trigger on a big push for Matt Morgan, which will lead to him winning the Bound For Glory series thingamajiggy and going on to face the TNA Champion at Bound For Glory. If it happens, I see him winning the title, which will be awesome, as he's actually overdue for a title reign. It seems like they've been close to pushing him on a few different occasions in the past, but in typical TNA fashion, they screw it up and spend more time focusing on the new "flavor of the month" that they bring in from WWE instead. This time, I just have a good feeling about the outcome.

Samoa Joe Returns Home: No, not to Samoa. If TNA doesn't sign CM Punk (whether it's because Punk goes elsewhere, or remains with WWE), I see Joe asking for (and being granted) his release from the company. There's no way he can be happy with his position in the company. Sure, it's probably cool to be filmed in all these bar fights, but that only goes so far, especially if you're only going to lose feuds to those same people in the ring. At one point, Samoa Joe was easily the hottest name in the wrestling business, and was ready to become a megastar. Now, he's basically nothing more than an afterthought in TNA, which is a shame. If the rumors are true, Vince McMahon has never once looked in Joe's direction for a contract. Perhaps things might be different now that Triple H is basically in charge of new talent, but I doubt it, as much as I'd still love to see it happen. I think Joe will end up doing the indy tour, with some time spent in Japan, before returning to RoH as a full-time talent again.

Commentary Shake-Up: It's no secret that I absolutely cannot stand the WWE commentary team. There's no redeeming qualities about what we have to listen to on Raw or Smackdown these days, which is unfortunate. It continues getting worse, and that won't change until.. well.. change is made. It could be something like keeping Michael Cole on only one show, and having Jim Ross take over for him on the other show. It could be something like getting Booker T as far away from the announce table as physically possible, and replacing him with either Kevin Nash (who would do a tremendous job at it) or William Regal (who is the lone bright commentary spot in the entire company, albeit on NXT). It really doesn't matter what kind of change is made, as long as a change is made, because it's tough to watch WWE programming these days with idiots like Cole and Booker talking up a storm.

Death's Unwanted Visit: I hate to end the column on such a macabre note, but I'm thinking we're going to see yet another big wrestling name pass away far too soon. Perhaps not as big a name as Randy Savage, but a big name nonetheless. As wrestling fans, we've become accustomed to seeing wrestling personalities pass away at young ages, and it's not something that is going to stop anytime soon. There are still plenty of wrestlers alive today that were abusing all kinds of drugs in their primes, and it's only a matter of time before those types of things come back and catch up with them. It's sad to think about, but it's true.

There are my predictions. That, of course, means that it's your turn now, ReaderLand. Holla at ya boy and let me know what some of your fearless predictions for the second half of 2011 are.

Writer's Note:

The HiPE Playlist: "Ascension" by Maxwell.. "For Your Love" by Stevie Wonder.. "Brown Sugar" by D'Angelo.. "Can You Stop The Rain" by Peabo Bryson.. "Let's Chill" by Guy.. "I'll Give All My Love To You" by Keith Sweat.. "Twisted" by Keith Sweat & Kut Klose.. "Nobody" by Keith Sweat & Athena Cage.. "I Belong To You" by Rome.. "On Bended Knee" by Boyz 2 Men.. "End Of The Road" by Boyz 2 Men.. "In The Still Of The Night" by Boyz 2 Men.. "Lately" by Jodeci.. "Anytime" by Brian McKnight.. "Knockin Da Boots" by H-Town

Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing along. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water.. BAM.. a fuckin bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the ground in little bloody pieces. Now, I ask ya, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son of a bitch who shot you was wearing?

-------------------------Day 550

Writer's Note: This has nothing to do with my column, but it does have to do with columns.. a lot of you are fans of OniBarubary's "It's Time To Play The Game" series, and for good reason. You may have noticed that he didn't post a column today, like he normally does on Mondays. The reason for this is because he is currently without internet, and is unable to get anything taken care of for a couple days. He's looking at Thursday at a target date to get his internet back up and running, so don't expect a whole lot from him this week. Just passing along the message from the man himself.

