WWE BRING IT TO THE TABLE 5/8: Your source for finding out how WWE wants you to feel about various hot topics

By Craig Elbe, PWTorch contributor


SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

WWE BRING IT TO THE TABLE, EPISODE 4
MAY 8. 2017
AIRED ON WWE NETWORK
REPORT BY CRAIG ELBE (@CraigElbe on Twitter), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Let the puppets commence their talking…

The show started with the camera on Peter Rosenberg. With a serious face, he said there has been some controversy regarding his comments on Roman Reigns. Cory Graves followed suit, that controversy surrounded his Shane McMahon comments. Sheepishly, JBL simply introduced himself as John Bradshaw Layfield and turned to his co-hosts. A few seconds of awkward silence and stares at each other later, JBL said he won $21 last week playing golf. Rosenberg broke the tension and introduced the show, smile and all. (The controversy has already begun and I hate this message)

The opening package played, then Rosenberg identified himself as the host of Bring it to the Table. He introduced Graves and JBL, the latter still beaming from his golf winnings. Rosenberg briefly played into JBL’s pride then went to the Hot Start.

Hot Start

Rosenberg brought up A.J. Styles’s comments about Raw and Smackdown on last week’s Talking Smack. A clip played of Styles passionately speaking of how Smackdown is the place to prove yourself and become a star, then how upset he is of how Smackdown makes stars and Raw takes them.

Graves said he loves Smackdown. He gets to watch it live and in person every week before commentating on 205 Live, but Styles must realize he’s a product of his environment. Being on the same show and rubbing elbows with two of the all-time best in John Cena and Randy Orton will obviously elevate everyone. But, Graves doesn’t necessarily agree Smackdown is better than Raw.

JBL was disappointed with the Superstar Shake-Up as he wanted to work with Cory Graves, or at least have Byron Saxton drafted to Southpaw Regional for Lance Catamaran. He agreed with Styles, Smackdown is the land of opportunity. He cited Alexa Bliss as an incredibly talented lady who flourished on Smackdown. JBL said Smackdown has always been the better show but curiously referenced the timeframe of 2004-2006, and it’s the better show today. He guaranteed the Raw Women’s division would flourish on Smackdown, or any Superstar for that matter.

Rosenberg called JBL out on saying Smackdown reigned superior only during 2004-2006. He asked if Smackdown was better than Raw in 2009-2011. JBL said Smackdown went through an unexplainable huge slump and its mid-2000’s heyday is back and is head and shoulders better than Raw. He doesn’t think Smackdown has better talent, rather better opportunities are presented to them that they take.

Rosenberg asked if Smackdown is more about in ring competition and Raw more about entertainment. Graves feels that’s a fair assessment, that Smackdown’s matches have more implications and duration and are in better in that regard. With Raw, there are faster paced segments that may not fit on Smackdown but doesn’t know if it’s a fair comparison, i.e. apples and oranges. JBL didn’t comment.

Next up, also with a stain of controversy, the House of Horrors match at Payback. Rosenberg said WCW and WWE have long histories of interesting matches, naming the King of the Road match an example. (That match was from WCW’s 1995 Uncensored Pay-Per-View, where Dustin Rhodes lost to the Black Top Bully. That PPV was covered in detail on the Tony Schiavone What Happened When podcast. There is also a written recap on PWPodcasts.com ) Rosenberg also referenced the Boiler Room Brawl, the first of which occurred at Summerslam 1996 with Undertaker long to Mankind.

Rosenberg said there was a mixed reaction to the House of Horrors match. JBL thought it was great, but anytime a live crowd has to watch video of something they either get bored or boo. He understands the mixed reaction because they wanted to see the action in person. He said the King of the Road match was horrible despite featuring Dustin Rhodes, who can have a great match with anyone. Rhodes had a Backlot Brawl with Roddy Piper (at WrestleMania 12) and that turned out great, so those matches are unpredictable how they’ll turn out. The original cage match in 1937 with Jack Bloomfield vs Count Petro Rossi was in chicken wire and through the years evolved and become a staple of wrestling. Sometimes those ideas work but they must be tried, and he thinks the House of Horrors part of the match was okay.

