How the Goldust teddy bear segment SHOULD have gone

The bear incident begins
Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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On the post-Christmas edition of Raw, WWE produced a segment featuring R-Truth, Goldust and Bayley. You've probably seen it by now, but if not, here's a quick recap. Bayley pays homage to the late, great "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes by presenting his son Goldust with a teddy bear dressed in the Dream's trademark black gear with yellow polka dots.

What happened next brought criticism from some fans and members of the Rhodes family, including former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson entered and ridiculed the gesture. Anderson snatched the bear from Goldust's hands and then ripped off its head. Yes, it was a low blow, but I understand Creative is trying to put heat on the heels and make Anderson and Gallows look like jerks. 

Anderson pins Goldust
Courtesy: WWE

It's what followed that irritated me. Because fans and family members are hypersensitive to situations like the one at hand, Goldust and R-Truth should have beaten the crap out of The Club with Goldust getting the pin and avenging the earlier act of aggression. Instead, Anderson and Gallows not only won the match, but Goldust is the one who was pinned. (Yes, Goldie got some good shots, but still...) 

Because of their position in the company right now, it's highly unlikely there will be a follow-up. However, for the sake of keeping the peace and in true American Dream fashion, the opposite of what happened should have occurred. I'm not critical of the original act, it's the follow-up that bugs me the most.

New Day still rocks

Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion among some readers of this blog, but I hope The New Day retains the WWE Tag Team Titles this Sunday at Clash of Champions. For nearly 400 days Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods have held the bronze belts. Granted they don't need the titles anymore to "be over", but I've enjoyed the way New Day has changed the face of tag team wrestling.

What do I mean by that? New Day's blend of comedy and wrestling talent has put a new focus on tag team wrestling. Since winning the titles more than a year ago WWE has made it a point to make tag team wrestling matter. Over WrestleMania weekend, the trio's merchandise topped sales of every other WWE Superstar. That speaks volumes as I don't ever remember a tag team having that distinction. Now with the official sale of Booty O's cereal, the Funko Pop figures and next month champs get Pop Rocks named after them. It's a good time to be part of the New Day.

Gallows vs. Big E
Courtesy: WWE

Despite all the merch, New Day doesn't NEED the tag team titles to continue to be over with the fans. But having some stability in the championship department is something WWE has lacked over the last several years. I won't be surprised if Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows win the titles at Clash of Champions this weekend. I will be disappointed, in part because unlike many others, I haven't been swept away by The Club. I never followed them closely overseas and while I'm happy to have them in WWE, I'm not ready for New Day to drop the belts.

Can New Day carry on and eventually beat the REAL record for the tag team championship reign of Demolition? Only time will tell. The number to beat is 478.

After SummerSlam I'm now an AJ Styles guy

Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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Not that I wasn't a fan of AJ Styles prior to SummerSlam, but his match with John Cena sealed the deal for me. I don't know a whole lot about his past, I only watched him casually on TNA and when he was in New Japan I saw even less of the Phenomenal One.

When AJ entered the 2016 Royal Rumble, I'll admit I was happy to see him. I wondered though if he'd end up heading to NXT or becoming a part of the main roster. His feud with Chris Jericho was less than I had hoped for and the loss at WrestleMania honestly made me scratch my head in disbelief. I knew he wouldn't unseat Roman Reigns as WWE World Champion, but he brought out the best in the champ. 

Courtesy: WWE

His feud with the returning John Cena was just what AJ needed to take things to the next level. The first victory was tainted when The Club interfered, but the match at SummerSlam was on point. It was my favorite match of the night. The two told an amazing story and I believe the clean pin over "the face that runs the place" made AJ a legitimate WWE Superstar. He's not just a guy from TNA trying to make a name for himself.

Courtesy: WWE

Now to SmackDown Live and the cockiness carried over because he "beat up John Cena." It was brilliant and beating Dolph Ziggler to firmly secure sole possession of the number one contendership is the right move. AJ Styles will be WWE World Champion before the end of 2016. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Dean Ambrose as champion, but the next chapter for AJ has to be a run with the belt. Six months ago I wasn't so sure about that, but now I'm convinced. Speculation has already started that Cena gets his redemption at Mania in April, adding the title into the program makes things all the more interesting.