8:50pm: Yes, my homeboy Darth Vader is joining me again tonight. Even though this is a taped episode of Raw, it's coming off of a highly talked-about episode last week, so it should be interesting to see how often Darth is used here. For those new to the game, when something bad, stupid or nonsensical happens, I'll tell you to press the button and post a link. You then click the link and press the button that you see. The link will be as follows..

Nooooooooooooooo

9:00pm: I hope every one of my American readers had a fantastic Independence Day. For all of my non-American readers, I hope you had a great Monday.

9:02pm: Wait.. they're showing CM Punk's promo from last week in the opening video package. The sad part is that some of you still think the promo was a shoot. Get real, folks. I'm begging you.

9:04pm: Rey Mysterio VS R-Truth VS Alberto Del Rrrrrio tonight to determine the new #1 Contender for the WWE Title now that Punk has been "suspended". Interesting.

9:05pm: The WWE Champion, John Cena, is out to start the show, and he doesn't look very happy.

9:07pm: Cena is.. sticking up for Punk, saying that the company is wrong for "suspending" him. Wow. Quite the different outlook for the person that is supposed to be the "Company Man".

9:10pm: Cena has invited Vince McMahon himself to Raw tonight, so that he can tell Vince, face-to-face, that he wants Punk's "suspension" to be overturned. Always good to see Vince, so this should be good.

9:15pm: Kelly Kelly & Eve VS The Bella Twins. You know what? Fuck it. I'm going with a pre-emptive strike. Press the button..

Nooooooooooooooo

9:17pm: Eve, you dumb heifer.. if you don't know how to deliver a standing moonsault properly, don't attempt the fucking move. Press the button..

Nooooooooooooooo

9:20pm: Why this company continues pushing the most no-talent bitches in the Divas division, I'll never understand. Thank God the match is over. Fuck.

9:20pm: Why the hell do we have to keep seeing vignettes for Tough Enough winner, Andy Leavine? He's a long way from being ready for the main WWE roster. Are they going to show these vignettes for several months?

9:22pm: R-Truth is the newest graduate of the Steve Borden School for Repeating Someone's Name In A Promo A Ridiculous Amount Of Time. He was talking to "Flo" for less than 30 seconds, and he must have said "Flo" 15 times.

9:24pm: Alright, here's the thing.. while I'm still a fan of ADR, they either need to give him the WWE Title or have him come up with something new to say in his promos, because this "destiny" shit is beyond old already.

9:29pm: KozTino VS Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga? Again? Sweet Jesus, KozTino is never going to get away from facing the NexSES or the former Corre, are they? For the state of the tag team division, press the button twice, folks..

Nooooooooooooooo

Nooooooooooooooo

9:33pm: Thank you, DVR. Had to restart my laptop. "Live" columns, ladies and gentlemen. You gotta love em.

9:35pm: Since they're talking about the current WWE tour of Australia, I have to say this.. fuck you, Australia, for giving the stupid "planking" fad to the rest of the world. If you're involved in planking, you're a fucking idiot, and I hope you fall to your death the next time you do it. How pathetic does your life have to be for you to find something that dumb entertaining? "I'ma lyin down, Jethro. Take a picture of me!"

9:37pm: McGillicutty pins Santino, and I look in the crowd.. not a single fuck was given.

9:38pm: Zack Ryder!

9:38pm: He interrupted McGillicutty & Otunga's celebration to give his catchphrase, and that's it? You know what's a terrible sign, though? There were boos in the crowd after he said "Woo Woo Woo" and before he said "You know it".

9:41pm: Sgt. Slaughter is backstage with Evan Bourne. Happy Fourth of July, America. Jack Swagger interrupts, and it's all to give us.. Sgt. Slaughter VS Jack Swagger tonight. *sigh*

9:48pm: Jerry Lawler, in a rant about people making mistakes, just compared Michael Cole wearing a singlet at WrestleMania this year to Sgt. Slaughter turning his back on the United States and becoming an Iraqi sympathizer during the Gulf War. Fucking ridiculous. Press the button for that insanely dumb comparison..

Nooooooooooooooo

9:49pm: Swagger wins. Good.

9:51pm: This has been a pretty poor first hour. The Triple Threat #1 Contender Match is up next, so hopefully it can get the second hour started off right.

