Your most "Against The Grain" opinion on wrestling
 

So for this week's podcast, we're looking to talk about viewpoints contrary to popular opinion, and are looking to get some feedback.

What do you see as something most people enjoyed (a wrestler, a show, an angle, a gimmick, etc) but didn't click with you at all? What was it and why didn't it work for you?

This can go vice versa as well, did something really click with you but is largely panned by others? And why did you like it so much?

As always the best contributions will be read on the show and you'll be credited accordingly - so what's your most "against the grain" opinion?

EDIT - Part 1 of our shows on your "Against The Grain" opinions, featuring many of your contributions, is now online and available to listen to at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean....ain_Part_1.mp3

I was a fan of the stable X-Factor, and loved X-Factor's theme music. :nono:

I was also a huge fan of Austin's heel turn and heel run, and would have kept Austin heel until Wrestlemania 18 (doing the job to face Angle). Most people felt that converting Austin back into a face after Survivor Series 2001 was good for business (due to Austin's failure as a heel up until that point), but I would argue that the WWE had reached a point of no return (i.e. even if you turned Austin back into a face, he wouldn't be as big as he once was.........along with the fact that heel Austin would've been far more credible than heel Jericho in terms of doing a meaningful job at Mania').

Fuck Rusev and the fan's that find him entertaining.

New Day is Lame as hell.

I find RVD extremely terrible. I will preface this by saying I never saw him in ECW. I did see his entire WWE career, though.... and it seems to me that all he ever did was coast on whatever the hell he did in ECW to get so popular. Fact was, he just was not that good. Repetitive matches, some of the weakest punches ever, and found his whole persona just so "meh".

"Raises my ire" when I see guys continually praise him, and I'm just here going "He was not good. At all. Maybe the first two or three times I saw him he was exciting because he was new, but after that, he was just so lame"

Good for him for making a career out of coasting on ECW, though.

Easy, Daniel Bryan. Never was a fan of his as American Dragon and still think he had no business anywhere near the main event in WWE. His matches bore me and he his mic work is sub par in my opinion. Will always rank WM 30 as the worst WM ever because of him. I guess my biggest problem with his is I just couldn't see him a realistic competitor to guys like Orton, Batista, HHH, or Cena.

Also, I did not enjoy Stone Cold Steve Austin as a face. I enjoyed him in his feud with Bret Hart, and then kind of adopted Bret's hatred for him. He wasn't a role model or anyone to look up to, and I was disgusted by him being the face of the company. Thought it was "cool" when he was a bad guy vs Bret, but as the good guy, no way.

I started to enjoy him again after he turned heel and had his antics with Vince/Angle. Then promptly did not enjoy him once he was a face again.

As for vice versa I would have to go with TNA. I watch TNA every week and enjoy it just as much if not better than Raw some weeks. I have different standards when it comes to WWE and TNA and I feel a lot of people hold them to the same, which is ok. I expect WWE to be great every week, they are at the top so I expect to be entertained to the fullest. With shows like ROH and Impact I don't have those high standards but they often out perform what standards I do have for them. I really like TNAs roster and they have been pushing the right talent for about 2 years now. They are also developing some really young guys and moving them up the card lately.

I really really hated Christian and I'm starting to feel the same way about Dolph Ziggler.

Al Snow with Head was more entertaining than Mankind with Mr Socko.

I like Sasha Banks as a worker but I do not dig her boss gimmick, and don't rate her character work minus the genuine emotion displayed in her title victory. I don't understand her character. It just feels forced... She's trying to act like this badass but she's doing these weird dance taunts and head movements. It seems like an act, which it shouldn't. I feel like she's just one step away from talk to the hand, but the face don't understand. Very lame.

Ambrose, in his current incarnation, doesn't do it for me.

Still not a big fan of Cena even after the US Open Challenge series. Most of it is due to WWE's booking of him than anything related to Cena himself.

Sheamus was and still is one of my favorites. I think he gets way too much shit, and I don't think he looks stupid with the mohawk/beard combo.

He's just a great smashmouth/brawler type, and while I agree that his face run with the whole 1-800-FELLA shtick was bland as fuck, he's back to his true form now. Badass heel Celtic Warrior Sheamus is his perfect role.

Oh, and his new music (Hellfire) is one of the best in WWE.

Kerwin White seriously had some incredible potential as a gimmick if they would have let it breathe a bit and let it take a dark turn to where Kerwin would start claiming discrimination when things didn't go his way. I really wish that would have panned out.

