The End of NXT Viewership: Rebooking Survivor Series 2019.

Those who say NXT is the only reason to subscribe to the WWE Network are now right. WWE has wisely removed the replay of NXT Takeover from being on the Hulu feed. I say wisely because, before AEW, that was how I watched those shows.

Why would I fund a company that many feel is responsible for three deaths due to their lack of concussion care and whom will gladly take blood money from Saudi Arabia if I could watch their best shows for free (well, at least $2 cheaper alongside "The Handsmaid's Tale"?

For someone who finds New York to be where quality goes to die, watching a Takeover on a Sunday was awesome. If WWE was going to counter program against themselves, what kind of contrarian would I be if I did not ignore Vince McMahon trying to fuel Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns's egos?

As Wrestletalk stated in their review for NXT Takeover Wargames 3, the refreshing thing about a NXT's Women's first (like the Wargames's match this year) is that it just feels like what women's wrestling should be, just wrestling. So, watching Takeover instead of Summer Slam means I did not have to deal with the bullshit that is the Women's Evolution of Stephanie McMahons.

NXT offered a lot for those fed up with the tired vision of Vince McMahon. It is a pity that fans like me should not have time for it.

How much wrestling do you expect me to watch in one night? When you have competition, and a side in the competition, I am not going to change the channel during a commercial break. If you work a relatively uneventful job like me, you need stuff to read. After reading DC Black's "Harleen: Number 1", and considering how the ultimate fictional empath can become a murderous malcontent, you best believe the NXT spoilers might be a better read for someone with codependency issues.

When you look at my other wrestling viewership, there is no time for replays anyhow. "NWA Powerrr" results are deemed not as newsworthy as those of the competitors, so I am free to watch (or binge) it at my own leisure (typically on Monday between 7 pm CST and 9 pm CST). Tuesdays are when the extra hour NXT lacks comes on YouTube. Do I need to mention these are free (sorry Impact, ROH, WOW and World of Sport on Stadium)?

The NJPW library at my finger tips, and I got plenty of catching up to do there. I am only going to devote 999 a month to one service. HBO Max getting AEW would be an ideal return to chord cutting.

Is there a way for NXT to win me back? Yes. Right now, it is all about match ups. Sorry Hunter, I get around to indie shows, so I have seen Dominik Dijakovic and Keith Lee in its purest form in person. Give me Chris Hero over Kassius Ohno any day. That reminds me of more things in my DVD collection that I need to get caught up on. As long as I am with a girl who still cannot keep the members of The Elite straight, I have enough classic pre-NXT material to last a lifetime.

AEW is currently the fresher product and they still have lacked bouts I would skip. Once we get there...if we get there...I may start watching Xfinity 939 on Wednesday. WWE's only other way to get my attention is to give the minority owner of Hulu a break and put the Takeovers back on the service or for them to sign away AEW talent. At least we would have a war. On the subject of warfare.

Rebooking Survivor Series 2019

Another year of the concept of brand supremacy and willful ignorance of storylines has passed. Aside from champion versus champion (versus champion) bouts, it comes across as the dumbest pay-per-view of the year.

That half of the card did not sound that bad. You have to appreciate them avoiding a Lesnar versus Fiend match, but that again placed the Women's matches as a not quite equal affair. But when you need 30 persons for your main events, you know that the writers' efforts over the past three months were for not (When you try to rebook it, effort was hard to find.). It just seemed like a waste of time. They should have advertised, no red light during the Bray Wyatt bout, and maybe they would have gained my attention.

Something AEW has been doing to gain my attention is referring to classic wrestling concepts like "Bash at the Beach", successfully using Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross, and ECW defining moments. It is definitely the right week for a nostalgia bug (you best be watching "Watchmen" on HBO). Which makes me think back to my favorite Survivor Series, Survivor Series 1990.

