Daniel Bryan, the Miz, and wrestling styles.

First off, this:

I love Daniel Bryan, but The Miz has a great point. As the great Trent Dilfer says, "the best ability is availability". When Daniel Bryan gets hurt, comes back, gets hurt again, then has to retire, he's cost the company and the fans years of entertainment. But he's not the only one.

Remember the Attitude Era? It was characterized by an ever-more-dangerous sequence of matches. And the fans ate it up. Of course, they were really sad when many of their heroes had to take extended leave due to injuries, but hey, it's just the price we pay, right? But think about what we missed.

Lita is amazing, but how many years did she lose due to injuries? Granted, at least one of them took place out of the ring, but still. Her reckless style was entertaining, but wouldn't 50 more matches have been more entertaining?

I'm a huge Edge fan, too. But I would've preferred another 5 years of the Rated R Superstar. Just this past week, we had two WWE champions, Finn Balor and Sasha Banks, drop their belts due to injury. But hey, we'll give them a big round of applause when they return!

It's our fault. Fans demand more crazy stunts. Back flip into the ring? Now backflip to the outside! Make it a 450! Knocking out Sting's final run by throwing him into the turnbuckle? Let's throw the next champ into the ring barricade! Put a man through a table? ONE MORE TIME! ONE MORE TIME! This isn't a video game, the human body is injury-prone.

The Miz shows up every day, does whatever the need him to do. Would Daniel Bryan have wrestled in a chicken suit? Most importantly, he's available for every storyline. If I was the WWE, I'd push stars that aren't getting hurt, and aren't hurting other wrestlers.

I grew up on NWA and Mid-South Wrestling. The feuds in that era were AMAZING. One big reason for that is the length of the feuds. Dusty and Flair went at it for months at a time. The big injury that put Dusty on the shelf? An attack by the Horsemen, of course.

Instead, the WWE has to scrap story after story as wrestlers go on the shelf. Hey, let's make Daniel Bryan buck the authority, then put the belt on him! Then... well poop. Oh well, let's break up the SHIELD, and put the belt on Seth Rollins! Until he gets hurt. Sasha Banks is back! Time for a long title run - oh, but her back is hurt again. Sami Zayne should get a title shot! Never mind, he's on the shelf. Wait - give it to Finn Balor! Where is that guy, anyway? Neville should have gotten a longer run - oh yeah, it was ended by injury.

Who's on your Mount Rushmore of wrestlers? Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy? Mine are Hogan (grudgingly), Austin, Flair, and either Dusty or Ricky Steamboat. Ricky Steamboat's move set is probably the closest to indie style among my faves, but he was pretty tame compared to today's risk-takers. Of course, it's harder for the risk-takers to make it onto my Mount Rushmore, as they tend to have less time at the top.

Wrestlers have gotten hurt since there have been wrestlers. But clearly some styles are safer than others, for the talent and for their opponent. Right Seth Rollins? And when injury puts your favorite guy on the shelf, the WWE product suffers.

WWE Women's Division suffering from same old Divas problems.

The 2015-2016 season of the WWE was marked by the emergence of the female talent on the roster. Starting with some great work from AJ Lee and Paige, to great matches in NXT, to the big call-up of much of that NXT talent, women were making a lot of headlines. The #GiveDivasAChance movement was a big deal (though AJ Lee pointed out that the company wasn't giving women equality in pay, no matter how their merch was selling).

Wrestlemania 32 in Dallas (really, Arlington) featured a watershed moment for the women. Three Divas were featured prominently in the event's promotion.




















Early on at Wrestlemania, Hall of Famer Lita announced a change in the title for the women. The old pink Diva's championship was replaced with a new Women's Championship. The name change was supposed to signify a new emphasis on the quality of the women's product. Lita pointed out that the women would now be called Superstars, just like the men. Check out the difference in the belts (both carried by Charlotte).

Diva's belt

Women's belt.