Rosenberg pressed JBL if it worked or not. With some pauseful hesitation in his voice, JBL said it did work but it’s hard to say. The live crowd didn’t like it but the match came across better how he watched it, on TV and it was very good. Having the two best Superstars of all time and filming it like a movie was different but argued it had to be tried. Graves, who was in the arena calling the action, said also said the live crowd didn’t like it. He said they weren’t sure what to expect, nor did anybody with the only known details being the match would end in the arena. Or, perhaps whatever hopes and expectations they had weren’t met. He thought it was cool and different, and at least it got payed off in the ring and likes that type of experimentation. Rosenberg asked if the crowd said yay or boo. Graves said they booed, then Rosenberg segued to the Yay or Boo segment.

Yay or Boo

The first subject was the Superstar Shake-Up. While aware his opinion isn’t being solicited, Rosenberg gave this a Boo. He attended that Raw at the Nassau Coliseum and expected the excitement of a supplemental draft instead of people just showing up on the show that were from elsewhere. Overall, Graves liked the Shake-Up but gave a big-time Boo to Charlotte Flair going to Smackdown. His Queen was taken away and so was an eventual dream match with Alexa Bliss.

JBL thought the Shake-Up is valuable to the company and provides a great opportunity for Superstars who may not receive any. Even though he is great and didn’t need one, Kevin Owens got a fresh coat of paint. He now has an incredible gimmick as the new Face of America, like a French-Canadian John Wayne. Rosenberg asked if there was such a thing as a French-Canadian John Wayne. JBL said the new face of America is a thing and doubted if he has watched their product lately. Rosenberg said Owens got a fresh shave while JBL said he and Owens were speaking French to each other on commentary.

Next up was the Welcoming Committee. Rosenberg detailed their targeting of Charlotte and attacking her and Naomi after their recent championship match. JBL gave them a Yay because the women in the group now have a meaningful purpose instead of just living on the card having matches. Graves gave them a Boo. They just seem thrown together and broadly titled, and targeting only Charlotte will make the Smackdown Women’s division suffer. JBL countered, saying the Four Horsemen were thrown together and only aimed at Dusty.

Rosenberg followed up and asked if JBL is comparing the Welcoming Committee to the Four Horsemen. JBL said he isn’t, that the Welcoming Committee is much better! They all laugh and Rosenberg called JBL a bad man. JBL said he hopes Ric Flair and Arn Anderson are going to watch the show, but then he and Rosenberg realized they won’t bother.

Next up was Titus O’Neil and his Brand, working with Apollo Crews as he transitions from in-ring competition to a manager/mouthpiece role. Rosenberg is excited to see how that will develop. Graves said he’s been the only proponent for Titus and that won’t change. Titus is incredibly entertaining, and what he lacks in the ring he more than makes up for with his verbal ability. He added he could probably make a better pocket square for Rosenberg than the one he crafted for himself.

JBL said Boo. Titus dwarfs Apollo Crews and looks like a million dollar, hall of fame athlete and is in fact a world class athlete. He wondered who Titus isn’t going to dwarf, then told a story of Vince McMahon always taking shoes off to interview Andre the Giant, to make Andre look even bigger and shoot it from the waist up. JBL said Titus is simply too big and impressive looking in a suit to be a manager and will overshadow anybody he represents. Rosenberg remembered when Titus did commentary a couple years ago and surprised everybody with his verbal skills.

Alexa Bliss was up next. Rosenberg said Bliss has taken the Raw Women’s division by storm and defeated Baily for the Raw Women’s Title. He added Bliss, while not part of the NXT Four Horsewomen, may now be bigger than all of them. JBL thinks she’s bigger than both women’s divisions and doesn’t know how she picked up this business so quick. He compared Bliss to Kurt Angle, that some people have an innate ability to be incredible performers. Rosenberg said Angle was an Olympic amateur wrestler, while Bliss unbelievably came from a cheerleading background. Graves said Bliss came to NXT (in May 2013) from a fitness background and her first character was like a pixy, Disney Princess thing and nobody had high expectations for her. Whatever has clicked for her since has clicked in a big way. However, Graves isn’t quite ready to say Bliss is better than the Four Horsewomen but loves having her on Raw as she is definitely carving out her own spot in WWE. Even though he doesn’t have his Queen, at least he has his Goddess. JBL joked about Dolph Ziggler being a former cheerleader that became a former two-time world champion.