9:55pm: ADR with the "jobber entrance" this week. Yikes. Remember when he won the Royal Rumble this year? Yeah, most everyone doesn't remember it, either.

10:00pm: Taping an episode of Raw after a live episode of Raw, with a dark match and Superstars tapings before the first episode of Raw, is just too much for fans. This crowd is beyond dead. The subpar Raw product doesn't get a whole lot of great crowd reactions to begin with, but I think these fans are half-asleep at this point.

10:06pm: This has been a pretty decent match so far, but again, that dead crowd is really hurting things. You can damn near hear these guys breathing in there.

10:09pm: Poor job with the piping in of sound in post-production. You hear a decent-sized crowd pop, while the crowd is shown on the screen just sitting there and not reacting to anything.

10:11pm: Mysterio hits Truth with the 619, and when he goes for the pin, ADR sneaks in and locks his armbar on Rey. Rey taps, and ADR is the new #1 Contender for the WWE Title.

10:18pm: Jerry Lawler continues to crack jokes about Vickie Guerrero's looks, weight, and age. Don't worry, though, folks.. this is a company that absolutely, positively will not condone any type of bullying, and would like you to B A *. Press the button once, simply for the campaign..

Nooooooooooooooo

10:20pm: Vickie's singing "Happy Birthday" to Dolph Ziggler. Dolph's birthday isn't for over three weeks.

10:22pm: Is Kofi Kingston high? His eyes would indicate that he is. Maybe he's Jamaican, after all.

10:24pm: They spent all that time setting the ring up and having a promo, just so they could have Vickie's ass and tits pressed into a cake? That's hot.

10:25pm: Alex Riley VS The Miz is up next. Let's see if they can help save this episode.

10:31pm: If his name is Alex Riley, why would his nickname be A-Ry? That doesn't make any sense. His name isn't Alex Ryley.

10:34pm: The crowd, with each passing segment/match, gets quieter and quieter. I don't know what can be done, but this back-to-back shows thing needs to stop. Change the travel schedule for overseas tours a bit. Let them have Raw go on as planned, and then have them tape the next week's episode the following day. You still get a live episode that way, and you won't have a crowd that has had to sit there for five hours and is emotionally and physically numb by the end of it all.

10:40pm: Cowboys & Aliens? Looks like a dumb movie to me.

10:41pm: This lack of crowd response is making me fall asleep.

10:41pm: Riley wins. Again.

10:42pm: Miz attacks Riley after the match. Can he actually keep the momentum for more than a few seconds this time?

10:44pm: To absolutely zero crowd reaction, Miz is actually getting to beat Riley's ass here. Riley has beaten him 783 straight times, but hey, at least Miz is getting something out of this feud. I'm sure Riley will just beat him again next week, and this attack will be for nothing, but Miz fans get this week to celebrate. Kind of. Sort of.

10:46pm: Vince McMahon's limo driver looked like a terrible AI character in a video game just now. The limo stops, and Vince gets out of the limo himself. After his door has already opened and he's placed his feet on the ground, the driver opens his door. Vince gets out of the limo and walks into the arena, and in the background, you see that the driver walked halfway to the back of the limo and is just standing there as if he were a glitch.

10:49pm: To even further prove just how much of a SHOOT~! it was, they're showing Punk's promo from last week again. If they show it and reference it this many times when it's a SHOOT~!, can you imagine how many times they'd show it and reference it if it were a work?!?

10:53pm: The Boss is out in the ring. Here we go.

10:58pm: John Cena basically just said that Vince has gone soft, and that he should "hang it up" if he doesn't feel like fighting anymore.

10:59pm: Vince says he suspended Punk because he's afraid of Punk beating Cena and taking the WWE Title to some other company, and basically says he doesn't have faith in Cena winning his match. Are they trying to go with another McMahon VS Austin feud here with McMahon and Cena? Even as the #1 Cena fan in the IWC, I'll be the first to admit that won't work at all.

11:01pm: Vince just said "Hogan"!!! SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT~!

11:03pm: In the same sentence, Vince said he doesn't give a damn what the people want, but also that he makes decisions to make the people happy. Makes sense to me.