I guess we should have known that Sunday in AT&T Stadium that the WWE still didn't know what to do with their ladies. We got a great, amazing triple-threat match during Wrestlemania featuring Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. And that wasn't the only match with women! There was also the 10-woman Total Divas vs. Other Folks match. If that sounds like a last-minute, thrown together opening match, it was. In fact, thanks to the SEATING PROBLEMS in Arlington, most fans didn't make it into the stadium to see this. But it was the same match WWE has been giving us for decades. All the women come out, they all do a signature spot, and somebody wins. Who won? It absolutely doesn't matter. Here's a preview. Ok, so Brie Bella won, so she could go out on top in her last match (at least for a while, she's apparently busy making babies and reality shows).

But hey, it was a new beginning. Let's check in on our progress this week. On RAW, we had a backstage promo featuring Charlotte, who's defending her title (with help from daddy Ric Flair) against Natalya Neidhardt (who will get help at the next PPV from Bret Hart). But that wasn't all! We also had - an eight-woman tag match. And the winner of the match got. Something. I guess. And herein lies the problem, which is two-fold.

ONE. Matches need to matter. At least Sasha Banks finally managed to mention her undefeated streak. But the women keep getting showcased in big mashup matches that don't have any consequence. WWE could start a women's tag division with the talent on hand, but instead we get 6 and 8-person bouts where nobody has a beef with their opponent. On Monday, the only storytelling involved Charlotte avoiding Natalya. Meanwhile in a similar mashup for the men, Cesaro and the New Day met the Miz and the League of Nations. Everybody involved was feuding with someone on the other side. In fact, for the men, tag matches can be a way to set up new storylines. Wait, can storyline be made plural? That's my next point.

TWO. Superstars deserve stories. Ok, so this isn't just a problem for the women. I mean, how many Superstars on the main roster would LOVE to have some sort of storyline? But generally there are at least 4 or 5 storylines going on, and a couple others sort of simmering so that at a PPV, you get to see big events or conclusions to several stories. For the women, right now there's only one storyline, which is "I want to be the champ". They do embellish it some, so Natalya invokes the "my family has a richer wrestling history than your family" theme, or Becky Lynch throws down the "hard-working indie darling' card during their title challenge. But after the title match, the beef disappears, and the women go back to big mashups with no meaning. In the men's product, it doesn't take a title to make a storyline. Zayn vs. Owens is all about coattails. Cesaro vs. Miz could work just fine without the title, and New Day vs. the LoN hasn't really focused on the titles yet. Even AJ (Styles, not Lee) vs. Roman Reigns is building in a beef, with Reigns getting jumped by Styles' old running buddies from the Bullet Club. There's all sorts of reasons to fight, and the WWE has been using them for years. Competing brothers. Fighting over a girlfriend. New kid making a name for himself. Old veteran protecting his spot. Mid-carder's getting passed over, or scoring a big upset. Big men vs. little men. The Women's division could do stories with ALL of their talent, and feature a couple of those matches each Monday. Instead, they're still an afterthought, like in the meeting they end with "oh and a women's match." WWE, you can do better!

Did the Alexandrians on The Walking Dead just turn evil?

SPOILERS. This post talks about Season 6, Episode 12 of The Walking Dead 'No Tomorrow Yet'. If you haven't watched the episode yet, GO WATCH IT!
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No, really.
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Still here? Great. So, what the HECK are Rick & Company doing? Are they just as bad as the Governor?  Are they going to start eating people?  Is this another step on Rick's long descent into tyrannical evil? Those seem to be the questions a lot of fans are asking. Apparently, breaking up with Rosita is a big no-no. ESPECIALLY if you do it with a dingleberries quote.



Just kidding. The main issue out of this episode was that the Alexandrians, lead by Team Rick, invaded Negan's fortress and killed a bunch of humans in their sleep, It was suspenseful, gripping, and left many people wondering if our "good guys" had turned a corner toward darkness. And many of the characters seem to be wondering the same thing, including Glenn.

