Hello and welcome, one and all.

Because I insist on gobbing off on a regular basis and since the WWE are adamant on having 9999 hours of wrestling per week, my former tactic of showering Raw with bazooka rounds has been replaced with a rather nifty sniper rifle that I’ll be using to focus on and highlight the strongest and weakest parts of the wrestling week…ish!

Unfurl the sails and hoist the anchor as blunt, yet constructive criticism is on the horizon!

It’s…….

I try to offer balance with these articles, hence the name.  This is the first time I’ve focused an entire issue on two sides of the same coin and not two separate topics, so I’ll try and do my best not to focus on one more than the other.

In case anyone missed it, NXT has scored a TV-deal on the USA network that will air at the same time as AEW’s weekly show.  Here’s a WWE voice to give you the rest of the details in a robotically, optimistic tone.

Now, it’s easy to focus the short-term return of things when the potential forecast seems incredibly promising and exciting, even without the production values of the above video.

Sometimes, however, we need to think about the long-term consequences of our actions.

Sometimes it’s best not to be greedy or over-zealous.

And sometimes, it’s just best to NOT let “Junior” McMahon run amok for eternity…and it wouldn’t hurt him if someone told him, “no”, once in a while.

 

Hit: NXT Moves To USA Network

Honestly, I’m really excited for more Matt Riddle, but that’s about it!

Even then it’s only a matter of time before The Boner-Killer himself, Michael Cole is dancing around saying how cool and fun-loving Riddle is and why we should all jump and cheer for him like HE does.

Again, it’s nice that NXT is being acknowledged for its quality and success, they truly deserve it; I’m just concerned with what’s going to happen to it once so many people start poking their dirty fingers here, there and everywhere.

Time will tell on this one, fingers crossed that I’m well off the mark and everything/everyone gets dealt with properly and nothing gets creatively pissed on in the grand pursuit of all the money.

 

Shit: NXT Moves To USA Network

The WWE has just taken a massive shit on their own Network with this TV-deal, as well as aggravating their own customers in the process.

I say this because although the NXT Takeover shows will still be streaming live, the weekly show will be put back a day, giving the USA Network exclusivity for 24 hours and making our subscription to the WWE Network mean even less.

What a slap in the ‘sbloody face!

They will soon treat the WWE Network more like their YouTube channel and use it to promote shows such as Raw, Smackdown and NXT, shows that can only be watched in full, first, somewhere else.  In the case of the WWE Network, however, the paid subscription you’ve used just to see said adverts will be used for watching nothing more than more adverts.

In my opinion, WWE should be focusing on/building the quality and exclusivity of their product for the Network and letting the ageing media that is Television pay for however much they want of a limited/censored version of the product.  This way, the WWE Network hosts all the wrasslin’ in its purest form (for a respectable fee) and the tourists see it in passing on TV.

Fans will emerge from passing trade when they have the chance to check out “the real deal” over on the WWE Network, assuming they like what they saw and/or feel the need to join in with whatever it is the diehard fans are so excited about.

I understand that different people have different needs and desires regarding money, but whoring yourself out to a media from the past INSTEAD OF prioritising a world-wide, subscription charging, streaming platform service that you own is ridiculously greedy, short-sighted and some-what out of touch, if you ask me.

Just to clarify, I’m not saying there isn’t money to be made in television, but I am saying that the internet is simply better and can reach a greater and more accurate audience.  It’s a bit like fossil fuels, they’re still valuable/useful to an extent, but there’s much better stuff on the way once they’re gone/outlawed.

I recently wrote about the shallow behaviour constantly pissing out of Vince McMahon, and I think this whole deal is quite embarrassing, to be honest,

Yeah, I know their treasure coffers are fuller now, but they don’t even have recent episodes of Raw or Smackdown on the WWE Network; both shows being shows that WWE made, yet an episode has to be at least a month old before they can stream THEIR OWN FUCKING SHOW on THEIR OWN FUCKING PLATFORM.

Is that the shit they’ve learned to like the taste of?

What the hell is wrong with them?  They could have made lots of money AND maintained whatever integrity they had remaining, but they just ripped off the knickers of NXT, pushed the poor little bugger into a room full of vultures from the USA Network and started taking offers until Vince was happy.

Fan-fucking-tastic!

Digest and discuss! Feel free to do so below or via Twitter.

-Background Artwork designed by Rachael Hope Media.

 

Thanks for reading, take care and I’ll see you again soon!