I prefer Biker Taker to Deadman Taker. There, I said it.

Becky Lynch is average.

Never saw ANYTHING in Christian, except the blue dot. Edge too for that matter.

Yeah, was pretty great. Unfortunately, I think it was probably Eddie's untimely death just a few months after the debut of his gimmick as White that caused him to go back to just being plain old Chavo.

Heel biker taker was awesome. Face biker taker was a tosser

Agree with this sentiment.

I am a fan of the Triple H run of doom with the heavyweight title that everyone seems to hate. It ceryainly had its flaws. Overly long promos, the first Steiner match, Katie vick. But the thing that everyone sseems to overlook, is that run established credibility to a title that was little more than a joke, thanks to wcw's dying days fuckery. Benoit's WM 20 victory to obtain it would not have been as epic as it was without Triple H's long reign with that title. It probably wouldn't have even main evented.

On tne flipside, I have to echo Lockjaw's thouhts on RVD. I loved him in ECW, but when he got to the wwe, outside of specialty matches, he just did the same routine every match. Just going tjrough thw motions. He started putting more effortmin when he became wwe champ, but that obviously disn't last long. Mystetio pulled the same thing in his final years in thw wwe, but at least he was entertaining for tje majority of his run.

Yeah, I dunno if this can even be considered against the grain.

Heel biker taker is universally praised I tjink.

Please excuse tje spelling errors caused by my shit tablet's keypad

god damn it THE not TJE

sjit tablet keyboard*

The Miz is one of the greatest heels of his generation.

Gotta say the CM Punk "leaving the WWE with the title" storyline from 2011. WWE blew that one big time. Could've made Punk a Mount Rushmore type of megastar. Would've been one of the top angles on history if done right

What is against the grain about that? I think it would be more "against the grain" to say they did the right thing.

Which I think they did at the start. People said they shouldn't have brought him back so soon, I say screw that, it was right to bring him back. The angle only started going off the rails when it lead to a CM Punk vs Diesel feud that somehow lead to a Triple H vs Diesel match.

I think that Eva Marie has an it factor that no diva since Trish, or maybe even Sable or Chyna, has had. She is a superstar waiting to happen, and the fact that she gets such passionate reactions is great because 75% of the roster gets crickets. I'm a BIG Eva Marie supporter.

I actually can think of a lot, but my main one would have to be the general love for Dean Ambrose. I find his look, mic skills, gimmick, and in-ring ability all sub-par. I truly do. When I normally dislike a very liked wrestler, I can at least say that I understand why they could be appealing to others. But I truly do find everything about him not just "not great", but below average. Dean Ambrose should be a mid-card wrestler.

His look is about as bad as it gets - If he is to be the potential "top dog", him compaired to main eventers like HHH, Rock, Cena, etc, he looks like they just grabbed him from a booth in McDonalds. Since he isn't ripped, he should look tough/like he can kick my ass, but he doesn't. Guys like Austin for instance, they weren't ripped, but he still looked like he could kick someone's ass. Ambrose looks like he hasn't exercised in his life, and hasn't slept in weeks. Just doesn't look, healthy to me .... So, that leaves speed. HBK, Rollins, guys like that look like they have the speed to beat bigger guys. Ambrose looks like he has 0 quickness. The only credible champion that his appearance could be compared to off the top of my head is Foley. But Foley made up for that with ...

Mic skills. This is probably Ambrose's best feature, and I honestly even do find him to be below average here. I find him dull, and sometimes even corny when he cuts a promo. He doesn't, excite me, when he's on the mic.

His gimmick is meh to me. Foley was Mankind, Cactus Jack, Dude Love, even Mic Foley. When Foley was simply himself, that was enough. With Dean, not so much ... He's nothing really, he just came in with The Shield until they split, and that's about it. No idea about his backstory, which wouldn't matter if he had any type of character whatsoever. But he doesn't, he's just a wrestler. "The Lunatic Fringe" means nothing more than a bad nickname to me. I've yet to see him be much of lunatic, in a time where Jericho at his age, is the one taking thumbtack bumps. A lunatic is Brian Pillman, Roddy Piper. Not Dean Ambrose.

Lastly, in-ring skills. I'm sorry, I just don't see it. His best performances are average at best.