Please look pass the Gobbledy Gooker. We all want to remember the best of "Mean" Gene Okerlund anyhow. My favorite thing about the card was the Winner Take All Survivor Series match. It was just as awesome seeing Tito Santana in a main event as it was seeing The Undertaker debut. Plus, Bret Hart and Ted DiBiase battle to be sole survivor for a spot in the finale also makes this the most memorable edition of this pay-per-view.

Imagine the stars that could be made by trying this experiment over again. Yes, they would probably be glossed over like Dolph Ziggler's win five years ago, but the opportunity is there. By loading up sides with top draws, no one new gets over.

This is probably why it failed in 1990. Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior stood tall in the end. If there was evidence to prove Vince McMahon is out of touch, Survivor Series still seem to end like this, when the bout is the closer that is. It is the definition of insanity. Especially when there are no stakes like Survivor Series have had since the second brand split.

Returning to 1990 would add those stakes. 2019's edition will be tougher for me to book since I cannot tell you with great confidence who were top feuds that did not involve the titles, but I can still make it make sense.

But, the card could have make all the sense in the world if NXT beats AEW by a hundred thousand viewers this week. Would this blog be an exercise in futility? If you read my blogs that involve wrestling and suggests my career, probably. Then again, do you want impressionable old me to open DC Black's "Joker No. 1"?

Thinking like a comic book villain, perhaps that should be my threat until someone helps me out with promoting the production of "Main Event of the Dead" my pro-wresting zombie comedy. Email me at russthebus07@gmail.com to request a treatment of this B-movie.

Pre-Show: Survivor Series (4-on-4)

Natalya, Sarah Logan, The Iiconics versus Carmella, Dana Brooke, Nikki Cross, Lacey Evans

Match 1: Survivor Series (6-on-6):

New Day, Heavy Machinery, The B-Team versus

The Revival, Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura

Close it out with Kingston eliminating Nakamura.

Match 2: Survivor Series (5-on-5):

Roman Reigns, Shorty G, Mustafa Ali, Braun Strowman, The Miz versus

King Corbin, Cesaro, The Forgotten Sons

There are a lot of injuries to SmackDown's heels. I know there is a lack of depth in NXT's heel tag team, but that can be resolved by turning a beloved team heel. The Forgotten Sons are not going to get anywhere while Undisputed Era holds the tag belts, so give them some shine and let them end up getting triple disqualified. Even better, let them and Corbin be the survivors.

Match 3: No Holds Barred for WWE Championship:

Brock Lesnar defends against Rey Mysterio

Put the belt on Rey and send Lesnar back to SmackDown. That is what Fox wants.

Match 4: Survivor Series (6-on-6):

The Viking Raiders, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, Street Profits versus

The OC, Fin Balor, Authors of Pain

AOP and The Viking Raiders brawls to a double DQ. The Club picks up the pieces, but have AJ Styles get pinned by Montez Ford.

Match 5: Survivor Series (5-on-5):

Seth Rollins, Ricochet, Rusev, Aleister Black, Humberto Carillo versus

Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Buddy Murphy, Andrade

You need at least one Shield member in the main event and you need to protect Black, so those two will go over. Wish I could have had an uneven side in the grand finale.

Match 6: Triangle Tag Team Match for WWE Women's Tag Team Championship

Kabuki Warriors versus Boss and Hug Connection versus Becky Lynch and Charlotte

Dual-branded show gives you a chance for all your top talent in. Only one takes the fall. Can stay the course to the TLC bout between the Raw teams.

Match 7: WWE Univeral Championship: Bray Wyatt defends against Daniel Bryan

Match 8: Survivor Series for Brand Supremacy (5-on-5)

Gallows and Anderson, Fin Balor, Seth Rollins, Aleister Black versus

King Corbin, The Forgotten Sons, Kofi Kingston

Corbin bickers with Kingston resulting in him being eliminated. The Forgotten Sons ditch Kingston. Kingston pins both Gallows and Anderson. Kingston is about to hit Trouble in Paradise on Balor, misses, and receives Black Mass. Rollins follows up with a Curb Stomp. Balor scores the fall.