A commercial aired, promoting new episodes of WWE 24, showing shots of Finn Balor, Bill Goldberg, and Kurt Angle. The rest of the ad showed there would be new episodes of WWE Story Time; featuring animated versions of (I’m assuming) DDP, Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, and Enzo, finishing up touting new episodes of Table for 3 with shots of Eric Bischoff, Maryse, Kelly Kelly, and Eve Torres.

Bring it to the Table

Rosenberg didn’t want to waste any time, and got to the Bring it to the Table segment. First up was, what Rosenberg called the biggest feud in WWE, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Rosenberg felt the need to ponder potential celebrity names for the pair. He swung and missed as you would’ve guessed. JBL said Sam Roberts wouldn’t have done that. Rosenberg argued Roberts doesn’t have the bravery he does! He brought up the incredible Reigns/Strowman match from Payback, then mentioned he interviewed Reigns during WrestleMania week. In that interview, Reigns said Strowman never did anything incredible until he worked with him. Rosenberg asked if that is true and how special the two of them working together is. Graves said Reigns has definitely forced Strowman to step his game up, and they’ve made magic together. This is one of his favorite rivalries currently, and in some time. He likes the aspect of it being a throwback to, as Jim Ross would say, hosses fighting. Their Fastlane and Payback matches were both awesome, and if it’s not the end of the line yet for Reigns and Strowman, Graves won’t be mad.

JBL joked he wished JR was there. Graves made sure it was JR place of Rosenberg, with a JBL confirmation.

JBL said Strowman had a great “clash of giants” match with Big Show (failing to mention which one he was referring to), and had a great match with Reigns as well (also failing to specify which match.) He agreed with Reigns’s sentiment, that he has good match after good match and is the future of the company. For the people who want to continue to hate him, he encouraged them as it’s within their rights. But, Reigns is being dislike for the wrong reasons, and puts out quality after quality every single night. Rosenberg feels Reigns should be disliked in a Rick Rude manner, where a fat slob man on the couch gets angry when his lady perks up when Reigns is on TV, not for what he does in the ring. JBL thought Rosenberg was comparing he and Graves to him in the fat slob realm, and said they are not like him.

After that most likely scripted-cause-it-wasn’t-edited-out part, Rosenberg pivoted to Backlash, which will feature the Smackdown in ring debut of Shinsuke Nakamura. He’s a shirt toting big fan of Nakamura and has been annoyed at not seeing Nakamura in action yet, and asked if he’s wrong for feeling that way. JBL yelled that he’s 100% wrong and Nakamura is a special attraction worth the wait, comparable to UFC’s Conor McGregor. Nakamura needs to be kept special as he is just that unique and good a performer. JBL added Nakamura should be utilized sparingly, like the Undertaker was, starting in the mid-2000’s.

Rosenberg expects JBL to hate on his opinions, but asked if Graves understands him. Graves does understand him, but people need to understand the NXT familiar part of the WWE Universe is only a small fraction of the total WWE viewership. Those who know and have followed Nakamura will realize it was worth the wait when he and Ziggler steal the show at Backlash, and right now a buzz is being created. JBL said Rosenberg’s opinions are just the wrong ones, and he has a lot of them, but they don’t hate them.