..... Other than my opposite opinion of Dean Ambrose I have a quite a few more. Just to throw some out, I first would say that I 100% agree with drave, Miz is the goods. I really think his current gimmick is his best and if pushed right could get over big as a heel.

Wasn't on the Daniel Bryan wagon. I enjoyed his in-ring work, but that's all. Found the Yes movement, and Team Hell No annoying. (Team Hell No is another one, it seemed everybody but me loved them). ... Ok that's enough for now. Great topic btw.

Bray Wyatt will never be the top heel he could have been when he was first introduced. He is overrated as a talker, is almost always injured, and chases cheers too much to be a truly effective "Face of Fear."

Triple H is one of the most versatile characters and in-ring performers in the history of wrestling. The metamorphosis of his career since the mid 90s all the way through today shows an incredible amount of range both as a heel and babyface as well as an infinite portfolio of tremendous matches with a litany of different types of talents. He couldn't carry Scott Steiner or Kevin Nash in 2003, but the only people who could in that era were Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero. Triple H has been the undisputed #1 heel in the business while also having been a bigger babyface than the alleged "top guy" at WrestleManias a decade apart (WM22, WM32). He was able to seamlessly transition from a singles guy to a stable guy to a tag team guy and back again. He can be an effective badass heeland a chickenshit heel in the same segment. He consistently has provided that "epic" and "big match feel" to his matches for 17 years. The bulk of his greatest work has come after tearing his quad that came in the middle of his physical peak.

That's because he didn't do his job as a heel.

I'd argue that he simply was the more over and respected wrestler due to being a bigger and true superstar. Was he a bad heel against Daniel Bryan? Mick Foley? Dean Ambrose? The Shield? Batista? Vince McMahon (1999)? Ric Flair? HBK? Undertaker? Should I keep mentioning his cornucopia of epic feuds?

At some point, it is the responsibility of the babyface to actually be over in order for the heel to get heat. When they cheer you getting bludgeoned with a sledgehammer, you are a very ineffective babyface.

Unpopular opinion? It's boring as shit.
The truth? It's boring as shit.

Owens/Jericho a great team

Going against the grain and posting about RAW in here

Jericho is boring as shit too. Oh look sickly tickly homosexual faggot just left me a red for for saying that.

Only if he faces Surfer Sting.

AJ Styles got more fans to boo him against John Cena. When HHH wrestled Roman Reigns, he portrayed and booked himself like a Stone Cold Steve Austin esque babyface, while constantly making Reigns look like a pussy.

Most of the guys you mentioned were fucking amazing babyfaces and fans would boo anyone against them. HHH is good and all, particularly mid-late 1999 til his quad injury, and certainly in spurts afterwards (but never to level of 1999-2001), but your hyperbole makes me think you want a job at WWE headquarters.

I give him a solid 4/10

I came in to make bad Chris Benoit jokes. I composed myself and decided to delete my two paragraph post.

Kevin Nash is meh. He's far from terrible or anything, but the guy never really entertained me, and honestly I always felt he was overrated as all hell. He's also got a really weird looking mouth.

The Rock isn't as great as he's made out to be either. His face shtick is just copy-pasted every time he does it, and even as a heel I never really enjoyed him as much as other guys. Again, he wasn't terrible or anything, but he just didn't click with me the way he has with everyone else.

Sheamus is great. The guy could be a face of the company if they'd just book him correctly. I know everyone else is gonna say that's a lie, but I honestly believe that if his face run had been booked with him just being a badass that kicks the crap out of heels that deserve it or that no one else can beat he'd have gotten over big time. Also like someone else said his mohawk and beaded beard look was good in my opinion. The twirly mustache though? Not so much...

Nikki Bella, Maryse, and Eva Marie are not hot. I can hear the "you're a homo" comments coming already, but honestly they're not. They're dime a dozen plastic bimbos that are about as attractive as a barbie doll. I can see hotter chicks on literally any porn website for free.

Agree with you on Maryse and Eva Marie. About as cookie cutter as they come. Maryse also has complete and utter turn the channel heat. I can see Eva Marie possessing the same "charm".

Problem is, you're going to be waiting for a looooooong time. She's the drizzling shits, cringe inducing botches that could hurt who she's working (without the "mood lighting" excuse that the original Sin Cara had), and is shitty at selling from either overselling more than DZ to no-selling moves in the same match. And she's only gotten marginally better even after all the time and care they supposedly put into her.