Gallows and Anderson go to pick the bones of Kingston. Black intervenes...

Either Rollins turns on Black and joins the OC or Black and Rollins runs them off and stand tall. Black still gets over huge.

www.instagram.com/shinsukenakamura/

No Holds Barred: Kubrick-ian Evidence that CENA SUCKS!

“@MainEventZombie So well thought out!! (u gave your NHB blog so much more brain power than that film deserved) #Dookie”–The Wrestling Compadres Twitter Account.

Too bad last week’s blog got most of its views before I cleaned it up to send a request out on Monday using #RAW. If they find out at the day job, I may be out of the copywriter gig. Not to say that would be a bad thing. Give me a raise now or at least make it as alcoholic friendly as it is on AMC.

Thinking about having permission to drink at my advertising job makes me wonder how anything got done in the “Mad Men” era. Then I realize that political correctness wasn’t prevalent until the Cold War ended, and you think back to some of that advertising out of Sterling Cooper, alcohol allowed them creative freedom or at least the freedom to not be sensitive to the public.

So yes @WrestlingBuds, I have a tendency to put too much brain power into the irreverent. If that doesn’t qualify me from hosting or being involved with a podcast, what will. If I can only find the clip of the promo where Austin Aries shoves me into a women’s bathroom to solidify my credentials with the Nerdist Wrestling Experts (AAW Final Four 2008).

Guess I’ll have to continue focusing “No Holds Barred” to keep it fresh in their minds, so that I shan’t be forgotten when the “The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast” finally presents their episode dedicated to the first Hulk Hogan billed feature.

What if “No Holds Barred” actually had stars?

This is not a shot at Kurt Fuller, but if you look at his career, he was always a go-to lackey for the main villain. Maybe he should have been cast in the recent DirecTV commercials as the less attractive or painfully awkward Rob Lowe (can’t knock “Wayne’s World”). I have heard Lowe is awful to work with, and now he is taking jobs away on top of that.

See the conclusion to this blog at Rip 'Em System Tumblr.

Chris Benoit and Fear and Loathing Between 8 to 11 p.m.

*Originally posted at maineventofthedead.com on March 20, 2015.

I think this blog's title is pretty clever based on when it's being written. Clever enough that it may get some people checking it out when I hashtag RAW it on Monday. But I still need to deliver a take on wrestling to avoid disappointing those who clicked on a link to a blog that is more self-deprecating than a Colt Cabana podcast.

Can we induct Chris Benoit if we inducted him as Chris Benoit-Balls? I think that shows the WWE's shame in him while the fans of the best wrestling and those who were inspired as performers at least get the solace that he is not forgotten. And we can all agree he was a douche the last weekend of his life because I do not think we would attach balls to anyone who was not that.

Or can we differentiate the wrestler and reportedly good man for 39 years and some change from the monster he ended up becoming. Chris Benoit goes in the hall of fame. Chris Benoit-Balls gets placed in all the articles written about the man's final hours. It's kind of like Flash vs. Reverse Flash.

Personally, I think Benoit-Balls should refer to anything after the purchase of WCW in 2001, when Vince could have gone PG to begin with and limit the number of concussions that drove Benoit...Balls mad.

I think if you do not eventually accept Benoit...Balls into the hall of fame, your ignoring what maybe the reason why the product has been on the decline. It became a kids' product instead of a wrestling promotion because it was becoming too dangerous to be about action and left out faux Italians with socks to be exploited. Of course Vince McMahon is well known for expecting fans to ignore the obvious. That is why the NFL and WWE share the same doctors who downplay the existence of CTE, let alone correctly diagnose a concussion. Can we really buy the end to Owens vs. Zayn since it depends on us believing Dr. Chris Amman can recognize brain trauma?

So for the time being, I guess I will ignore any way of putting money into the Vince's pockets. The hours have come out for next week, and fate has helped insure that there is no way the McMahon clan will get $9.99 from me or probably my pal from two blogs ago who texted me on Monday begging me to get Mania.