Happy to oblige hearing that from JBL, Rosenberg asked him if he knows Nakamura well and considers them friends. JBL said yes to both, then we are shown a clip where JBL called Nakamura “Shin,” with voice effects for good measure. Rosenberg called back to JBL taking him to task for saying Taker instead of Undertaker, despite there being a shirt bearing the words “Thank You Taker.” Rosenberg openly doubted JBL’s friendship with Nakamura, and shamed him for calling him Shin! Graves backed JBL up, that he has been witness to many fascinating JBL/Nakamura conversations. Rosenberg begged what they talk about. Graves mentioned politics, weather, rugby as some but not all their topics. JBL said he told Nakamura how the Japanese Sevens Team (for rugby) is getting better and better. Escalating in anger, JBL added he’s been to Japan 50 times, he’s been Nakamura’s house, vacationed with his family, and known him since he was 12 years old!

Rosenberg, with a darn near literal wink and nod, used JBL’s anger to segue to the next segment.

Don’t Get Hot!

First up was a quote from a Sheamus interview. Rosenberg used a half Irish accent and quoted Sheamus, “You look back at the attitude Era and the level of entertainment we put in the ring now. The Attitude Era doesn’t come close. I’m not afraid to say that either.” After JBL and Graves gave Rosenberg grief for his sad Irish accent attempt, JBL said Sheamus ought to have pride for his era and feel he’s the best, but disagrees with the statement. He said back in the Attitude Era while competing with WCW they did an 8.1 rating one night, and JBL vs Ron Simmons was the highest rated regular quarter hour of all time with an 8.6 rating. Rosenberg wasn’t shocked he remembered that metric. JBL said it is like Stephen Curry saying his Warriors are better than the 1996 Chicago Bulls.

JBL thinks the Attitude Era roster was the best of all time, and today it’s in an evolution phase. He then listed Hall and Nash before the NWO, Isaac Yankem before he was Kane, the Ringmaster before he was Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hunter Hearst Helmsley before he was Triple H, and Rocky Maivia before The Rock as all on the WWF roster in 1995. He said it was the greatest roster of all time and before those guys transitioned to becoming what they did. This current roster is in the mid-stage of a similar evolution and doesn’t know who will step forward out of it, but once it happens it could end up the greatest roster of all time, but it isn’t right now.

Rosenberg said he may be crazy but there could be a legitimate case this roster has better Superstars in the WWE than ever before. Graves warned Rosenberg on using the word “better”, but said there is more of a wealth of talent. He said he loves the Attitude Era as much as anyone else and grew up watching it, and that’s part of the reason he works in WWE. With all the talent across the entire WWE, The Rock-like, Stone Cold-like next level transcendent star is there but hasn’t emerged yet. He agreed with JBL on this being a transitional phase, and agreed with Sheamus to an extent. With WWE’s revenue and everything they’re doing right now, now is a better time than ever.

Rosenberg joked about only being five channels to compete for ratings with back in the Attitude Era, but nowadays there’s Netflix, many cable channels, and social media and WWE still has great numbers. He listed Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, A.J. Styles, Randy Orton, John Cena, Undertaker at this year’s WrestleMania, Attitude Era holdovers Hardy Boyz, and said today is a great time. JBL said the mere fact a comparison is being fostered is a great thing. He maintained the Attitude Era’s superiority but shared his old-school bias of being there, but today’s roster hasn’t gotten there yet. Overall, that speaks well for WWE today. Rosenberg agreed 100%.

Next topic was a Rusev tweet where he wrote, and Rosenberg offered his Russian accept to say “Congrats @AlexaBliss_WWE. Let it be known she wasn’t on the INDIES for 10 years.” Graves hopes Rusev crushes him for the accent, and JBL said he sounded like Borat. Regarding Rusev crushing the indies a bit, Graves said he would have taken that to heart and been offended six or seven years ago. When he arrived in FCW they were stacked with the top indy guys who paid their dues for WWE stardom like Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Sami Zayn, and Kassius Ohno. When someone like Baron Corbin, a former NFL player, arrived, the indy guys looked down at him and used their indy time as a passion measuring stick. Corbin sticks out to Graves because he was always asking for car rides around the Florida shows they did. After many rejections from Graves, Corbin eventually ended up on a four-hour car ride with Graves. Graves said Corbin asked him every question he could think of during his time in the indies, etc. It was then Graves noticed he was developing his passion. Now, Corbin is one of the top Superstars on Smackdown and one of Graves’s best friends. He initially didn’t give Corbin the time of day to because of the stigma of not being on the indies. Corbin helped Graves open his eyes to there being another route to WWE success besides the indies.

