theFRANCHISE

While I would've had the Bryan-Del Rio match go on for a little bit longer, they booked that match properly. ADR took advantage of Bryan's injury and they keep ADR in the main event picture by rebuilding him as a threat. That said, too soon to put the belt back on Del Rio. I give him until next summer before they should flirt with the idea of putting the belt back on him.

So far, they're doing a decent job of booking RAW. Minus Kevin Nash burying the entire locker room in one breath, everything has been pitch-perfect so far.

I'm shocked -- Cena is actually entertaining me tonight. He started the night off with his crappy boy-scout schtick, then he delivered that risque one-liner to Ziggler and was on a roll form there. His interaction with Zack Ryder in Johnny Ace's office was great. I want to see more of this side of Cena. Less hokey boy scout, more edgy Doctor of Thugonomics.

I think he's the only director who'd treat the story and subject matter with respect. Any other director would make the movie feel like a cheap shot at pro wrestling and a blatant cash-grab. I just have a really, really bad feeling about this Benoit movie.

Vince only has copyright over the likeness of Benoit in terms of his ring gear, move names, and anything related to his gimmick. Vince obviously doesn't have copyright over Benoit as a person. The movie would likely change the names of WWE and the supporting characters who don't give permission for their names and likenesses to be used. They could use Chris Benoit and his family member's names with the permission of the surviving members. Nothing good can come of this film. While I understand that thewriter might try to angle it as bringing the dark side of pro wrestling to light, The Wrestler already did that in a much more tasteful way. This Benoit biopic just seems like a shameless attempt to cash in on the tragedy. Sure, the money could be given to Benoit's surviving children, but I'd rather have WWE provide his kids with that type of financial aid rather than have a tasteless film like this released. I won't be going to TLC but I'll be going to the RAW in Philly the next night. I might change my mind about TLC in the coming days and weeks, though. All depends on whether my buddy feels like making the drive to Baltimore since he's already driving us to Philly the next night. Also, the PPV airs during the Ravens-Chargers game on Sunday Night Football.

Various media outlets are reporting that a Chris Benoit biopic is being produced, based on the book "Ring of Hell." The movie'll be named Crossface and they've already got producers lined up. Knowing the sensationalist tone the movie'll take in regards to the wrestling industry, plus the obvious ending, I don't think this is one that I'll watch. I feel sick. It's entirely too soon to make this movie, nor do I think there's any tasteful way they can present the murder-suicide.

I can't stress enough, if y'all haven't picked up the SCSA DVD yet, you're missing out. This is the best WWE-produced DVD I've ever seen, and it's in my top 10 wrestling documentaries. The match selection is mostly excellent and the extras are a fan's dream. Austin stated in an interview that he had virtually 100% creative control and every match and moment was his own choice or included with his approval. If only they would allow more wrestlers to have that level of creative control with their biographical DVDs...

Jim Johnston is still with WWE and he still writes theme music but he's collaborating more with bands and artists. There's still licensed tracks like Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" (CM Punk) alongside Johnston-penned tracks like Rev Theory's "Voices" (Randy Orton); Collie Buddz's "S.O.S." (Kofi Kingston); and Downstait's "I Came to Play" (The Miz) and "Here to Show the World" (Dolph Ziggler). CM Punk's theme is a unique situation where WWE shelled out the extra cash for the song's license so that they could include it on all future home video releases without having to overdub it, unlike The Undertaker's Kid Rock or Limp Bizkit themes. WWE didn't pay for this same license for the Johnny Cash and Metallica songs used by The Undertaker and Triple H at WrestleMania 27 so they had to overdub the music for the DVD and Blu Ray. Same with Limp Bizkit's "My Way" for WrestleMania 17 in post-2001 DVD releases of that event (the original WrestleMania 17 DVD still has the song).

Hogan was ahead of his time in entrance music, but that was thanks to Vince McMahon and WWE's music composer Jim Johnston. They pioneered the use of licensed songs as entrance music, and Hogan was the first wrestler in both the WWF and WCW to use licensed music on a regular basis. The nWo failed in WWE because the fans dictated that they wanted to see Hogan become the old Hulk Hogan instead of the nWo's Hollywood Hogan. Hogan was the main draw of the nWo, and when the decision was made for him to turn face, the writers didn't know what to do with the rest of the group. Kevin Nash became the defacto leader and they decided to bring back Shawn Michaels as the on-screen leader, but Nash got hurt soon thereafter and Scott Hall was fired after being late to an event (presumably due to drinking). Without the star power of Hogan, Nash, or Hall, the nWo was a shell of its former self and there was no point in continuing the angle. No one would've taken an nWo group seriously with Big Show, X-Pac, and Booker T with Shawn Michaels as strictly a manager. This was prior to HBK making an unexpected in-ring return from injury.

While I have fond memories of the Big Eagle (Attitude Era) and Winged Eagle belts, they never really used the Undisputed Title design long enough. That belt only lasted 3 years (2002-2005).while the Big Eagle belt lasted 5 years (1998-2002). The Winged Eagle design lasted an astounding 10 years (1988-1998). I'd like to see them bring back the Undisputed design just to give the title the appearance of prestige; after all, the belt is enough of a joke these days without the ridiculous Cena-branded design on it while another guy's keeping it warm for Cena.

