I'm mostly pleased with John Cena's post-heel-turn promo. The Cena character hasn't fundamentally changed, as I feared he might. Instead, he's playing a man who's had a revelation. He's fed up with the fans' response to him, and he's letting out decades-worth of pent-up frustration. He still lives "Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect" (as far as he's concerned), still wears jorts, and still comes out to the same music. There's only the slightest pivot that makes him a heel, despite starting his promo with "I'm not a babyface, I'm not a heel, I'm a human being".

That pivot comes in the form of victimizing himself. He stated that he's been the victim of a toxic, dysfunctional relationship with the fans for the past twenty years. What gives his words some weight is that they aren't exactly untrue. No matter what he did, no matter how much better he got in the ring, no matter how good he was on the mic, there were those who chanted "Cena sucks!" and actively wished him harm.

Tim Kail's Raw Review, 2/24/25

It’s been eight weeks since RAW debuted on Netflix, and I find myself flummoxed that the organization has done nothing original in all that time. There have been several welcome subtle changes (the announcement of the card at the start of the show, interviews among the crowd, non-seizure inducing camerawork), but no creative big swings. I don’t feel like we’re getting the best out of RAW when we so easily could. Instead, we get the usual fifteen to twenty minute opening promo segment, several midcard matches of varying degrees of significance and quality, an endless barrage of advertisements, backstage segments, interviews, and vignettes.

Some of it, like the Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn rivalry is quite good. But most of it blends into a beige, prescriptive experience. It would be nice to see and feel something largely different from the company if for no other reason than “they can”. What about an episode that consisted of just women. No explanation or pomp and circumstance, just an entire episode of women’s matches and women’s segments. People would love it. Or, the likelier of these two options, what about a roster wide brawl that overtakes the broadcast, plunging RAW into chaos?

WOW - EP147 - Survivor Series 2017 Review

This year's Survivor Series fluctuated between "fine" and "fun". Nothing was terrible, but nothing was too memorable, and in-between existed a lot of legitimately good fun.

The basic conceit of Raw and SmackDown facing off in competition would resonate more if the stakes were clearly outlined and involved more than "bragging rights".

We might know the motivations of the characters when they're outside the squared circle (i.e. Kurt Angle wants to keep his job, Shane McMahon wants SDLive to be more than the B-show), but we don't know what an actual win in the wrestling match itself signifies. The concept of "why" any of this is happening doesn't have an instantly accessible answer beyond, "Because!"

What Summer Slam Taught Us: A 3-Point Plan For WWE

Once cooler heads prevail and feelings aren't so hurt on all sides, there are a lot of positive lessons WWE can learn from this year's SummerSlam.

And I do not mean that in the condescending “Here’s what I’m going to teach you!” kind of way (I'm an advocate for the WWE being exactly what it really wants to be without making concessions to an audience that it simply isn't designed for). I mean it in the way that any reaction to any creative endeavor yields a lot of incredibly useful data.

THE RAW REVIEW

Since the summer of 2014, I have been watching a particular class of professional wrestlers ascend through the ranks of the WWE; Adrian Neville, Tyler Breeze, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Ms. Charlotte, Bayley, and Sasha Banks. It has been the most rewarding pro-wrestling viewing-experience of my life to “come up” with this group, to chronicle their exploits in The Raw Review, the former NXT Report, The Work of Wrestling podcast, and the occasional editorial dedicated to their excellence.

As I’ve staked my claim on developing a new form of pro-wrestling journalism, a form that aims to prove that professional wrestling is an art worthy of more than dirt-sheets, rumors, and top ten lists, so too have these pro-wrestlers staked their claim on the WWE, fostering incremental change.

THE NXT REPORT

NXT REPORTSTim KailJune 13, 2015wwe nxt, nxt, nxt blogs, finn balor, kevin steen, kevin owens attacks sami zayn and alex riley, kevin owens, kevin owens the nxt champion, samoa joe, william regal, wwe network, triple h, sasha banks, becky lynch

THE NXT REPORT

In the early AM hours, before turning in after a hard day’s work, I decided that I wanted to watch some wrestling. And this latest episode of NXT delivered.

Filmed a couple weeks ago, this episode put the spotlight firmly on Hideo Itami as he ascended through a tournament to earn his spot at the Andre The Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania.

The opening match between Hideo & Adrian Neville was a technical gem, especially the opening back and forth of armbars and locks. I cannot emphasize how refreshing it was to watch pro-wrestlers lock holds on one another and stay there, comfortable that they wouldn't lose the crowd, contributing, piece by piece, to the excitement of the comebacks and the finishes.

THE NXT REPORT

NXT REPORTSTim KailMarch 28, 2015kevin owens, finn balor, sami zayn, nxt, sasha banks, alexa bliss, sasha banks defends the nxt women's championship, kevin owens defeats finn balor, kevin owens the nxt champion, professional wrestling, pro wrestling blogs

THE NXT REPORT

It’s only been two weeks since NXT Take Over: Rival, but Sami Zayn’s absence is starting to take on tangible significance - the episodes feel less important, less emotionally driven without him.

This wouldn’t be anything approaching a problem if the in-ring action was consistent, the theatrics populated with interesting characters. But the past few weeks have felt almost experimental - trying out new stars and featuring untested talents in prominent places on the card at a time when the brand was eliciting consistent praise for the proven roster that got it so much attention in the first place.

The Writings