JBL chimed in, wondering why it’s a badge of honor to for someone to spend 15 years in AA ball. There was an idea A.J. Styles was one of the best in the world but it wasn’t realized till he was in WWE. Being in the last generation that went through the territories, JBL respects anyone that learns as much about the business as they can, in as many places as possible because it’s different everywhere. He thinks it’s insane to wear a badge of honor that says you can’t make it to the major leagues. The point of getting in this business is to make a name for yourself and make money instead of having pride in being stuck in AA ball. Rosenberg used Kevin Owens as an example of someone who is proud of the years he put in the indies despite not having the typical body type, style and speaking with an accent. JBL said that Owens is another example of what he’s talking about, that his talent was unknown till he got to WWE. He’s not trying to hurt any long tenured indy person’s feelings, but if they had a great time and made a living God bless them. They just weren’t good enough to be in the major leagues to be considered one of the best.

Rosenberg collaborated with Puma and WWE to design some Puma X Undertaker Limited Edition sneakers for WrestleMania and sold only at Foot Locker. There were only 23 pairs made, and someone has one of them on eBay for $10,000, $25.95 for shipping. Graves and JBL accused Rosenberg for being that eBay seller and he denied selling a pair of shoes he collaborated on creating. They both gave him blank stares, and he said with a slight smirk “how dare you!” to Graves and JBL for nor believing him. Graves said he’s got a pair of Undertakers in his closet. Rosenberg asked if they were black, as the eBay pair were black. Graves said his are white and at his home and not on eBay. Rosenberg gave a face that either said he’s guilty or Graves is lying. JBL told Rosenberg he’d throw him a bowling ball if he was drowning. Rosenberg said that’s just mean! (What was lost in all this was the seller’s location is Orlando, FL and Rosenberg lives in New York. But, Rosenberg having a friend in Orlando sell the shoes for him to be conspicuous by location would not be the most riveting or surprising plan. I got curious and checked out eBay for myself. No such pair was listed, leading me to believe this was another scripted segment or it was taken down after the show aired. I doubt anyone will care enough to dig more than I have, but I’ve been wrong before.)

A commercial for NXT aired for their normal timeslot on Wednesday at 8/7C.

Then a brief clip is shown of Rosenberg, Graves, and JBL at the desk. We were lead to believe this was supposed to be a blooper or some something not meant for air as JBL said he’d rather be waterboarded than to talk wrestling with Sami Zayn. He upped the ante and said he’d rather be captured by ISIS than have to have dinner with Sami Zayn. (Rosenberg played up the shock value and Graves gave the hard laugh where is effort yielded more than the result. Another lame scripted pile of junk. Do they think we think it’s live! It’s not that hard to figure out it’s taped and edited and produced to show us exactly what they want us to see. Another example of Vince being out of touch. It’s worth mentioning JBL didn’t look as eager to say those things than one would expect.)

A commercial for Backlash aired with Shinsuke Nakamura and his music featured.

More pretending to be live occurred when Rosenberg was drumming on the desk and had to be told they were back on. Now it’s time for the next segment.

Dig It

Kane running for mayor of Knox County, Tennessee was the first topic. Rosenberg said his real name of Glenn Jacobs and then pitched to Jacobs’s campaign video. (In poking around YouTube this was an abbreviated version. I also think he was standing in front of a green screen that had nature noises and background added later. I thought he could have done a better job for this serious job but came across too much like the authority figure branch of the Kane character tree.)

Rosenberg loved the slogan Lighting our Way to the Future for Jacob’s campaign, while JBL thinks Jacobs is a brilliant man running for office for the right reasons. He said he and Kane were a tag team in Germany for promoters Otto Wanz and Peter Bingham in the early 90’s and has known him well ever since. He hopes he becomes mayor and it’s nice to see someone do this because they want to instead of having to and wants to make the world a better place Rosenberg joked JBL said that cause he is physically scared of Jacobs, JBL simply said he’s huge.

