MjHealy

- What I am looking to understand is what is it that makes you' to come to online forums like giant bomb?

I don't come to Giant Bomb for wrestling coverage, or the forums-at-large. GB is my go-to (and pretty much only, aside from the Twitter grapevine) source for video game nonsense. This thread is just an added bonus. I'm not a consistent poster in this thread, mind you, but I've contributed a fair amount over the last whatever number of years. I only really come here as it usually has a not-too-serious, fun vibe. I have little interest in posting to wrestling forums otherwise; I generally got my wrestling readings from guys like David Shoemaker and Brandon Stroud. I'm not always interested in whatever random person's take is on an event. Regardless, this thread is fun for some gifs, good opinions and I get a look in at what Lucha Underground is all about as I don't watch it.

- What does the WWE brand mean to all of you' and why do you prefer it to other promoters such as TNA, ROH, Lucha Underground, etc.? Or even more so, why do you prefer the indie stuff to the WWE's product?

The WWE style is how I like my wrestling. Even if they suffer from incredible inconsistencies in writing and logic (although I'm sure it's an incredibly difficult job to write six hours of TV a week, they can do a better job) it is still how I like my wrestling. TNA represents WWE if it was written by a five year old. ROH is not at all what I'm into as I find that super spot-heavy indie style to very tiresome. Plus, most of their guys are incredibly bland and I like my ridiculous wrestling men and women to ave some flavour. I'd love to watch LU, but it's not on here in Ireland or the UK so I can't.

To me WWE represents wrestling. It is the definition of pro graps. They rarely a level of true quality but when they do it is fantastic. Whether I can stick with it for the long term remains to be seen. I don't know what the brand will mean in the future, or how they are going to develop future stars. At the very least, the WWE is what I think of when I define pro wrestling - despite their incredible flaws.

- How do you' feel the WWE is currently performing? - both in and outside of the ring.

Outside the ring, I feel as if WWE is still pushing the practices that lead so many wrestlers to an early grave. The attitude toward injuries, concussions and their ridiculous 300 day work schedule still frightens me for the future lives of these performers. CM Punk's talk with Cabana only further enlightened this.

In the ring, I think WWE has been in a nasty rut since last year's Wrestlemania. While the show always have its few bright spots, the amount of "mailing in" they do on a weekly episode of Raw is mind numbing. it becomes tough with the WWE, as when things go sour, you have to look for the few bright spots. Now, for instance, I don't care about the main event feuds, but I still get a kick of out the New Day, Heath Slater getting RKO'd at catering, and the delight that are the Prime Time Players. My dream-scenario WWE lies in the microcosm of NXT. They have sensible feuds, tremendous wrestling, subtle and smart storytelling and a heavy emphasis on awesome women's wrestling. The more the main shows learn from NXT the better - mostly in the female department - even if NXT has it's slow episodes for sure.

- How come the WWE continue to push superstars like Cena and Reigns and bury the likes of Daniel Bryan and Zack Ryder?

John Cena is a financial juggernaut. Roman Reigns is talented but lacks an identity. These guys are the nice, safe bets. The kind of performers that a publicly-traded company that WWE can put on daytime talk shows and do a safe job with the brand. Daniel Bryan can satisfy all the adult idiots like me who mark out to sick German suplexes. Cena is there for the children. That's the business model.

The word "bury" gets thrown around an awful lot. Bryan is an exception, he is suffering from incredible injury issues. Often times, guys have a spot on the roster that they perform well in. As much as I enjoy Cesaro, I don't trust WWE to package properly for a WWE Title push. That's okay, however, Not everyone has be scrapping for the title. I'm delighted to see guys like Cesaro tear it up in tag matches for the Tag Titles instead of getting stick in soap-opera hell at the top of the show. If they developed mid card feuds properly, a thing they haven't done for a very long time, then there would less outrage at guys being denied main event opportunities.

As for Zack Ryder, he is a good four years too late. I had my fun when he was getting big but NO THANKS. People, and myself, may have been annoyed when his momentum dried up but, ultimately, no one cares three years later.

- How do you feel about non-wrestling celebrities such as Hugh Jackman and Donald Trump being given the opportunity to appear on wrestling television even though they have no correspondence with wrestling?

Jon Stewart is a fantastic example of a non-WWE celebrity getting on TV. Same goes for Ronda Rousey. Stewart served a great purposed for the ascension of Rollins' character and I could watch Rousey armbar dudes all day long. These are the exceptions how ever as it is usually terrible. The issue is that WWE idolises what attention they can get, no matter how obscure or past-it the celebrity in question is. In the case of Trump, I just find his views disgusting and what nothing to do with him. The consistent problem is guys like Flo Rida who show up and emasculate wrestlers consistent despite him just being a regular-sized guy. It makes little sense. If they were smarter about it, I wouldn't mind it... but then again you can apply that logic to a lot of things.