11:04pm: Well, I'll be damned.. Cena just said Vince has rendered the WWE Title useless, and handed the belt to him. Like I said earlier, this is totally not what people would expect the face John Cena to say and do.

11:05pm: Vince has reinstated CM Punk, and the WWE Title match at Money In The Bank will take place as originally planned. Vince then goes on to say that if Punk wins the title, he will personally walk to the ring and fire Cena. The stakes. They have been raised. No idea what that means for Alberto Del Rrrrrio as the new #1 Contender.

Odd show this week. Six button presses, but it probably could've/should've been more. Plenty of bad editing and technical glitches, including Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole's voices being heard during matches, but the cameras catching them in the background not saying anything at all. A dead crowd, pretty much from beginning to end. We did get a nice Triple Threat Match and a slightly above-average match with Alex Riley and The Miz, so it wasn't all terrible. Throw in a nice closing segment (more for it being newsworthy than for featuring a great promo from either Cena or McMahon), and that gives this week's episode of Raw a grade of C-, and that might be generous.

The HiPE Playlist: Raw.

My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the hell she is.

-------------------------Day 551

*By Request*

Two weeks ago, in my "Summer Of Punk 2" column, I played out a fantasy booking scenario that ended with a huge tag team match of John Cena & The Rock VS CM Punk & a newly heel-turned Steve Austin, which would headline a "secondary" pay-per-view at some point after SummerSlam and before the Royal Rumble, to help boost the product in a time that the company normally sees some major ratings and buyrate slumps. It turned the current Cena/Punk storyline into a several-month feud, with twists and turns.

I went on to mention that the only real problem with the storyline I proposed is what would happen to Smackdown. Raw's already got a huge "name value" advantage over Smackdown, and bringing The Rock and Steve Austin back to the ring would only widen the gap. I said I had a solution to that problem, but since it didn't really have to do with the topic at hand, I said I'd save it for another column.

This is that column.

My solution isn't anything that is original or worthy of tremendous praise, but it is something that is becoming more and more necessary with each passing week, with Smackdown's ratings continuing to fall in the toilet (this past week's episode was the lowest-rated of 2011). It's something that I've seen discussed in various places in the last few years. It's also something that I've been completely against in the past, but the more I think about it, and the more I see Smackdown falling apart, the more I think it could/should be something that is done.

My solution?

End the brand split.

A lot of you reading this immediately began shaking your head, and I understand that, but you have to look at things from all angles. I know I've talked about Smackdown before, but right now, there are two types of people when they talk about the brand's failures. There's either the people who feel it's Randy Orton's fault, and that he's nowhere near as big a star as someone who is supposed to carry an entire brand should be, or the people who feel that Orton's opponents (Christian, mostly) aren't real main eventers, and aren't up-to-par with what a brand's top heels should be. No matter what side of that argument you're on, ending the brand split will solve those problems. If you feel it's Orton's "fault", then bringing John Cena and Rey Mysterio (Triple H can be included, if he ever decides to return to the ring) to the picture really helps things out. If you feel it's the "fault" of Orton's opponents, bringing in The Miz, Alberto Del Rrrrrio, CM Punk (if he stays with the company), R-Truth, etc will help things out.

Here's my thing, though, because I know ending the brand split brings up problems with travel, schedules, etc.. if you have two shows a week to work with, and, say, 15 current storylines going on at any given time, you've got to find ways to spread things out a bit. You can't have the same workers, the same promos and the same matches on every show. This would keep feuds going for longer, and would provide an opportunity for midcarders to get some shine. One of WWE's biggest problems, on either brand, is that the writers focus on two or three storylines, at most, at any given time, which means the rest of the workers have nothing meaningful to do, and make random appearances on television working matches that never last longer than three or four minutes, which means nobody cares, and there's no connection with the audience. For example, let's say the brand split is over. Now, let's look at Raw's card from last night..

- Kelly Kelly & Eve VS The Bella Twins
- Santino & Vladimir Kozlov VS Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga
- Sgt. Slaughter VS Jack Swagger
- Rey Mysterio VS Alberto Del Rrrio VS R-Truth
- Alex Riley VS The Miz

Under my new "layout", you wouldn't have Riley VS Miz take place on Smackdown four days later. We don't need to see KozTino VS Imperfect & Mrs Hudson, but then again, we don't need to see that match again, regardless of what show it takes place on. Again, spread things out a bit. Everything would have some sort of purpose. If you don't give the people a reason to give a fuck about what is going on.. surprise, surprise.. they aren't going to give a fuck about what is going on.

