Scott’s Mailbag – 07.06.25

Scott’s Mailbag – 07.06.25

My sack is full of mail, so let’s empty it out all over the blog.

“Did you happen to catch the FTR/Outrunners match on Collision last night? If not, it was a great match and FTR was exactly the right opponent to make the youngest men alive look good. I know they’re just comedy goofs who have likely hit their ceiling, but while watching I was annoyed all over again that when they finally got their big spot on the ppv, it was against the Hurt Syndicate, who were decidedly not the right team to make them look good. They haven’t been the same since.

That said, what do you think of the Syndicate? They look like a zillion bucks and the crowd desperately wants to cheer them, but they’ve re-committed to the heel act and are just gobbling up opponents in the ring AND on the mic. I don’t think they’ve had a match that’s better than “ok” and I can’t think of a single team that is in a spot to challenge them. At least not on the face side. I was into the MJF thing at first, but the juice was in the conflict. I know it will blow up eventually, but how many tag teams will be dead and buried by the time it happens? At this point I assume we’re just waiting for a reunited E&C to take the belts off them and who knows how long that will take.”

I didn’t see Collision because for whatever reason my DVR HATES that show, and also USA Network Canada messes with the title and description of the show all the time and it always seems to get skipped and not recorded. Drives me nuts. And yeah, the Hurt Syndicate gobbling up the entire tag division was fun for a bit, but FTR and the Bucks don’t seem to want to get sucked into their orbit (hard to blame them) and as a result you get shit like what happened on Dynamite, with Bailey & Knight looking like complete goobers despite being challengers for the titles. It’s weird that sometimes they’ll rush through storylines like the Megan Bayne one and blow them off way too soon, and another times you get a perfect opportunity to do something like the E&C reunion and there’s absolutely no movement towards it whatsoever despite everyone knowing that it’s the natural direction. Personally I’d prefer getting the belts off the Hurts and onto someone who’s gonna have more competitive matches.

On the topic of two-night PPVs…

“WM” becoming a two-night event has been mostly well-received, with the biggest complaint being the ticket prices instead of the product itself.

“SummerSlam” will become a two-night event this year, and while I understand that it’s an easy way to boost the reputation of the show and make more money, I feel like the product has definitely cooled off since “WM” and that they’re gonna struggle to fill the extra time with worthwhile matches. (Not that that really matters if profits go up, but I’m speaking as a fan).

That said, I do think that “Royal Rumble” and “Survivor Series” could benefit from expanding to two nights. Having two Rumbles or two WarGames matches on the same night kinda feels like diminishing returns, and whatever else is on the card is usually rushed and/or filler (Cody/Owens aside, of course). Two Chamber matches or two MITB matches on one night is fine, as they don’t quite have the same prestige, and can be booked to be shorter if necessary.

I also think that “SurSer” would get additional benefit allowing them to add at least one big elimination-style tag match back to the show. Do the traditional tag on night one and WarGames on night 2, or even do both of each stipulation each night (one elimination-tag and one WG on night one, then one elimination-tag and one WG on night two).

On another note, with “RR” being in Saudi Arabia, should they bring back the “Greatest Royal Rumble” concept? As in, have fifty (or more) entrants? The 40-man in 2011 and 50-man in 2018 didn’t really make the match/gimmick any better, but I don’t think they really made it worse, either. I wouldn’t mind it, even if only for the sake of variety.”

The problem here is twofold. One is that cramming two speciality matches running an hour each onto the same show is overkill. Two is that you don’t always NEED those speciality matches to be booked and having one for the men and one for the women just because it’s “time” for them makes them feel shoehorned in. Instead of two-night shows, maybe just space out the big matches so that the men get one month, and the women get another month. Do both Wargames matches NEED to happen in November? No. I also don’t need an entire weekend taken up by WWE shows for every buy one get one free extravaganza either.

And no, we don’t need the return of the Greatest Royal Rumble.

“What are some booking decisions or personal reactions that you found reasonable, but the reaction since either seemed bewildered or hostile towards?

My main one is Kevin Nash being over enough to beat Goldberg. Was it the right move aka time to beat him? Probably not. But Nash was mega over with the whole nWo Wolfpac stuff. The following heel turn/fingerpoke stuff immediately ruined all of it.

But I stand by the notion that Nash was, I thought at least at the end of 98, a supremely popular act.”

I always thought the Goldberg beating Hogan thing was, at least at the time, second-guessed by a bunch of nerds who were more concerned with WCW getting a PPV buyrate than actually caring about being entertained by the product. Clearly, in retrospect, Goldberg was the #1 guy and they needed to get the title onto him ASAP. Waiting for a better opportunity just gave WCW more of a chance to fuck it up.