The new Stone Cold Steve Austin DVD is fantastic. Worth every penny and more. The 2.5-hour documentary is fantastic. Some of it is stuff that we already knew, but a lot of it is also new introspection from Austin and his peers. I can't believe Austin's heel turn was actually his idea to begin with, and in his voice, you could tell that he was really behind the idea but knew the execution was lacking because of how things unfolded after Triple H got hurt. I was also stunned when Austin revealed that he was hurt after King Of The Ring 2001 (I never knew that), and that injury was the catalyst for Austin's comedic heel gimmick.

My issue with Del Rio is that his gimmick is tired. It suited him fine when he started, but then there was only so much he could do before he became a Hispanic version of JBL-Lite. He's a fine in-ring worker and his mic skills are adequate at times, but he just doesn't give me any incentive to like or appreciate his work. At least I can appreciate the rare times when Cena has a good showing (MITB comes to mind), but Del Rio hasn't done a whole lot during his WWE Title reigns to make me say he deserves to be champion.

Well, that vignette just confirmed 100% that it's Kane. Now the question remains whether the 2012 thing is about Jericho, The Undertaker, or someone else entirely.

I would argue that the timing for the Austin heel turn wasn't the issue; I thought the explanation given made sense. Rather, there were a number of factors that contributed to the heel turn failing, mainly Triple H's untimely injury and the hot-shotted Invasion angle. Without a proper foil to Austin, the writers decided to turn him into a comedic heel to bide his time until the Invasion angle, and then reverted to that comedic angle when there were no viable opponents for Austin with the absence of The Rock and the defection of Kurt Angle.

It's as if that first Falls Count Anywhere encounter was a turning point for their respective careers and this last Falls Count Anywhere match is their paths coming full-circle.

This promo is why I'm sick of John Cena. I don't care that WWE doesn't want him to turn heel -- why does Cena (the character) have to play off the booing like it's nothing? Why does the booing have to be "New York being New York?" Why does Cena have to tolerate the booing just for the sake of the children? Why does Cena have to be Mr. Goody Two-Shoes and be ok with the booing??? Any rational person would be upset by the booing. Why can't Cena be a normal, rational person and react accordingly as a character? IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

Surprisingly, that doll is more over in Japan than John Cena is in North America.

The only way I can see Piper's Pit being useful tomorrow night (besides the Hot Rod delivering some great one-liners) is if a swerve is pulled and Cena suddenly turns heel. Then again, the only satisfactory Cena-related scenarios in my mind involve Cena turning heel. So...yeah. Carry on...

I can see I haven't missed too, too much from my couple of days away for Thanksgiving. I've been having a lot of fun with WWE 12. I realized that starting everyone with a clean slate in terms of rivals and allies was a mistake, so after I assigned my planned rivalries and alliances, I suddenly saw an uptick in WWE Universe cutscenes and I've seen a much better progression of stories from show-to-show. My only small gripe is that the mode is too quick to break up tag teams via storyline and turn people heel/face, but at least teams aren't broken up just because they haven't tagged in awhile. I've only had one wonky occurrence. My dummy CAW that I've used to dump all my non-Universe titles, showed up in a cutscene even though he was placed in the Legends category; according to THQ, Legends or any other non-assigned brand shouldn't show up, while free agents will show up. I simply ignored that it happened and proceeded with the storyline.

Batista or Goldberg would be the only two names fans might accept as alternatives, but those two would be huge longshots and they wouldn't fit the theme of the video. It almost 100% has to be Jericho or Undertaker, and at this point, the more likely answer is Undertaker since he was expected to return for the road to WrestleMania anyway. I, however, expected Taker to return in February or March just prior to Mania. I'm still holding out hope that it's Jericho, clues aside.

It's Jericho or the Undertaker. We already know the second video is Kane. If that first video isn't either of the two and isn't a big name at all, then everyone on the IWC will blow up immensely and we could see a slight drop in viewership again.

The Fan Axxess is worth it if you're a completionist like me. The first batch of DLC is an impressive value if you buy the Fan Axxess pass to get all of that plus future paid DLC free. That's 10 pieces of content for $12 in just the first batch alone. Also, I don't really have time to play through everything to unlock everything, so it was worth it to purchase the pass so that I could just get started with Universe Mode and get my storylines going. I'm thinking that I need to tweak my approach slightly and force guys into feuds since they don't seem to occur as naturally I thought they would. All of my wrestlers are still clean slates in terms of allies and rivals, so I figure, if I assign some rivals to some guys, then that'll increase the number of storyline cutscenes that pop up.

THQ has stated that they're working on the problems. In playing a lot of WWE 12 since yesterday, I've found that being a booker is hard even in a fantasy setting. I now sympathize a little with the real-life writing staff when they try to make the best of what they have. I've shaken up the roster significantly and turned everyone into a clean slate in terms of rivalries and relationships. However, as a result, I'm also pigeonholed by a lack of longterm vision. I mean, I have my main event stories planned out and I'm trying to make new stars, but it's hard trying to keep a viable mid-tier going. I've even demoted established stars into the mid-tier level to keep things interesting, but there's only so much I can do with so few slots on the card to book matches. I can see how guys simply get lost in the shuffle now and, in a way, I feel bad because I had all these grand plans for all these wrestlers and I can't follow through with all of them.

My code worked fine. My buddy had an issue with his code earlier but it eventually worked.

I'm such a freak when it comes to WWE 12. Remember how I said I'd come up with a spreadsheet of my plans at work? Yeah...I'm almost done. I'll post a smaller JPG of it later if y'all are curious as to how I'm planning my Universe shows.