Here are a couple points that I haven't seen many people bring up. First, why kill people the with the stab to the head. Isn't that a tactic for walkers? Well, sure. But if you DON'T spike the brain, your murdered bad guy will become a zombie, and then you have to kill them all over again. And really, isn't it MORE humane to prevent people from becoming zombies? So I don't have an issue with their preferred method of disposing of opponents.

The bigger question, though, is whether or not it's right to kill people in their sleep. The show definitely makes it look morally questionable and horrific, But let's examine the strategy a little bit. If you're convinced that you can't make peace with your enemy, then you need to kill them. Clearly, you want to kill them with the least loss of life on your side. So you're not going to knock on their door and say "hey, we can't co-exist, so can you come out here so we can kill you?" Because doing that results in a lot of your friends, and people who see things as you do, dying. Basically, Glenn can kill bad men in their sleep, or take a chance that the bad men will kill him.

Second. This isn't some crazy zombie apocalypse strategy. It's how armed forces and police units in the real world work.  Seal Team Six didn't enter Osama bin Laden's compound at noon. They went in under cover of darkness, and struck while their opponents were too groggy to react.

In Iraq, our forces did the same thing. Striking insurgent hideouts at night, when they had the advantage of night vision goggles, and they could neutralize the enemy's home-field advantage by hitting the while all or most of them were sleeping. Police units often make raids at night or early in the morning for the same reason. It's safer to deal with people when they're not awake and alert.

For a long time, Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors have basically wandered from one situation to the next, trying not to die. In the process, they've experienced some brutal things, and done some brutal things. But for most of the show's history, movng on, getting away from danger, was a big part of Rick's plan.

The loss of Carl's eye seems to have sparked a moment of clarity for Rick. His character is working to build a future, instead of simply surviving. Now that he's fighting FOR something greater, he's making the sort of strategic choices that organized groups make. Let's hope this trend continues.

Fallout 4 is missing one big thing

I've been playing Fallout 4 since it came out. So many quests, so many interesting conversations, relationships, radio stations to tune in to! And then there's building. I haven't even tried building on Spectacle Island yet, but I'm looking forward to it. There's just one thing that bugs me, one quirk that Bethesda could fix. And that's crafting. Specifically, weapon crafting.

Hey, it's a weapons workbench!

In Fallout 4, if you choose the right skills, you can make any normal weapon that you can find in the wilderness. All you have to do is find a weapons bench, and have the necessary materials,
and voila!  Your own tactical calibrated 10mm pistol. Just like you could find out in the world.  You can probably see where I'm headed with this.

I made that in Fallout 4.

Now, there ARE some really special, unique weapons in the game. They're called legendary weapons, and they fall into two general categories. First, there are special weapons created by the game's brilliant crafters and collectors. Like the fellow to our right, Barney Rook. Barney made a special sniper rifle that he named Reba. And he makes you one called Reba II if you're nice to him. It does extra damage to mirelurks and bugs.  And he's not alone - the Institute has a special weapon in stock, I suppose it's created by their research folks.  Tinker Tom makes the Tinker Tom Special, and you can even get a nice weapon called the Wazer Wifle from somebody named Shaun.

The other general category of legendary weapons are those you find as drops from legendary monsters. They're random, so an extra-powerful bloatfly might drop a pistol that fires an extra projectile. SWEET! Or it might do more damage to humans, or extra critical damage, or whatever. To get a gun that does what you want, all you have to do is keep killing legendary creatures until your desired weapon drops. Here's a list of all the effects.

Wait, WHAT? So, I can invest a bunch of skill points in crafting, but if I want to get a unique weapon, I have to farm for it? Yup. Now, you CAN upgrade legendary weapons. But you can't create anything unique, or create a legendary effect on a weapon yourself. And it's a shame, because I'd definitely love to complete a series of quests to create a legendary effect.