Kevin Owens dad is a traitor! A friendly hockey Twitter exchange by Sami Zayn and Owens’s dad, Terry Steen is shown, along with Owens’s keeping-it-kayfabe response to his father. Graves understands fan loyalty but is happy Zayn’s Montreal Canadians got eliminated from the NHL playoffs, unlike his Pittsburgh Penguins. He contended Zayn and Steen are bound together by fandom of the Canadiens but perhaps Steen didn’t know his son was about to become the new Face of America and would’ve sent a direct message instead. Clearly perturbed, JBL would rather stick needles in his eyeballs than watch a hockey game. (But rugby is more exciting to him?)

Now on WWE Shop, there are official Luke Harper tank tops for sale. They appear to be plain black with no logo, as we were shown as Twitter picture someone put out there of the shirt. Graves said he may or may not already have a four-pack on the way for himself. JBL said he’s “excited” for the new apparel. Rosenberg said he should be a model for the tank top. JBL said 52-year-old men don’t wear tank tops, then said Rosenberg should instead. Rosenberg said he does his cardio then does a fat man in a little coat impression. Speaking of the gym, he said he listens to WWE themes.

Speaking of WWE themes, people in Orlando, FL were singing the Shinsuke Nakamura theme in the streets after the Smackdown after WrestleMania. Graves said favorite WWE theme music, while Nakamura’s is up neat the top of his list, but his all-time favorite is Evolution by Motorhead. JBL’s favorite isn’t Sasha Banks as Rosenberg suggested, especially not the rendition Rosenberg demonstrated. JBL yearned again for Sam Roberts. Rosenberg said Roberts doesn’t have his voice and JBL agreed.

Rosenberg showed and read the Vince McMahon Tweet to John Cena on his birthday on April 23rd. Vince wrote, ““Hustle Loyalty Respect” is not just an expression, it’s the measure of a man. Happy birthday to the Babe Ruth of WWE, @JohnCena.” JBL said Sam Roberts in the Babe Ruth of commentating, which got a big laugh from Rosenberg. Graves asked Rosenberg if he would have felt better if Vince said Micky Mantle instead of Babe Ruth regarding Cena. Rosenberg said maybe Vince changed his mind, and Cena is the Babe Ruth of WWE. Graves said maybe Vince has looked at all the numbers, then JBL jumped in and spewed off a conspiracy theory about the Oak Islands being true. Confused, Rosenberg asked Graves if he knew what JBL was talking about. JBL referenced the Lagina Brothers, and Graves said of course he does. He and JBL spend an inordinate amount of time talking about things.

Next up was one of Rosenberg’s favorite WWE things ever, the Intercontinental Championship. He said it has lore, history, and magic. Held by Tito Santana, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Savage, Steamboat, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, legends. Graves cleared his throat and pointed to JBL as Rosenberg played dumb but then acknowledged JBL as a former Intercontinental champion and said the amazing history of the IC Tile seems to have been restored on Raw. The camera stayed on an annoyed JBL as

Graves said the IC Title was always his favorite, and when Dean Ambrose showed up on Raw it was exciting. The weeks that followed saw multiple people vie to be number 1 contended to the IC Title, which was not always known as there were just IC Title matches on pay per views. He looks forward to the luster being restores to the Intercontinental Championship. As a former IC champ, JBL said the title has had so much prominence and gave examples of Davey Boy/Bret at Summerslam 92 at Wembley Stadium and Shawn/Razor WrestleMania 10 of when it had been at a peak. He said it’s great to see it back in prominence. Rosenberg agreed, but said now it’s almost time to say good-bye to JBL.

