*Vince McMahon reportedly saying he doesn’t see money in Daniel Bryan comes as no surprise. The on-air verbiage used to describe Bryan is too often insulting and damaging. He doesn’t even speak well of himself. Hobbit jokes? Bryan will feud with John Cena, but don’t be surprised when McMahon’s typically misplaced priorities make the feud (and Bryan) a mere backdrop for the divas “reality” show since Bryan and Cena date the Bella twins. Bryan will suck hind you-know-what. (Yeah, yeah, I know…Shawn Michaels says McMahon wasn’t talking about Bryan. Christians lie, too.)
*Great line from Bruce Mitchell at PWTorch.com regarding the verbal disrespect paid Bryan on WWE TV: “I remember when wrestling promoters tried to get fans to think their wrestlers were big deals.” WWE so often flunks Wrestling 101.
*C.M. Punk is going to look stupid for trusting Paul Heyman. All the marks know Punk shouldn’t. Top babyfaces aren’t supposed to look stupid.
*Alberto Del Rio is much better at being a heel than he is a babyface. But no matter which side of the street he walks, Del Rio is overshadowed by Ricardo Rodriguez. When the second banana carries the act in terms of charisma, there’s not much hope for the top guy. But you can’t separate them, because Rodriguez isn’t cut out to be a WWE worker. For better or worse, they’re stuck with each other.
*Bully Ray disciples cite his current run in TNA as proving he can be a main-event heel. I disagree. It’s only proven he can be a main-event heel in TNA. I’m not sure Bully Ray’s act would quite play in the big time. Then again, WWE wouldn’t saddle Bully Ray with that glorified job squad known as Aces & Eights.
*If TNA was “retiring” the Suicide character, shouldn’t he have jumped off the top of a tall building? Or maybe Cobo Hall in Detroit?
*TNA contacted my radio show about interviewing somebody in advance of their card in Washington, Pa., July 13. One of the wrestlers on offer was Austin Aries. That would have been interesting. But I instead asked for Kurt Angle. The listeners want to hear legit stars. Somebody they’ve heard of. Not some bug-eyed, plug-ugly male stripper who can’t get on the big kids’ rides at amusement parks.
*Ring Of Honor employees are reportedly all trying to jump ship. Problem is, there’s no place for them to go. That really puts a damper on that “company pride” gimmick ROH uses to try and bamboozle the marks into thinking ROH is good.
*Fake wrestling is a quickly shrinking industry. Consider the Briscoe brothers. They can make considerably more working full-time at the family chicken farm and taking indie dates than they can going to WWE developmental. WWE developmental wrestlers reportedly make $24K per year. Triple H wants to promote 3-4 acts from developmental every year. That’s not an unreasonable number. But where the heck does it leave everybody else in NXT?
*Fake wrestling’s biggest amateur-hour act is ROH hack Truth Martini. He wears a million gimmicks simultaneously and knows only one speed when it comes to promos: OVERWROUGHT, followed by quasi-sinister laugh. There may have been worse managers. But I have trouble thinking of any.
Follow Mark Madden on Twitter: @MarkMaddenX
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
