wrestling / Columns

Watry Q&A: Being Wrong, Women’s Evolution, Extreme Rules, More

August 1, 2018 | Posted by Justin Watry

“Hello Mr. Watry,

“I’m an avid reader, and I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much I enjoy your articles. I find them very insightful and well-written and I really find your perspective unique. I think what I appreciate most is how little negativity you show. I respect that. I’m honestly not sure why you are met with such resentment and hostility by some of the readers, but I guess you can’t make everyone happy. Anyway, thank you again for all you do and please keep up the good work.”

– 411mania reader

Backstory

Once a month, I reply to the comment section. No cuss words or insults allowed. This is from July 2018.

Women’s Evolution

HairyLesbianMammothBullock: There has been female PPVs in the past. Not on the same scale as a WWE event, I’m not disputing that, but it is not the first one. I completely agree that it is an evolution in WWE terms.

Well, I may as well upset some readers right off the bat here.

With all due respect to Impact Wrestling and their Knockouts pay-per-view, that was not the first all female show either. Them and their fans can shut up about that entire deal. Everybody in TNA can stop crowing about that accomplishment and trying to steal the spotlight from WWE this past week. Pipe down over there on POP TV. The issue is not about the ‘first’ or whatever history making moment WWE wants to tout. In their world, they are the best, on top and all that matters. That is how a company SHOULD be run. What did you want Stephanie McMahon to announce – that other promotions already did it years earlier but now they will too? No, of course not.

This is a first for WWE and was rightfully hyped as such. No offense to other smaller promotions…but nobody cares. Nor did anybody actually watch the Knockouts PPV. If you can legitimately tell me you paid full price for that event, congrats. You’re the one. WWE is the biggest, therefore the best to deliver such an event. Nobody remembers that Facebook originated elsewhere first. People just know that Mark Zuckerberg took the idea, made it the best and the rest is history. Same with McDonalds and many others. WWE won the ‘wrestling war’ a long time ago and gets to write history whether we like all the facts used or not. Evolution is indeed a huge milestone and the event that will be remembered. Not some independent show in front of 100 fans from 15 years ago…

Jamie Greatone Jamison: It was really interesting to see Vince in the ring for this announcement as he typically hasn’t been involved in many of the Women’s Revolution stuff – at least on camera. He kind of gets the rap for the Divas years with bra and panties matches etc. So seeing him there felt almost like he was the visual representation of the past. It was a bit odd, really.

It fit perfectly. He WAS the past. Divas, dog barking segment, making out with the females, etc. The part of the “evolution” was neither he or Triple H got their own entrance. That belonged to Stephanie. A minor but very major point I made last week. Subtle but necessary to have and HHH be bit players in the announcement.

Super Mateo: I really like the idea of a women’s PPV and will be watching, but I hated the presentation. Triple H and Stephanie both rambled for awhile before getting to the point. That time could have been put into some women’s matches down the road. Also, they inexplicably had Alexa and Carmella out there without their title belts. I hated that. The champions should always have their prize with them when they come out.

Agreed on second part. Disagree on first part. The speech from HHH and Steph had to be done to set the stage for diehard fans aware but also for casual fans who may not be entirely in the know. To be honest, it was quite emotional hearing HHH choke up when talking about the women on the stage. Same thing happened when all of them steeped forward for the men to literally and figuratively have their back in a show of support. The opposite is Steph just walking out and making the announcement in ten seconds. Doesn’t really pack much of a punch that way. I loved the entire segment, start to finish.

WWE Extreme Rules 2018 Review

CS 22: The next time you feel that Watry gets mocked unjustifiably, read this column.

Thanks, I appreciate that. Ten years and counting now. When I am right, I am right…which is usually the case, let’s be honest. However, when I am wrong, I can admit to that as well. A situation recently occurred here in Wisconsin where I was ADAMENT about something. Positively adamant and made that clear to an individual. When it did not happen and I was wrong, I looked them in the eye and apologized. I was wrong and owned up to my mistake. That is how it works.

Bob Macnamara: “I Was Wrong” should be the title of every Watry article ever written.

You must not read many of my columns then. Your loss.

Since my laptop is acting up, I will say this on Extreme Rules 2018 before moving on. As noted before, I personally didn’t even notice the main event hijacking until about halfway through the IronMan Match. It is kinda like the commentators in that I just simply rarely notice them. While everybody loves to rip on every mistake they make or whatever, I never even pay attention to half the crap they say. Only days later on the internet will catch something notable was said or not said. It’s weird. I thought the PPV was fine but ultimately filler. Not sure why I get bashed for being a “WWE homer” when I have rarely watched a full Raw show in years and constantly talk about the lack of buzz for Smackdown Live. I do say these things ladies and gentlemen…on another website…

Truths & Lies

Saffin: I still want the WWE belt to main event more shows, but Rusev vs. AJ is not a main event over Lashley vs Reigns,

Indeed. It is the same argument in 2011, 2012, and 2013. I hate to break it to everybody, but a lot of those CM Punk WWE Title matches did not deserve to main event. Fans love to bring that point up, as if The Rock vs. John Cena should not have headlined WrestleMania 28 or something. Good grief. AJ Styles vs. Rusev was obviously a stop gap filler story line before Summerslam so yeah, it was a one and done without consequence. Lashley/Reigns was clearly head and shoulders above that. In the end though, neither match ended the evening…which opened up a whole new can of worms.

Mark Schoeman: I’d lay odds that Brock is still champ come Mania.

My laptop is not allowing your entire comment to pop up. Sorry man. Either way, I will take that bet, even if all the mainstream UFC publicity would make sense for WWE and WM35 in the New York/New Jersey market come early 2019. It does finally seem like Brock Lesnar is finishing up with WWE soon. At least for the time being. Summerslam versus Roman Reigns has to be it, right? Right?

Fact Or Fiction

unami218: Even after going to co-branded PPVs, they still can’t put together an exciting show with the best of raw and SD.

There really is A LOT of talent under contract. It’s tough. Seriously, the company has already extended pay-per-views by an extra hour each month. The only other solution is to add yet another hour. Or just leave some talent off PPVs every once in awhile. I am fine with option two. Even with an absolutely stacked lineup of ten or so worthy PPV bouts, I guarantee you a popular guy/girl would still be left off. Try it right now. Make up a ten match PPV card and include everybody. I bet you are going to have a lot of multi-man matches and battle royals.

Jonfw2: Watry’s first three answers: 1. I full intend to flip flop. 2. Kinda. 3. I don’t even watch all of Raw.

Okay.

Would you rather I lie? I said from day one many years ago that I would not BS anybody, and I have stayed true to that. If I intend to flip flop or am unsure of something, I am going to say so. If I have sources and stick by a story I reported on about Kevin Owens and RAW from 2016, I will state it as fact. That is how this works. Opinions are opinions, so yeah, Extreme Rules confused the heck out of me. Sure enough, my predictions stunk in hindsight – just as I feared in advance. I knew I didn’t have a clue going into the PPV.

June Q&A

Too much cussing going on. Basically, CM Punk would be a giant hypocrite (again) if he came back as a part-time guy to main event WrestleMania (true). He also did indeed headline MANY pay-per-views during his WWE Title run. You know, over a full year of being the top champion in the top promotion in the industry feuding with Ryback, Kane, Daniel Bryan, Alberto Del Rio, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker and The Rock in the followup…all the while being BURIEDDDDDDDDDDDD apparently? Yeah, a lovely comment section it was.