Need a little patience, yeah

By Chad Smart

@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter
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When Kurt Angle joined TNA in 2006, the dream match up was Angle versus Samoa Joe. Joe had been dominant for 18-months since debuting in TNA. The pairing was a no brainer and could have been a big money match. Instead of having Angle establish himself and slowly build interest in the eventual Angle/Joe feud, TNA had them fight three times in three months with Angle winning the feud. In the process the aura of Joe was tarnished and fans saw the standard TNA mantra of “Ex-WWE wrestlers are better than TNA wrestlers” once again established. 

Fast-forward ten years where WWE is on the verge of possibly recreating the same scenario.  TNA original, AJ Styles made his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble in January.  Over the past four months, AJ has established himself as one of the more popular wrestlers on the WWE roster. AJ spent two months trying to conquer WWE Champion Roman Reigns. Failing to dethrone the champ, AJ looked to distance himself from The (Bullet) Club association with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. 

Courtesy: WWE

May 29 saw the return of WWE’s top star, John Cena who had been out with an injury since October. During Cena’s welcome back promo, AJ Styles came out to pay respect. AJ’s positive comments brought out Gallows and Anderson to criticize their former friend for sucking up to Cena. Heated words were exchanged leading to the possibility of Cena and Styles fighting Gallows/Anderson. Those hopes were quickly dismissed when Styles attacked Cena revealing it was all a rouse. Four days later, WWE announced via wwe.com at Money in the Bank in three weeks, Cena will make his in-ring return against AJ Styles. 

Why is WWE rushing into this match? Why not build up to a tag match where AJ would then turn on Cena? Having AJ turn after a four week build would have more impact (no TNA pun intended) than having him turn after four minutes. If the tag match happened at Money in the Bank, than Styles/Cena could have been held off until SummerSlam. With all major shows being shown on the WWE Network, there’s no need to hot shot a match to try and bump the buy rate of a secondary show. 

As Kevin and I have discussed many, many times, storytelling in present day WWE is almost non-existent. Instead of telling an actual story, WWE appears to be booking for moments. There’s no doubt the fans in Las Vegas will be excited to see AJ and Cena fight. Just think though how much more energy the match would generate if it was given a proper build. 

Courtesy: WWE

I don’t know how the match will end. Given WWE’s track record, I do have the uneasy feeling Styles is looking at his third straight monthly special loss. While I’m not going to say AJ is being buried, if Cena wins, it’s another example of WWE > TNA. Given Cena is at the point in his career where wins and losses won’t affect his popularity, and WWE is hyping up a “New Era,” having Styles come out on the losing end of this feud will send the message to fans that what’s new is old.  Much like politics, disrupting the status quo is a bad thing. Keep with what’s safe instead of trying something different.  I hope WWE proves me wrong and this is the first step in pushing AJ to a world title run.

Why haters are wrong about John Cena

He's back!
Courtesy:WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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John Cena is back, much to the chagrin of many in the Internet Wrestling Community. The complaints have already been rampant and unjustified.  But we're all entitled to our opinion. I chose to support Cena in his return.  Had I been in the crowd at Raw, I would have cheered.  I did when he came down to the ring at WrestleMania 32.

The Club beats down Cena
Courtesy: WWE

I like the idea of Cena feuding with The Club. I've said it before, wrestling is a marathon and not a sprint.  Yes we can speculate that Super Cena will overcome the three-on-one odds and rise above it all. But chill. Be happy that AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are working with the biggest star in the company. Keep in mind Gallows was once a dim witted hillbilly stuck in the lower-midcard of the tag team division.

Owens vs. Cena
Courtesy: WWE

Think back to last summer and the Kevin Owens saga.  True, Cena got the upper hand in the feud, but without that first win and the rub that followed, Owens wouldn't be where he is today.  He's a two-time Intercontinental champion and now a participant in the Money in the Bank ladder match next month. He's also one of the company's top heels.

New Era rising?
Courtesy: WWE

We need John Cena.  Even after more than a decade as the face of the company, he still adds value to the product and will be instrumental in helping develop new stars.  I've been critical of how WWE has failed to create new stars. But a more fair assessment is they're not creating stars out of my favorites. (#NevilleForChampion).  Win or lose, The Club will come out of this feud better off than they were feuding with The Usos, Roman Reigns or Chris Jericho.

Haters should be happy Cena isn't competing against Roman for the title or conquering the savage beast Rusev again. Chill out and let's wait and see what happens next.  But one thing we want to know now is why is Ellen's face on Cena's jorts?