If she were a man, I'd wager most of her supporters would have called for her to be future endeavored ages ago. If her only "IT" factor is tits and being an unlikable bitch on a reality show, there is a long line of potential women who could and likely should come in and take her place.

Or at the very least, cut their losses and make her a manager. Being an in-ring performer shouldn't be in the cards for her.

On Topic:

... I have similar feelings for everyone's favorite Irish girl.

Not that she's awful at wrestling related activity (don't just mean "workrate", folks) as "all red everything"; far from it. She's decent in the ring, but just insanely overrated/average. Hype music and a midriff. Matches are meh. Promos are meh. Yes, she's pretty. Yeah, you want to eat off her abs... but, really, is that all she's got? She's generic cereal in a fairly eye-pleasing box. She would have KILLED in the 90's, or any of those times where there was essentially no Women's/Diva's division outside of the champion. But as is in the current wave of "girls who can go" direction things are headed in, she's pretty much middle-of-the-road.

... though of the three (Nikki Bella was included as well), Maryse doesn't look AS fake. Still not on that bandwagon, though.

JBL's world title run on Smackdown. Came outta nowhere. JBL essentially went from almost a jobber or a midcard hand at best to a main eventer with the title in almost no time.

Are you saying you hated it?

Hate is a strong word. Just that, especially at the time, it felt too rushed/forced and I couldn't get into it. Actually made me stop watching Smackdown because it felt so sudden and out of place. Still bugs me to this day, though I enjoy more now for what it was than I did at the time.

Oh yeah... Miz is highly underrated by most IMO. Especially on the mic and as a heel character.

Okay, just wanted you to clarify. Wasn't really an opinion in your original statement, "against the grain" or otherwise... just an event and pretty much a fact.

This is against the grain for tpww, but not anywhere else with half a mind for wrestling.

JBL was an effective character but not as a #straightouttanowhere world champion.

I've watched TNA ever since it started and most things haven't been as bad as many seem to make them out to be....

Particularly after losing the Streak to Brock Lesnar, I would have been much happier if Taker returned and played out the rest of his career as Biker Taker.

Look how visceral your post was. You can't build heel heat like that in wrestling anymore, especially within the smark community. Wrestling isn't just about how many snowflakes a match can put up, it's about characters and stories, and Eva Marie has a bitch, entitled character down and will be an excellent heel foil for the face women, even if she is just doing jobs.

And as far as he in-ring work, I think she has improved markedly, and is probably better than most women on the roster beside the 4 NXT women. Her characer is, in my opinion, what Sasha's should have been since her call-up, and she does it better.

It doesn't matter how visceral a reaction is, if it just means you're going to change the channel, because that's what I do when I see that loser on tv.

I'm on the Eva bandwagon but I always have been. I think she's got it from a character standpoint. I haven't watched any of her NXT stuff so I don't know if she has improved any in the ring but she would be a great valet for a heel.

After seeing that bizarre "announcer" thing last week, they'll take her in one of two directions. Either they are going to lay on the vanity gimmick really hard and making her that much more of a heel or they know people are starting to like her because she's so bad that they're going to go over the top with it and force all sorts of what they think will be "fun-bad" parts to her that they suffer a "fandangoing" and people don't buy into it.

As to the original thread title, I am pro Eva, less enthusiastic on Becky than most but that's been said.

I'll say this: I like Michael Cole. I think he gets shit on alot because there are certain components of his job that his superiors require him to do that isn't his fault. He has to blurt out stuff Vince tells him to and tow the company line to an extreme because one false move or show of insubordination and he's done. Ever since they dropped the heel Cole thing which was awful and brought him back to a middle of the road play by play guy, he's been solid. Getting rid of King, Booker and now JBL have been great moves and have slowly brought the commenting team away from the forefront and more into the background of the show which is where it should be.

Cole is a pro and good at his job, but because he just does as he's told to do, people hate him for it.

I'll pitch my suggestion later but I've seen a lot of threads for this Podcast - what's the forum view on it? Any good?

Very.

On commentators, I will go against the grain and say that I still don't slobber over Mauro Ranallo like everyone else here seems to do. The content of what he says is good, but he really needs to work on his voice/presentation. A lot of the time he comes across as real "disingenuous sounding" like he is "putting on a radio voice".

He has already improved a lot from when he started (at which time he was completely unbearable), but he still needs to work at it.

Eva Marie #brand wagon

I always thought that Swede Savard was by far more talented than Matt Rage. Although Matt Rage is very talented, and is considered a true legend, I think Swede has always outdone him in both technical wrestling skills and charisma.

