Dear WWE,

Thank you for finally bringing WrestleMania back to the Northeast.  It’s been 9 long years.  I appreciate the fact that I can actually realistically hope to go to WrestleMania next year without spending too much on traveling to the host city.  That said, however, I’m a little bit baffled at your choice of stadium.  We’re all impressed with the new state-of-the-art Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, which is of course home to the New York Jets, and Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, but perhaps that level of impressiveness has proven to be deceitful.  You see, for years I had assumed that Buffalo would never get a WrestleMania for the sheer fact that we have an outdoor stadium in a place where, even on April 7th, the weather isn’t all that great.  Apparently, I was mistaken.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that New York State is more than just that little island there right off the coast of New Jersey.  I can see how you would get confused, however, since our own state capital, Albany, apparently doesn’t know that either. My complaint isn’t that you’re bringing WrestleMania back home to the New York City area, it’s that you’re doing it in an outdoor venue in a cold-weather climate, and that I’m sure Buffalo wasn’t even a consideration.  You guys are here twice a year, let’s face it, you know just as well as we do that Buffalo’s economy could certainly use the $62 Million boost more than New York City and East Rutherford.

We’ve got passionate wrestling fans here.  We sell out every Pay Per View you bring our way.  And we do big events right.  Just ask the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were here as part of the NHL’s first ever Winter Classic.  If you are unfamiliar with the NHL, that’s the National Hockey League.  You know, the sport The Goon played.  I know you just did a huge press conference for WrestleMania XXIX in Jersey, and they can have it, that’s fine, but if it goes off without a hitch, I highly ask that you please consider bringing WrestleMania to Buffalo.  We could use the economic boost much more than the cities you’ve been bringing WrestleMania to lately, and our fans would make sure you didn’t regret the decision for a moment.

Thanks,

ThinkSoJoE

Greetings from Virginia!  Just wanted to pop in and say happy holidays to everybody.

I also wanted to jump to CM Punk and Daniel Bryan’s defense.  I wouldn’t blame this week’s low ratings on them.  Monday Night Football was plagued by power problems and the game ran much later than usual, with playoff implications for the Steelers, one of the more popular teams in the NFL.  Let’s see how things play out for the two Champions before jumping to conclusions.

Enjoy your holiday, everyone!

It wasn’t that long ago.  Just a few weeks, actually.  I jumped right on this very website right after WWE RAW SuperShow to rant about how they ruined a perfectly entertaining show with the introduction of John Laurinaitis as the interim RAW General Manager.  Now, I’m right back here after what many are saying was a terrible episode of RAW, and finding myself in a less than familiar situation – one where I’m not a cynical asshole.

Personally, I went on Twitter immediately after I watched last night’s show and mentioned that I felt like last night’s show was solid from top to bottom, and after re-watching it today with my wife I’m standing by that tweet.  The fact is, the internet wrestling community (IWC) doesn’t know what they want.  The same people who tune in to TNA and time the matches so they can jump on the internet and point out that there was only 10 minutes of wrestling in a two hour program are the same ones that I see right now saying that this episode of RAW, where the talking was kept to a minimum, was terrible.

Every performer on last night’s show put on a solid performance.  The IWC doesn’t seem to think so, and I’d like to think that it’s because they’re so jaded about everything that the WWE does nowadays.  John Cena has proven time and time again – despite the fact that I boo the hell out of his character – that he’s a solid performer and can have a good match with most of the guys on the roster, yet no matter how good of a match he has, you’ll still hear about the “five moves of doom.”  The Divas have all been working very hard on their in-ring work, but as soon as they’re on television, the IWC collectively says “piss break!”

The biggest criticism I’ve seen of last night’s show was the ending.  Oh no, “Super Cena” just beat Awesome Truth all by himself, why does he even need to bother with The Rock at Survivor Series?  What show are you watching?  Cena beat The Miz, then while Miz was incapacitated, R-Truth tried to attack him, but got caught and ate an AA for his trouble.  That’s not Cena beating up two guys at once, that’s Cena beating two guys back to back.  If it were Awesome Truth against Cena by himself, Cena gets beat down.  See last week’s RAW for proof.