How cool would that be? Instead of hoping for a Legendary Radstag to drop the shotgun that fires explosive rounds (highly recommended). Why not let me MAKE it? I already do all sorts of fetch quests for special technology. Just add a series of fetch quests with Tinker Tom, or Sturges, or Arturo in Diamond City.  The specific quests could be tied (and levelled) to the ability you're trying to add. So creating a gun that shoots an extra bullet might require a visit to ArcJet Systems, then a trip to Fort Hagen. Or a special laser ability might need a piece from a crashed space ship, or a long-forgotten piece of gear in a sunken ship. Or in a hut in the Glowing Sea.

Bethesda already has the list of weapon effects, and making new radiant quests shouldn't be that difficult. Allowing us to create our own special weapon would make that crafting skill pay off, and end our reliance on farming. Further, it would mean my level 70, max intelligence Sole Survivor can finally be as creative as Barney Rook.

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Adding some consequence to the WWE

The WWE is missing something. They have matches, but many times it's hard to get invested in them. What difference does it make if Superstars and Divas win? The storylines don't seem to reflect any sort of rhyme or reason that would elevate stars that win over stars that lose. In short, what matches are missing right now are consequences.

 I'm not talking about Consequence Creed here. The talented and talkative gentleman to the right is a lot better off without that particular gimmick. Right, @XavierWoodsPHD ? Actually, New Day is an example of the benefits that come with winning. Why do they get so much mic time?  We know that it's because they're entertaining, and hilarious, and because WWE has 3 hours to fill on RAW. But for the storyline, it's easy to understand why New Day gets to talk - they're the champs. But for someone like Bray Wyatt? He's a monster that often comes up short in big spots. The League of Nations? They seem to lose at least as much as they win. Rusev had a great winning streak going, but now he's just another guy who wins some and loses some. And honestly, if he wins, what does he get?

WWE often sets up the #1 contender slots in some sort of 3-way, 4-way, ladder battle royal extravaganza. So Dolph Ziggler can lose for a month, sell for 90% of a fatal four-way, and walk away as the #1 contender for a belt. you're much better off coming to the ring and talking, and promoting your hashtag. That's how the Social Outcasts get screen time every week, even though they're clearly not booked as a threat to any of the top stars. And it keeps them around whenever it's time for the WWE to generate a #1 contender.

Kevin Owens actually uses this lack of consequence right now. He's fine walking away from a match with a loss, Why not? It's not like it's going to hurt his spot in the non-existent standings. The Miz won last week, and it was shocking. But the losses hadn't hurt his screen time. And now, that one win seems to have put him in position for a Wrestlemania match.

Jim Ross understands - matches have to have stakes. If you're telling a story, give me a reason to care who comes out victorious.50/50 booking hurts. And putting Superstars into big matches they haven't "earned" just waters down the stakes of that big match.  Further, when Superstars go for a long period of time without earning a clean win, it feels like they're not a threat when they DO get thrown into a big match.

Here's the example that prompted this post. Watching NXT, I got to enjoy an awesome match between NXT champion Finn Balor and former champ Adrian Neville. Or just Neville. Now, Neville has been up on the main roster, in and out of contention for the US Title, and feuding with Stardust because Stardust sees him as a comic book hero. So, he should definitely be superior to any NXT talent. I mean, the main roster is supposed to be where the talent is, right? Or is the WWE saying the top NXT talent is as good as title contenders on RAW? Balor got the win, which earned him.... respect, I guess.

But it could've MEANT something. What if Balor's win EARNED him a spot on the main roster? Theoretically, a main roster spot would mean more money. Suddenly, Neville is fighting to keep his paycheck, and avoid getting sent back to NXT. And Balor is suddenly a talent riding high, and a new threat to the established folks on RAW. Or a new target for the heels to beat up on, padding their record with wins against the rookie.

Up the stakes even more - give any NXT wrestler who wins 5 straight matches the right to challenge for the spot of any WWE star who has lost 3 in a row. Suddenly, matchup #74 between Ryback and the Big Show means something, because it could mean one of them risks being challenged and demoted if they lose. And tag match #10 between Enzo and Cass and Dash and Dawson could cap a streak that earns them the right to challenge Ascension for their spot on the main roster.