Can someone please ban thekrow

Absolutely

You've always had terrible taste in women.

First quality post by thekrow

Cole was AMAZING on "Beast in the East". Marked difference from insanely micromanaged to just being able to do his job freely.

Kevin Nash is the greatest thing in the history of ever.

Taz should have gone on to have a long title reign as an unstoppable killing machine after he debuted and handed Kurt Angle his first loss.

Your most "Against The... 08-02-2016 05:28 AM SlickyTrickyDamon no shit. leave tpww forever


Are you by chance a member of "Window Lickers Anonymous?" I hear many success stories about WLA. If not you should give them a try. Meetings are in a short bus near you.

Also in line with the thread, shane mcmahon should have stayed gone.

Thing is, you don't see that as a problem. Things have gotten so far gone that heels who get "the wrong" heat are being seen as true heels, and heels who do shit right get CHEERED because they're doing what they are supposed to do, and fans are showing outward appreciation instead of playing THEIR part and booing the fuck out of them to maintain balance. Someone earlier said Bray Wyatt "chases cheers", and I don't entirely agree. Think of some of his feuds- vs Cena, where Mr. "Same old Shit" was pit against the "breath of fresh air". Traditionally, they played their roles, but because the crowd is bored of SuperCena, and wanted Bray to get some shine, they got the opposite reactions on what they were expected to. Hell, Rollins even masterfully does the deal where he shits on the crowd, and often gets cheered for it.

People used to ask *why* is the crowd reacting a particular way and adjust. If it's "fuck off" heat, those people would go away. Now, it's just "fuck it, a boo is a boo, and a cheer is a cheer".

Eva is a good heel because of her persona on a show half the audience doesn't even watch, and because she can legit hurt someone/herself on accident? Hell, eventually even Otunga stopped trying. Hell, Peyton Royce can do Eva's gimmick. Or some other nondescript understudy. But, no, WWE is so dead set on building her in spite of the evidence otherwise, and they appear as though they will only abandon this if a) she does something to embarass them, like Roman or b) she Droz-es someone.

And Tom, I'm sure you aren't going to tune in, or pay to see Eva Marie getting beat up.

At least come close to HTM's reign as IC champ. Even being a midcard monster would have been a nice way to showcase the guy.

I think there are alot of people who would agree with you, actually.

Ric Flair is repetitive and boring

Knife edge chop

Wooooo

Knife edge chop

Woooooo

Knife edge chop

Woooooo

Drebs, this CAN'T be in regards to me... this has to be targeted at Cool King... right? RIGHT?!

Honky Tonk Man... the perfect prototype for the upcoming run of dominance from Eva Marie.

Cole catches a lot of heat from fans, but re-watching 2000's Smackdown on the Network, he and Taz were absolutely fantastic as a team. Extremely underrated historically.

Disco Inferno was massively underrated and deserved a run in the WWE.

I liked Aces & Eights. Thought it was a great angle and he best Bully Ray has ever been. I also likeed him and D-Von holding singles titles at the same time. Thought Briscope And Bischoph see great additions to the stable.

Honestly wish The Dudleys went to SD and aligned with Styles expanding The Club. Could drop the camo for leather and bring in more of the Aces & Eights gimmick. SD needs the tag teams as well, Raws tag division is to deep.

He was supposed to be Honky Tonk Man's protégé in 1997, but he couldn't escape his WCW contract. Thus we were given the gift of Rockabilly.

Agreed. Hell, even his work in early 1999 while JR was out was pretty damn solid I've always thought. Especially given how green he was and who he was replacing, I've always thought Cole's work in 1999 was really solid in comparison to what he's been forced to become today.

Love the Heyman story about them bitching about him having them come in on an off day to do retakes until...

Few more tidbits:

1) I was never a huge fan of Rey Mysterio. I didn't 'dislike' him, but wasn't exactly a fan of his.

2) I think D'Lo Brown had legit main-event and drawing potential before the WWE decided to squash him (i.e. Droz incident + rumors of him jumping ship to WCW).

3) I think Daniel Puder would have been a legit main-event star in the WWE had the WWE capitalized on his momentum (and helped nurture and guide his immaturity as opposed to throwing him to the wolves).

4) Brian Christopher should have and could have been a tremendous IC level heel in my opinion, had he held his shit together.