What bugs me is that if ROH did the exact same finish – let’s say with Davey Richards in the John Cena role, and members of The House of Truth in Awesome Truth’s place – these same people who are criticizing Cena would be praising Richards for outsmarting the opposition.  You know I’m right.

This is what I want.  I want all of my fellow members of the IWC to get off of their little cloud, and watch RAW back as a FAN and not as a cynical asshole desensitized to the business by the internet, and tell me what the hell was so wrong with last night’s show.

I’m almost at a complete loss of words over last night’s WWE RAW.  The beginning was great.  WWE proved that they could do a show with just four guys, and it would be a great show.  Then Vince McMahon came out, and from that point forward, WWE proved that they could do a terrible show with 60 guys.

I don’t know why, but I absolutely loathe John Laurinaitis.  I feel that it’s more than just the character, I think I actually despise John Laurinaitis the person.  Over the past couple of months I didn’t mind him so much, but as soon as he was appointed “Interim RAW GM,” I started to hate his very being.  And the strange thing is, I don’t think it’s his fault that I hate him at all.  What I really hate, is heel authority figures in wrestling.

The first couple of times, ok cool.  Now, it’s just stale.  It’s old.  I can’t stand it.  This is wrestling.  I’m supposed to be rooting for the good guy and booing the bad guy, not rooting for the good guy and booing the good guy’s boss.  If I wanted to boo a good guy’s boss, I’d march into my boss’s office with my thumb down.

Look, I get the idea that we’re all supposed to hate our boss, and that when the good guy’s boss finally gets his comeuppance, we’re all supposed to cheer because we’re living vicariously through our favorite Superstar.  I actually like my boss.  Sure, sometimes I think I’d like to hit him with a Stone Cold Stunner, but most of the time I think I’d rather share a couple of Steveweisers with him (WHAT?).

The fact is, we’ve been doing this same angle for 15 years now.  For everything the WWE is doing right – pushing the tag team division, bringing back managers and stables – this is one of the wrongs.  There was a time when I’d tune in to WWE programming because I liked the wrestling.  A promo here or there and a very rare post-match beatdown went a long way back in those days.  Now, we have an hour of promos on a two hour program and a beatdown after every match – almost literally in the case of last night’s RAW – and they’ve lost their effectiveness.

I think what we need in mainstream wrestling – WWE, specifically – is a face authority figure (Teddy Long doesn’t count) who will restore order.  Post-match beatdown?  $250,000 fine.  The effectiveness will eventually be rebuilt because the only time we’d see a post-match beatdown is when somebody dislikes a guy so much that they’ll gladly pay a quarter of a million bucks to get in a few extra shots at them.  Is it a perfect suggestion?  Maybe not, but at least I’m trying to come up with something different.

For now, I think I’ll vote with my remote control – I’m considering not watching wrestling until they replace Laurinaitis as RAW GM.  That’s how strongly I feel about this crap.

Greetings, fellow Bored Wrestling Fans, it is I, ThinkSoJoE here with another edition of the rarely seen “ThinkSoJoE’s Thoughts.”  The WWE is in my hometown this weekend for it’s annual Night of Champions Pay Per View, and yours truly will be there.

It is because the WWE Superstars and Divas are in Buffalo as I type this, just a few short miles from my home, that I sent out the very first fax on BoredWrestlingFan.com company letterhead.  Hell, before today there was no such thing as BWF company letterhead.  The fax was to WWE Media Credentials, a request to interview WWE Superstars and Divas for the site.  As it’s Friday and the show is Sunday, I highly doubt I’m going to get a positive response to this particular request, but I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get our staff in good at future events.

There is another event that I have my eye on covering coming up next month.  I will report back as soon as I have any confirmation or denial with more details of what that particular event is.  Stay tuned.

If you’re not already, please follow us on Twitter, @BrdWrstlngFn, where this Sunday I will be tweeting as I attend Night of Champions live in Buffalo, NY!

Hey there, fellow Bored Wrestling Fans!  It is I, the owner, founder, and beloved boss here at BWF, ThinkSoJoE, back with another rare edition of ThinkSoJoE’s thoughts!  I’ve been sitting around quietly for the last few months, a RAW review here or there, but nothing more here on the site, so I figured I’d drop in with some thoughts on the current state of sports entertainment!