I know some of you are already asking the question, and let me answer you.. yes, that means I'd have the WWE Title and the World Title unified. Normally, that's something that people would usually save for an event like WrestleMania, but that's not what I would do, for two reasons..

1. I don't think Smackdown can last another nine months at the rate they're going. The ratings gap between Impact and Smackdown last week was a miniscule .35, which is as close as I can ever remember that gap being. As I wrote about on Sunday, Impact continues to improve, and the ratings continue to rise. With this being the company's biggest part of the year, leading up to their top show, you have to imagine their ratings will only continue to go up. It doesn't matter how many times WWE officials say they don't pay attention to TNA.. they do, and they'll be incredibly embarrassed if/when Impact begins pulling in higher ratings than Smackdown does. Forget nine months.. in one or two months, Impact could very well pull ahead of Smackdown.

2. Like I said earlier, there's almost always a big lull in the WWE product at this time of the year. By ending the brand split and building up to a WWE/World Title unification, you bring an extra spotlight to the second half of the year (especially beneficial if the Cena/Rock VS Punk/Austin storyline isn't going to take place). Done right, it helps carry the company into 2012, when the Royal Rumble and the "Road To WrestleMania" take over and bring in the guaranteed ratings and buyrate boosts.

Right now, the thought of a unification bout scares a lot of you because, as things stand, that would mean John Cena VS Randy Orton for the millionth time. I'm not really worried about that right now, though. Even if the company decides to go with this plan, a lot can change before it all goes down. For one, we have Money In The Bank coming up, with both Cena and Orton defending their titles at the event. On top of that, we have a Raw and a Smackdown Money In The Bank match, which means neither man could be a champion by then. The unifcation match could be CM Punk VS Christian. It could be The Miz VS Daniel Bryan. It could be John Cena VS Sin Cara. It could be Rey Mysterio VS Randy Orton. It could be Alberto Del Rrrrrio VS Sheamus. There are plenty of potential directions it could go in. Even if it did end up being Cena VS Orton, that's still a big match that the live crowd will go crazy for, and it's something we haven't seen in over eight months (which will be closer to a year by the time it actually goes down, if not over a year), so it's relatively "fresh" again.

So, to recap..

- End the brand split
- Spend time and effort focusing on every match you put on television, and not just the one or two "top" ones
- Spread the workers out, so we aren't seeing the same workers, promos and matches on every show, every week
- Unify the WWE & World Titles

We already have the Divas Champion and the Tag Team Champions that bounce between shows, anyway, and everyone always seems to complain that Raw workers make too many appearances on Smackdown (and vice versa), so it's probably a lot closer to happening than people think.

The whole point of this column was to show a way that Smackdown could be "saved" if the super-storyline of Cena/Rock/Punk/Austin took place, and what I've mentioned in this column would do that. The rosters would open up, which means Smackdown could get more star power, and get appearances by the biggest names in the wrestling world. However, I made sure to have it where my ideas would help Smackdown, no matter what happens with that storyline, and it's looking less and less likely with each passing day.

It's not rocket science. It's not something that takes an extraordinary amount of effort to make happen. Because it seems clear, to me, that the company won't be completely starting their Creative Teams over from scratch, maybe it would help both the Raw and Smackdown teams by being able to work together and have different workers to be writing for.

We need some improvements, in one way or another, and we need them soon, because Smackdown is in serious trouble.

The HiPE Playlist: "Down For Yours" by Nasty Boy Klick.. "Candy Rain" by Soul 4 Real.. "The World I Know" by Collective Soul.. "Santeria" by Sublime.. "I Would Die 4 U" by Prince.. "The Freshman" by The Verve Pipe.. "Time After Time" by Javier Colon.. "Swim Good" by Frank Ocean.. "Reasons" by Earth, Wind & Fire.. "Fantasy (Remix)" by Mariah Carey & Ol Dirty Bastard

Oh, bother.

Source: lordsofpain.net