5) Jim Ross has legitimately sucked on the penises of other wrestlers backstage (mainly African Americans and Samoans).

6) CM Punk was a 'good' talent, but didn't have that 'it' factor needed to be the top guy. His face promos were to "logical" and didn't have enough emotion (which is a major reason why I think he ultimately failed as a face). It's the same reason why Edge never really got over a main-event face either. By contrast - look at a guy like Ultimate Warrior from way back in the day. His promos were weird and made zero sense, but they were filled with raw retarded emotion and the fans dug it up as result.

7) Ryan Shamrock was fucking hot, as was the lady that played Miss Beaver Cleavage in 1999. In my opinion they were as hot as Trish Stratus, Torrie Wilson, and Stacy Kiebler.

DLo was one of my favourites. I even routed for him while in Lo Down.

I'm probably too late to this party, but here goes:

I always thought JBL should have retained the WWE Title against John Cena at WrestleMania 21. It's not because I liked JBL, but to me it never made sense outside the "John Cena is going to be the man" paradigm people saw it through even at the time. I missed a lot of the stuff that made John Cena really cool as Australia didn't get SmackDown for a period of 2003, and one of my first active memories of post-jorts Cena was him having a dreadful Best of Five Series with Booker T, where he won the US Title from himself. I remember him dropping the US Title to Carlito, winning it back, then the Carlito/Jesus stuff being cut short.

I hated John Cena before it was cool, I guess you could say, and after begging for ANYBODY to end the JBL title reign, I felt it made everybody look stupid for Cena to win the belt like he did at Mania 21. Given that they barely had 10 minutes at Mania, I thought that it would have made sense to have JBL's Cabinet attack Cena causing the DQ, yes even at Mania, and build to Cena taking them out one-by-one and earning the belt instead of being handed it because that's what happens when the WWE wants to make you a babyface star.

A DQ ending to a Mania title match, the babyface not getting his just dues at the big show, Orlando Jordan being involved at a WrestleMania -- it all feels counter-intuitive, but I stand by it to this day, and I actually think it would have positioned people to be less oppositional to the Cenazoic Period once he took over, got drafted to RAW and started telling veterans that he was "real recognizing real."

I guess my big point on this is: The Cena backlash was already being primed in 2004 long before SummerSlam 2005, where it first got vocalized en masse.

Also, I agree with not being too high on Rob Van Dam, and I always found The Rock to be a bit obnoxious.

I'm preparation to be tar and feathered...

I'm not big on Renee Young. She's pretty meh to me. I mean, I get why people like her. But I've just never been into her.

I also think D'Lo could've gone places, and firmly believe he SHOULD have gone to WCW. I feel he would have been one of those who got an up-the-card boost from going to Atlanta, then back to WWE, sorta like Jarrett did.

I don't get why Cesaro is over. He's boring on the mic. The swing is stupid. That tape he wears now is silly. His entrance is a James Bond rip off and his music is terrible. Plus he's bald.

We're doing this as a two-parter based on the volume of feedback, so will look to squeeze it in next week if we can ;-)

I really never understood the hard-on for Bret Hart. Perhaps part of this comes from the fact that I first started watching wrestling in 1998 with WCW, so my first memories of Bret are when he was 41/42 years old and had basically checked out. He was also dealing with injuries and then he of course Goldberg concussed him and he retired a year and a half into me watching.

Like, I'm not saying Bret sucked or anything. If I'm watching an old show and he's there I can appreciate the match from a technical standpoint. But I don't find myself binge watching old Bret matches on the Network as I do with other wrestlers.

This actually is something I agree with, mostly with respect to his appearances after his 2011 return. His entire schtick is just to come in now and then and tear down one of the current stars. I understand The Rock himself picks who he wants to promo with, and the wrestlers themselves love interacting with him and understandably so. But as a viewer I always was puzzled by the benefit of having The Rock make the current roster look like a bunch of bitches. It only reinforced the perception that the Attitude Era was far more important than anything happening with the current product.

I likened it to watching a Rock film only for Sly Stallone or Clint Eastwood or somebody to walk in midway through a scene with zero context or connection to the story and just verbally rip Dwayne Johnson to shreds. And then leave, so The Rock can't actually get any sort of revenge.

Oh, I also never got why people thought Crow Sting was better than Surfer Sting. Crow Sting just pointed with a bat and hung out in the rafters. Boring.

Surfer Sting rules though.

Biker Taker vs. Surfer Sting ONLY!!!