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Cook: Rusev/Lana/Lashley: When Collaboration Goes Wrong

Cook explores the idea of when it’s not all the writers’ fault.

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Do not feel bad for Rusev.

It’s a natural reaction for people that have followed the Bulgarian Brute’s WWE career to feel some level of sympathy for the guy. I’ve lost track of how many columns I’ve written about the latest failure of WWE to capitalize off of something cool that Rusev did. He has the potential to be one of WWE’s biggest stars, but for whatever reason it’s never really come to pass. Even back when “Rusev Day” was the most popular chant at any given WWE event, the company’s reaction was to slowly kill the angle that got it over off.

Rusev is at the center of another high-profile angle right now. It’s not the first time that he & his wife Lana have split up on screen, but it is the first time that Bobby Lashley has been involved in the proceedings. The results have been…well…something.

They’ve mostly been like this. Questionable acting leading to Rusev getting laid out & Lashley getting his mack on with Lana. People definitely have opinions on it, with most of them involving the idea that Rusev must be getting punished for some reason or another. One could ask “why would Rusev be punished”, but I don’t even bother wondering about these things because it’s WWE. You can look at Vince McMahon the wrong way and get punished. Ask Paul London!

To hear Rusev tell it, nothing like that is going on. In fact, to hear Rusev tell it, the current storyline with him, Lana & Lashley is a collaboration. Also, to hear Rusev tell it, it’s “the best storyline currently going on, and the best storyline that’s been around for years”.

“It’s getting a lot of views and a lot of eyes on it. Some people like it, some people love it, but at the end of the day, it’s the hottest storyline going on.”

Well, you certainly can’t fault the guy for lacking positivity! In Rusev’s defense, the storyline has done very well on YouTube. The Rusev/Lana/Lashley segments have led the way for most of the episodes they’ve appeared on, of course excusing the shows Brock Lesnar has been on. On the downside, they’ve tanked in the TV ratings compared to the rest of the show on most weeks. I’m not sure what this means. Maybe people want to complain in the comment section? Maybe people are more comfortable watching this sort of thing on a computer screen? Heck, maybe their videos come up in some weird YouTube searches that sound like things some people might search on PornHub. I don’t know.

All I know for sure is that if, in fact, Rusev and/or Lana and/or Lashley are helping come up with the ideas for this freakshow, it refutes a popular claim that people like to make whenever they complain about WWE.

“It’s all the Hollywood writers’ fault!”

How many times have we heard this one? Any time a stretch of WWE television appears to be creatively bankrupt, the blame from many wrestling fans goes right to the writing staff. We might blame some of the wrestlers that we don’t like, but we give most of them credit for trying. I’ve always thought there were a number of things that people were overlooking while passing blame to the writers.

Writing is hard, and things pretty much never go as planned.

Have you ever tried to write a wrestling show? Even better, have you ever tried writing a WWE show? You could come up with something that you think is the perfect wrestling television episode. Great promos, interesting angles, good matches, just top notch stuff all around. Then you can send it to your boss via e-mail or show up on the day of the show with it, and nothing about it’s translating to anybody else. The boss doesn’t like this part. This wrestler doesn’t want to do that part, and they have enough pull to make that happen. The network wants nothing to do with that one segment. So on & so forth, with everybody butting in until your perfect episode of wrestling is nothing like it started as.

Then there’s another argument people like to make from time to time. The idea that wrestlers should get to write their own stuff! All these dang written promos all sound terrible, if the boys & girls were allowed to talk off the top of their head things would be so much better, right?

Not so much.

My favorite example to use to prove this idea wrong is CZW. They had phases where they would have everybody in the promotion cut promos to build the next show or whatever they had going on at the time. Some of them were great. Guys like Chris Hero, Eddie Kingston & Jon Moxley made great usage of the promo time they had and really got their stuff over. Then there were a bunch of guys that really didn’t need to be given a microphone with nothing pre-planned to say.

Some wrestlers end up being creative geniuses and have plenty of ideas worth listening to. Some don’t. I’m not sure how much creative say Rusev has really had in this angle, but the WWE Backstage crew isn’t too impressed with it.

Imagine what the new Backstage correspondent will have to say about the storyline next week!

Oh, it’ll still be around next week. I see people wanting the thing to go away, but you gotta at least drag this out to a PPV. Or a Kickoff Show. Someday, when people look back at the greatest love triangles in the history of pro wrestling, they will think of Rusev, Lana & Bobby Lashley.

OK, probably not. I get the feeling it’ll be remembered in some form or fashion though. The next time somebody tells you that Wrestler X needs to book their own stuff, remind them of when these three got to collaborate. Or when Paul Heyman let them think they were collaborating. Either way.

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Opinion

Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

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Wyatt Sicks WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions, 

The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight. 

This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail. 

The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions. 

After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama

gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania. 

It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company. 

We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!

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SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)


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Opinion

Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns 

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WWE Jacob Fatu Roman Reigns Backlash

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call. 

Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story. 

The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line. 

 In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years? 

Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus. 

I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?

Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!

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 MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling) 

THURSDAY - Nefarious Means

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)


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