As a bonus, if the writers care, they can use NXT talent to make the main roster talent look better. Every face on NXT should be eager to take on a perceived wimp like the Miz. But after he beats 3 or 4 challenges with his savvy and experience, they'll have a new level of respect for him - and that'll help him look like a threat on the main roster.

Make matches matter, WWE. In the long run, it helps everyone.

Dallas, we have a problem (and how to fix it)

Well, the WWE has done it again. Roman Reigns is being pushed as top face headed into Wrestlemania. PPV fans reacted as expected, prompting attempts to explain the dilemma, sometimes. using video game analogies.Reigns will face WWE World Heavyweight Champion of the World Champion, HHH, in Dallas.



In other words, we're stuck with a main event whose finish is already decided by the audience. As someone at work said "well, it IS scripted, right?". Sure. But I don't know what's going to happen on The Walking Dead, even though it's scripted. I mean (SPOILERS), Jesus in the bedroom?  Who saw that coming? Just because it's fake, doesn't mean it has to be predictable.

But surely, anything can happen on the grandest stage of them all, right? Well, sure. But fans know that HHH has a full-time gig as COO of the WWE. He's not going around making appearances as champ, because he's already got a bigger title than champ. Further, better than half of fans at live shows feel like Reigns is getting a push by WWE management (part of whom happens to be that same HHH). So there's a better than 90% chance that the boss leaves Dallas with the title around his new guy. The other 10% is worse - that HHH will just delay the payoff to the storyline until next Monday's RAW, or the next PPV. Hint to the WWE: for the money folks are paying for WM tickets, they should get a payoff in the story that night.

How can we fix this problem? For starters, HHH needs to start putting roadblocks in Roman's way. If I was facing Reigns, I'd want him to wrestle without the riot gear he currently wears to the ring. HHH OWNS THE COMPANY, so he can easily make that happen. And he could even do a nice segment mocking Reigns for wearing all that gear. Great heel behavior often involves honesty, and this would be a logical step. Hunter has been involved in actively stripping Reigns of the armor before, but c'mon. He's The Game, so he should get this done with his brain.

Next, our supposed hero needs to overcome some odds. HHH doesn't seem suited to doing run-ins, I mean, why would the COO hide under the ring, or run down and interfere in matches? But Roman's life has to be made more difficult. One option would be a blatant use of power - HHH could just order officials to DQ Reigns. A quick 5-count in the corner later, Reigns is headed to the showers as a loser. Wait, is that a CLOSED FIST? Sorry, ring the bell.

Maybe HHH could hire some muscle to rough Reigns up. Unfortunately, we've seen that already. And it wastes talent that's needed elsewhere on the WM card. The Wyatts, for example, can't be picking fights with Roman if they're going to be facing the Titans, or the Brothers of Destruction, or whoever. Maybe he could use Titus O'Neil. Oh, wait, nevermind.

Lastly, we need Reigns to actually take his opponent seriously. He's facing THE GAME. Umpteen-time champion.  If you want to give this a main event feel, Roman needs to prepare to face a master tactician. And you know who would be PERFECT for that? Daniel Bryan. I've already written about that a bit here. It could work the way HBK worked with Hunter vs. the Undertaker at WM XXVII. IN the runup to that, Sean Michaels came out and lectured HHH, letting him know the enormity of the task facing him, and at the same time asking what made HHH feel like he could beat the streak when Michaels could not?  Daniel has a similar back story to play upon. He's climbed that mountain, and he can also claim bitterness at the ease with which Reigns has reached this level. The weight he could bring to the matchup would be a huge plus.

Finally, address the other side of the match. HHH is COO. It doesn't make sense for him to be champ, does it? Maybe you could show HHH enjoying being a regular wrestler again. But that would take a lot of his time away from running the WWE. Or he could start altering rules to make it easier for him to remain champion, like removing the (mostly ignored) ideas of required title defenses. A better option might be planning a post-Wrestlemania tournament for the title. Hunter could announce plans to retire as champion after Wrestlemania, and start running promos for the tournament. Suddenly, a Reigns win seems to upset established storylines, instead of fulfilling them.