Eva says, "Why think outside the box when you can dominate it?"

http://instagram.com/maineventzombie

http://instagram.com/maineventzombie

No Holds Barred: Vince McMahon’s Mein Kampf

The title and content of this blog is satirical. I do not believe there is any evidence to suggest that the McMahon family or WWE Inc. (whom I am a single stock holder in) has any intentions to rule the Eastern Hemisphere or to encourage antisemitic sentiment.

Then again, there was the the rechristening of Colt Cabana as Scotty Goldman (a racist slur according to El Generico on “The Art of Wrestling: Episode 107”). Using the term rechristen seems wrong, don’t it? Also, Cabana did not deny Brendon Burns’s interesting description of the Goldman gimmick on AOW 210.

“No Holds Barred” is a film I have seen on two occurrences. The first being the weekend prior to “Wrestlemania VIII,” a weekend that also featured an airing of Hulk Hogan’s greatest wrestling matches. This may imply that Vince McMahon may have held the cable television premier of this feature until Hogan’s first farewell to the company, as a way of saying, “this is how promising you can be away from Stamford, so be ready for Las Vegas next April.”

As a twelve year-old, I learned to appreciate my parents following the direction of the MPAA, with Tim Burton’s “Batman” being the only PG-13 rated film they would gamble the developing minds of my siblings and I for. In 1994, with the release of “Interview with a Vampire,” I learned that Mom just wanted to have someone to talk about a movie with since Dad didn’t want to see it. I’m sure my blogs in the near future, on weeks with only weak wrestling to watch on Hulu, we will inevitably dive into my parents influence on my development, so let us get back on track.

NHB was the first feature that I knew was not worth seeing in the theater. This made me regret the number of wretched childrens’ cinema that my siblings and I drug my parents to see. It may be said that WWE Films may be the ultimate form of birth control because I am not up for karma.

Breeding was a low priority before I started typing this up. The fear of a life where I cannot avoid a 60-inch television airing a “Land Before Time” sequel (dinosaurs don’t sing) or Hanna-Barbera spreading the heroics of John Cera allows me to welcome a radioactive incident to my genitals.

I suspect gamma would solve the futility concerns, and be interesting when I get angry. But how could I be angry preventing another child from joining the Cenation?

Once a child joins the Cena fanbase (thankfully, a lot of them are Make-A-Wish kids [send hate tweets to @MainEventZombie]), I fear there is no winning them back. This is how I ended up coming back to NHB 22 years later. January 23, 1984 is the most important date in wrestling history. Those with that belief are forever Hulkamaniacs.

“No Holds Barred” cannot be as bad as I remembered it. All it takes is a little classical conditioning. All the Hulkster did was great, until he dawned a tutu (way before the sex tape and Gawker).

Since maineventofthedead.com is dedicated to the development of producing “Main Event of the Dead: The Podcast” and originally “Main Event of the Dead: The Zombie Pro-Wrestling B-Movie Comedy,” I have developed a very different cinematic tastes than most movie-goers. So if one chooses to revisit NHB, thinking like Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbet may be the only way to survive and thrive from it.

I don’t really blame Hulk Hogan for how wretched the film can be at points. He’s asked to be the character of Hulk Hogan. Until the heel turn…or his exposing of the business in “Rocky III,” when did it have depth? Kurt Fuller does his best to shine (sorry, get heat) as THE villain (his chance to flick off Vigo the Carpathian). Tiny Lister is fun no matter his role (why else would he later be cast as President of the Earth?). And who did not get a kick out of Stan Hansen playing a character instead of just being the baddest blind man in history. He may have hated the legacy, even the process, but it at least looked like he was having fun.

The problems are:

• A supporting cast that knew they were in a feature that should have been shot on nitrate film and used in the finale of “Inglourious Basterds.”
• It is the prototype of a bad episode of prime-time WWE.

See the conclusion to this blog at Rip 'Em System Tumblr.