The Heat and the Shine

There is an intrinsic pleasure found in feeling important, and one former pro wrestling great surely felt it this weekend.  Vader, the Hall of Fame "monster" who at one time was among the best big men in the business, surely had that feeling after his Tweet-shaming of the Will Ospreay vs. Riccocet match at New Japan's "Best of the Super Juniors" triggered a storm of arguments about what pro wrestling is and should be. Vader's initial Tweet came after he was forwarded an out-of-context clip of a synchronized highspot that occurred early in their match: This is a memorized gymnastic/dance rountine it saddenens me to see the direction wrestling is headed https://t.co/TvU9eTkBC0 — Big Van Vader (@itsvadertime) May 27, 2016 Vader offered praise after watching the full match , but the damage was done.  Battle lines had been drawn, with fans of a more grounded style on one side and people citing wrestling's need to "evolve" on the other

With the 'Heat and Shine' blog only recently moving to a daily format, several things are still being tinkered with.  The plan, at least for now, is to have UFC be the focus of the blog on Fridays, with Monday through Thursday primarily dedicated to pro wrestling.   Feedback on the blog's format, schedule, content, layout and anything else you can think of is appreciated.  You can email me , tweet at me or leave a comment below.  Thank you. UFC has a ' Fight Night ' show (airing on Fox Sports 1 in the United States) on Sunday at 6 pm PDT/9 pm EDT, and this blog could scarcely be more excited. Cody Garbrandt vs. Thomas Almeida is the main event.  Both fighters are unbeaten, 24 year-old studs.  Both fighters are expected to have long careers in the upper echelons of UFC's lighter weight classes (Sunday's fight is at 135 pounds), but only one will enter the Championship picture with a flawless record. The undercard for 'Fight Night: Almeida vs. Ga

The news that WWE Smackdown is moving to Tuesdays (and airing live, and splitting from Raw) generated a lot of discussion yesterday.  Absent from most of said discussion was talk about the current residents of Tuesday night wrestling, TNA. That TNA has become an afterthought to most pro wrestling fans is hardly news.  The promotion has gone from a struggling cable network to an under-distributed cable network to, now, an unknown cable network.  All of this at a time where streaming is more popular and audiences are more fractionalized and all of the other problematic things that get written about modern linear television. From the outside looking in, TNA's adventure on Pop TV has appeared to be especially harrowing. The TNA-Pop marriage initially appeared to be a match made in heaven, with Pop in need of loyally watched content (TNA maintained 18-49 demographic ratings around 0.10, even with the limited distribution of Destination America) and TNA in need of wide distributio

This morning, Entertainment Industry Press Release Aggregator Variety  broke the news that WWE is re-doing the much-reviled Brand Extension.  While the term "Brand Extension" was wisely avoided, Variety 's echoing of WWE press materials report indicated that the new WWE will have all of the traits of the old Brand Extension era: separate rosters, separate writing staffs and separate angles. WWE's press release focuses on the fact that Smackdown will now air live, but that's hardly the big news to wrestling fans.  The bigger news is that Smackdown is moving to Tuesdays and that the roster is being split up. Luckily for wrestling fans, WWE's burying of the lede will have no effect on the volume of commentary on the Raw/Smackdown split.  Countless podcasts, websites and, yes, this blog, will happily provide takes for fans' perusal. This blog is going to let the news sink in and save its take on The Split for another day.  Hopefully that take will be j

Mick Foley's post-Raw interview with Shane McMahon was noteworthy primarily for Shane's reaction when Triple H was brought up.  Twitter user  @traskbryant  caught the exchange and summed it up quite well: In case you missed the HHH question directed at Shane...SO AWKWARD pic.twitter.com/1HNgqg6Q4g — Trask (@traskbryant) May 24, 2016 The obvious conclusion is that Shane is playing an angle.  Triple H vs. Shane for control of the company is a natural escalation of Shane's recent on-camera role. Kudos to WWE for playing up the Triple H vs. Shane angle.  The best drawing modern pro wrestling angles require a mix of fact and fiction.  Most fans are in on the work, so suspense -- which is essential for spiking business -- must come from areas outside of the WWE storyline 'world'. Recent examples of WWE business spikes exemplify the use of fact and fiction to draw.  CM Punk's post-pipe bomb promo match with John Cena and Ryback's title challenge in the mi

Ed. note: A person with knowledge of the wrestling business pointed out that Cody Rhodes was likely referring to John Cena, not Seth Rollins, when he referred to "watching a monitor advertising a returning star" in his statement about his request for a release from WWE. On Sunday afternoon -- mere hours before the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view, Cody Rhodes released a statement explaining his request for a release from WWE. Reading the true meaning of pro wrestlers' public statements is tricky business.  Pro wrestling is still a business full of workers and many workers have been taught to draw money in any way they can.  It is impossible to tell it Cody's words were an honest spilling of emotion, an opening promo for his Indy career, some combination of the two or something else entirely. Whatever the overall purpose of Rhodes's statement, a few lines stood out. Rhodes ostensibly referenced Seth Rollins, who probably-not-so-coincidentally happened to be

How do you know you're addicted to pro wrestling?  Because you care about WWE Extreme Rules, that's how. And, it's the low form of addiction.  The ugly form.  Not the 'addiction' of passion and focus.  The addiction of need; the loss of control.  The addiction that public service announcements warn you about. There is no other rational cause for an adult to care about the current WWE product.  All that makes the art form of pro wrestling is absent from Extreme Rules.  Suspense, empathetic characters, irreconcilable conflict; all absent.  In their place are false drama, cartoonish caricatures and easy choices. To rebuild WWE will take a massive effort and it is not clear when that will come; or If.  The promotion has been in decline for nearly a decade and a half.  Spurts of creative power -- as with Nexus or Daniel Bryan -- have provided false hope.  Nostalgia acts like The Rock have delivered fleeting peaks of interest.  Yet the core continues to erode.