Here's hoping the WWE follows at least some of these tips, so we're still interested in the outcome of their main event.

The Hornets and the ability of availability

Trent Dilfer coined the term: "The best ability is availability." He often says this in reference to NFL QBs. What good is having "special arm talent" if you're on the bench?  The Charlotte Hornets need to pay more attention to that ability. 

Let's consider a potential starting 5:
Derrick Rose
Paul George
Kevin Durant
Blake Griffin
Dwight Howard

Let's get fitted for rings, right? Wrong. In 2014-15, those players combined to miss 214 games, and none of their teams made it to the NBA finals. Injuries derail championship aspirations. And in Charlotte's case, it keeps them from taking the next step forward.

This week, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist re-injured his right shoulder. It's the same shoulder that was hurt in the pre-season. So far MKG has played in 7 (seven) (VII) (siete) games this season. And for that, I blame Michael Jordan. Wait, WHAT?  Bear with me.

The Hornets have lost 118 games to injury this season. That's seventh (7th) most in the NBA this year. Who's been hurt? MKG, Batum, Al Jefferson,  Jeremy Lin, P.J. Hairston, Cody Zeller, Spencer Hawes. It's hard to win when 3 of your starting 5 are missing. And it's hard to have continuity when players are coming and going from the lineup.But hey, sometimes the injury bug bites. It's not like this happened last season....

... or is it? Charlotte had a full healthy roster for 8 games in the 2014-15 season. That's less than 10% of the season. Six players missed 10 or more games. The year before, they made the playoffs, but lost to Lebron and the Heat, due at least in part to injuries to Al and MKG. Hard to be a championship-level team when 2 of your starting 5 are out or injured. 

Here's why I assign blame to the front office. Jordan can't control the effort his players give. He can't control how the ping-pong balls fall in the draft, or what plays the coaches draw up out of a time out. What he CAN control is the facilities, training staff, and player research. If you have the best training staff in the NBA, and you allow them to provide input on personnel decisions, you'll end up with your best players playing. And that's how you win titles, or at least compete for the best talent. 

MJ himself had a remarkably injury-free career. He missed most of his second season with a broken foot, but after that remained free of major injuries until his final season with the Wizards. But he knows what happens to teams that don't pay attention to injuries. One of the teams that passed on Michael Jordan is a textbook example of missing a chance because of player injuries. Sam Bowie had an injury history in college, and Portland was never able to put a plan in place to keep him on the court. They put their training staff in a tough spot, and it cost them.

The Phoenix Suns are widely praised for their training staff. Did you know there's a trainer of the year award? Aaron Nelson  of the Suns has won that award. For years, Phoenix has had a reputation for helping older players prolong their careers, and for helping players avoid injury. That's a draw in free agency. Smart players realize that injuries hurt their earnings potential in the endorsement market, and they'll look for teams that can promise them the best chance to stay on the court. Grant Hill extended his career in Phoenix. So did Shaquille o'Neal. Not only did those experienced players sign with the Suns, but THEY PLAYED. More than once, the Suns have lead the league in fewest games missed to injury, though this year has seen some major injuries crush their chances. Phoenix isn't in that position every. Single. Year. Charlotte is. And it's avoidable. 

Charlotte can definitely compete to have the best training staff in the NBA. So why not do it? Compared to player salaries, training staff salaries are a minor expense. More importantly, the money you invest in training staff translates directly into ticket sales. Ticket sales are built around stars. If 3 of your starters are hurt, and you're signing guys to 10-day contracts, you've lost star power, and you'll lose ticket sales. Further, since healthier teams make the playoffs, trainers are also helping to generate revenue from those extra playoff games.  Lastly, trainers protect the investment in your players. They can analyze a player's medical records and let you know which FA is likely to miss major time in the future. They get players back to the court more quickly. And a good training program emphasizes prevention as well as rehab, and helps reduce the severity of injuries.

So please, Mr. Jordan. Invest in a top-flight, world-class, game-changing training staff.