What’s up folks, it’s me, the alpha Bored Wrestling Fan, the founder and creator of this site you’re reading right now (unless, of course, you’re reading this through our RSS feed), ThinkSoJoE.  And holy crap, am I surprised by the fact that I’m typing this right now.

You see, June 9th is rapidly approaching.

I’m going to go on record and say that at the time of this writing, I have not watched the April 11, 2011 episode of WWE RAW.  Every Monday night I try to avoid the temptation of reading about what happened on the WWE’s flagship show when I was commuting to work prior to being able to watch the show.  Tonight I made the mistake of going on Twitter and seeing a ton of tweets regarding Adam “Edge” Copeland.  When I called home, as I usually do when I get to work, my fiancee made it a point to tell me that Edge is retiring.  No matter how hard I try, news about Edge does not slip past my RADAR, and with good reason – Edge is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time.

Edge had everything you could want in a professional wrestler.  He had great mic skills, he was amazing to watch in the ring, and he managed to evolve along with the business he lived his life for over the past fourteen years.  For all fourteen of those, I’ve been an Edgehead.  How could you not be?  He always had the coolest entrance in the business, whether it was coming in through the crowd at the beginning of his WWE career, rising up through a ring of fire with The Brood, or emerging through a cloud of smoke to the heavy metal laden sounds of Rob Zombie’s “Never Gonna Stop” or Alter Bridge’s “Metallingus.”  And that’s just to get you pumped up for the spectacle you’d be about to witness.

Shawn Michaels – my absolute favorite wrestler of all time, for what it’s worth – defined the Ladder Match with Scott Hall.  Edge, along with Christian, The Hardys, and The Dudleys, redefined it.  Throw in some tables and chairs, and it becomes his match, the TLC Match.  Edge innovated in Hardcore matches with Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22 and ECW One Night Stand 2, showing that he’d have been a huge star in the original ECW if he’d opted to ply his trade there.  Edge defined the Money In The Bank Ladder Match, and earned the nickname “The Ultimate Opportunist,” and that’s just his resume in stipulation matches.  He’s also, for what it’s worth, undefeated in Last Man Standing matches.

Even without weapons, Edge was a deadly foe in the ring.  He could beat you any way he wanted to.  Edgecution.  Edgeucator.  Edge-o-matic.  And of course, his weapon of choice toward the end of his career, the Spear.  A Ten-Time World Champion.  That’s not something that just any bum off the streets can pull off – that’s an indication that you are one of the best in the world at this profession.  To retire as Champion is unheard of – there goes Adam Copeland innovating this business again.

My hat goes off to Edge for knowing that his body cannot continue to take the abuse that he puts it through night in and night out on the road for the WWE.  Thank you, Adam “Edge” Copeland, for entertaining me week in and week out for the last fourteen years.  We’ll miss you!

Finally, The Rock has come back to Buffalo, but all ThinkSoJoE saw in the HSBC Arena was an empty ring.

So, as I often do when RAW rolls into Buffalo, I went to last night’s show and planned to write about it afterward, complete with any media that I managed to capture via my camera.  Unfortunately, my computer doesn’t like the memory card I have in there and I cannot find the USB cable at the moment, so we’re going to have to go without it – which absolutely sucks because I have a video on there of Cena trashing The Rock again after the show.

The dark match last night was Tyson Kidd taking on former NXT rookie Percy Watson.  Surprisingly, Watson picked up the win.  He looked a little different than I remember him, but of course I was in the very last row of the 300 level, so my vision might have been off a bit.

SPOILER ALERT: If you watch “Superstars” on Thursday and wish to not be spoiled, please skip the next two paragraphs…

Superstars kicked off with a match between R-Truth and William Regal, in which Truth picked up the victory.

That was followed by a tag team match pitting Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov (with Tamina) against Zack Ryder and Primo.  Of course you know, Santino pinned Ryder after hitting the Cobra.  Fellow fans on the bus were discussing the effectiveness of The Cobra on the way back home from the show.