Big Finish

Rosenberg thinks Jinder Mahal has a real chance to become Smackdown Champion. JBL said it a good thing Jinder has the chance and it’s a positive result of the Superstar Shake-Up and both Raw and Smackdown are lands of opportunity now, and Jinder can either sink or swim. He said Eddie Guerrero needed an opponent in 2004, and Bradshaw became JBL in a few short weeks for their match at the Staples Center. JBL knew he had a one-shot deal and if he failed he was probably done in WWE and headed to Japan to finish his career. He thinks Jinder has a one-shot deal and the opportunity he has is that’s all that is important right now. With a 1.3 billion population and television contracts in India, this is a marketer’s dream. Jinder got himself in shape, earned this opportunity, and JBL said he is pulling for him to have a hell of a match with Randy Orton at Backlash. Graves said he’s excited for Jinder as person, as he knows him well and thinks he’s a fantastic human being. They go all the way back to NXT when he came close to becoming the first NXT Champion, losing to Seth Rollins in the finals. Being close was always the story to Jinder for his career. What Jinder does with this opportunity remains to be seen. Graves prefers the wait and see approach with Jinder based on his history, but isn’t ruling out Jinder becoming the face of Smackdown. Jinder was released from WWE as a part of # Man Band, and Graves wouldn’t have picked him to be the one who looks to be the breakout star of that group of guys that have all reinvented themselves. At Backlash we will see if that’s meant to be.

JBL quoted Gorilla Monsoon about not needing to look like that waiting on a bus, regarding something about Jinder’s appearance, unless JBL mumbled his words too much for me to decipher. JBL believes Jinder is a future world champion at some point and has this opportunity to go against one of the best of all time in Orton, and he’s done a fantastic job thus far. Rosenberg couldn’t agree more, as no one can deny the shape Jinder is in, like no one can deny what kind of host he is and said it was a real treat to be on the show with Graves and JBL. They both stare silent non-reciprocation back as Rosenberg asked JBL about his golf game. JBL eagerly shared all the details of the $21 winnings and how the game went as the show went off the air.

Craig’s Conclusion

This was another propaganda piece fed to us, telling us what they want us to think. The first two episodes ticked me off, the third was okay but still got me boiled. This one didn’t insult my wrestling IQ so much as it insulted my intelligence as a human with how fake and corporately packaged it was. Using Corey Graves is smart, but too much of this type of programming that turns him into a puppet can harm is image and credibility.

The worst part were the moments where JBL ripped into Sami Zayn. I don’t know what he did to deserve it, but I hope he’s in on the joke – but I doubt it. On a minor note, I’m glad they decided to not use “wife-beater” to describe Luke Harper’s tank top, but thhttp://www.pwtorch.com/site/2017/01/06/rising-star-fading-star-week-heymans-performance-bring-table-heel-turn-ardent-long-time-fans-plus-ambrose-stromwan/en why bring up such a sad source of human suffering as ISIS?

Overall, this was a show rife with corporate buzzwords and subliminal positioning that wasn’t as irritating as the past three, unless I’m getting used to it. How a person like or dislikes it will depend on how they prefer to be fed food that doesn’t taste good without a guarantee of a positive outcome.


CHECK OUT THIS RELATED ARTICLE: RISING STAR & FADING STAR OF THE WEEK: Was Heyman’s performance on “Bring it to the Table” his heel turn on ardent long-time fans? Plus Ambrose, Stromwan, more

4 Comments on WWE BRING IT TO THE TABLE 5/8: Your source for finding out how WWE wants you to feel about various hot topics

  1. I couldn`t get through the episode i find Rosenberg a slimey ESPN douchebag who just says stuff to get people fired up {ESPN fired many good people in the last 2 weeks and have people like this on their payroll} I still can`t take JBL and after 5 minutes i turned this episode off although i watched the previous episode, I`d rather watch the Roundtable they had where JR or The King was the moderator and talked about various topics and wrestlers, territories. As for this CRAP if you like it it`s WWE`s version of what ESPN puts on ALL DAMN DAY..NO THANKS!

  2. if that’s how you feel, that it’s what they want us to think, and it gets you “boiled”….THEN DON’T WATCH IT!!!! I am sick and tired of people who continually watch or do something and then complain. If it’s your job, then you need to get a better job.

    It’s akin to ( that means similar ) having a bad meal at a restaurant, but constantly going back and then complaining to the manager that it’s no good.

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