Tuesday’s edition of Talking Smack scored a huge victory for WWE Network by finally proving that something of substance can occur on one of their talking heads shows. When the Miz and his on-air supervisor Daniel Bryan got into a heated argument that turned host Renee Young into a...

With the second round of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic half complete, one name already destined for Round Three stands out: Brian Kendrick. After Tajiri’s loss to Gran Metalik, it felt like the gold watches had been handed out and it was time for the honorees to get off the...

WWE is careening towards its (nominally) second biggest show of the year, and much like WrestleMania, this year’s SummerSlam is built around three top matches. There’s Finn Balor taking on Seth Rollins for the new WWE Universal Championship, Dean Ambrose defending the traditional WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Dolph...

The WWE Cruiserweight Classic is only three weeks old as a television product, but after just the WWE Network bracketology special and two sixty-minute episodes, the inaugural tournament feels like the wrestling story of the summer in spite of Brock Lesnar, SmackDown LIVE, and the WWE Draft. The CWC...

Titus O’Neil’s pursuit of Rusev’s WWE United States Championship has not set the wrestling world on fire. At this point in his career, O’Neil is an imperfect opponent for any champion. In spite of his tenure, Titus’ career has been plagued by start-and-stop pushes and a tendency to put...

It’s the summer of 2016, and all human beings live in a world where AJ Styles has beaten John Cena in the middle of a WWE ring. The scale of Styles’ first major victory since his arrival at the Royal Rumble makes for huge headlines on its own merit,...

One of the consistent issues with Vince McMahon’s booking during his long tenure atop the wrestling business has been his inability to make a star without breaking another. At times, McMahon has directly fed one top wrestler to the next, destroying any value remaining in the first, as was...

Talent is one of the truly inexplicable aspects of humanity. Through genetics, rearing, or Providence (depending on philosophy), aptitudes present themselves early in life and continue to develop with practice and reinforcement. Of course, some talents, such as athleticism, are valued far more in our society than others. Athleticism...

In spite of the self-proclaimed intelligentsia’s constant dismissal of professional wrestling as little more than As the World Turns for the NASCAR crowd, theatrical fight promotion has remained a consistent predictor of shifts in the television business since the 1950s. During the era of the DuMont Network, professional wrestling’s...