We love Triple H here in Buffalo.  We knew better than to expect The Undertaker, so at least where I was sitting, nobody was terribly upset that he hadn’t shown up.  We were all surprised by the immediate beat-down of Sheamus, who incidentally made his RAW debut in the HSBC Arena.

We also love Evan Bourne – great to see him back and looking in top form!

Michael Cole headed down to the ring, and what you guys didn’t see was that the crew came back out to set the announce table back up and Cole actually walked to the back.  Probably to generate a little more heat coming back from the break.  My attempts at starting an “AND I QUOTE” chant were futile.

Yours truly now owns a New Nexus t-shirt.  I was debating whether to get this one or The Miz’s “Hello, I’m Awesome” t-shirt but ultimately settled for this, as I’m a huge Punk mark.  I think I’m the only one though – it was a decidedly pro-Orton crowd.  Aly didn’t use this one in her review, but I tweeted “Why doesn’t the GM do something?  The damned match was over!” after Orton kicked McGuillicutty in the head.  Guess we won’t be seeing him for a while.

I absolutely love the fact that people can’t stand The Miz.  This is not “X-Pac heat” he’s getting, this is legit heel heat.  The man is doing his job, and everything he said during his promo about how he’s the WWE Champion and should be the focus of the company, not Cena and The Rock, is absolutely true.  Of course, then John Cena came out and ruined it by making poop and pee jokes – not to mention spewing enough homophobic rhetoric that I’m surprised GLAAD isn’t all over him today.  I’m surprised he didn’t finish up with the old Seinfeld line, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”  Of course, this was all to set up the main event – a cage match between Cena and Alex Riley.  Yes, Alex Riley main evented RAW last night.

So then we got a Divas Battle Royal.  All of the participants and guest commentator Eve made it to the ring with about 30 seconds left before the commercial break ended.  That’s how much they care about the Divas on RAW.  And of course, the Bellas won with predictable ending number 37: Twin Magic.

Now, the next segment.  The next segment is going to be the subject of this week’s “A Minute With ThinkSoJoE,”   so I’m only going to touch on it briefly – Screw The Rock.

At least Shawn Michaels wasn’t publicized to be a part of the show beforehand, and his segment was kept short.  I still say I could’ve stayed home and watched RAW on TV for free instead of paying $70 for two tickets and watching it on TV at the HSBC Arena.

Daniel Bryan, thanks for coming.  You, Sheamus, and Michael McGuillicutty please enjoy your kayfabe stay at Mercy Hospital here in Buffalo.

Of course John Cena was going to win that cage match.  You really didn’t think so?  Still, The Miz got the last word in again as he left Cena lying on the floor following another Skull Crushing Finale.  By the way, The Miz sent a twitpic, or whatever you call them these days, during the match.  Here it is:

Cena also tweeted from Miz’s phone during the match.  He sent the same picture with the tweet, Hey cenation, come look how good I look!

After RAW went off the air, we still got our advertised dark main event – John Cena and Randy Orton vs. The Miz and CM Punk.  The heels took turns wailing away on Cena before Orton got the hot tag and cleaned house.  He hit RKOs on both opponents but Cole refused to count, instead running away.  Another referee came out and Orton and Cena picked up the win, pinning CM Punk.

Following the match – and this is the important part right here – John Cena had this to say:

“I got something to say to you.  I got something to say to all ‘yall.  First things first.  Randy Orton, thank you.  Thank you.  After filming RAW television, flying 15 hours to South America to perform four times for sold out shows below the Equator, then flying 15 hours back here to be in Buffalo, New York.  To physically be here to stand here in this ring, thank you.  Thank you, Randy Orton, for showing up.  Now then.  People as far as I can see, totally sold out here in Buffalo.  I’d just like to make a point that it’s not 14,000, it’s 16,700 people here tonight, and a certain individual would know that – if he showed up.  Ladies and gentlemen, I want to end this night with a most important message to all of you:  Thank you.  Thank you all for the same sacrifices Randy Orton made, thank you for making this program what it is, thank you for being excited to see WrestleMania, but most of all, thank you for showing up.”