{"id":7878,"date":"2016-01-11T02:17:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T08:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=7878"},"modified":"2016-01-12T14:44:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T20:44:36","slug":"caldwell-welcome-to-2016-the-year-of-craziness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/01\/11\/caldwell-welcome-to-2016-the-year-of-craziness\/","title":{"rendered":"CALDWELL &#8211; Welcome to 2016, a year of madness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3591017755\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Welcome to 2016. One full week into the year, it already has that feeling of 2010 when the wrestling world turned into a madhouse.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2010, TNA brought in Hulk Hogan &amp; Friends and tried to compete against Raw on Monday nights. There were also a host of free agents available who came to TNA along with Hogan.<\/p>\n<p>WWE countered with Bret Hart&#8217;s WWE return, which set in motion three months of well, interesting storylines, setting up Hart vs. Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 26.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, there is not a\u00a0major head-to-head competition. But, the wrestling world is changing by the day. It really started in 2015 when NXT took over and WWE opened things up like Minesweeper when they booked independent talent\u00a0from Rhyno to Johnny Gargano.<\/p>\n<p>Now, in 2016, New Japan stars are being wooed to WWE, TNA is trying to find new talent to build around on a new TV home, free agents are\u00a0evaluating their options, New Japan is looking to see if they can expand in the U.S.\u00a0with\u00a0Ring of Honor, ROH is trying to hold off the WWE dogs, WWNLive is partnering with WWE, AAA has a U.S. pathway through Lucha Underground, and WWE is overall dealing with the injury bug affecting top stars.<\/p>\n<p>John Cena. Randy Orton. Seth Rollins. Daniel Bryan. Cesaro.<\/p>\n<p>The injuries, along with a decline in the star power of WWE&#8217;s roster, has necessitated a sense of urgency to introduce new stars. Whether it&#8217;s from NXT, the New Japan stars\u00a0passing Go\u00a0to the main roster, or a combination of both, WWE needs help.<\/p>\n<p>Just looking at the rosters for this past weekend&#8217;s WWE house shows, it&#8217;s not good. I saw it first-hand Friday night. WWE needs stars up and down the roster. Most of this is their own doing making wrestlers not feel special or over-exposing them with five hours of original content per week.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1384416273\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The injuries have not helped, and now WWE is trying to find the right mix of big names to set a few records at WrestleMania 32 in Texas.<\/p>\n<p>WWE needs something big. And they need it quick. We can talk about needing to build for the future and developing a plan for the full year, especially to address slumping Raw\u00a0TV ratings. But, WWE\u00a0said the heck with that at the end of 2015\u00a0when they cashed in their Triple H and Vince McMahon chips to elevate Roman Reigns.<\/p>\n<p>Will a mix\u00a0of big, part-time stars\u00a0with\u00a0healthy, available\u00a0full-time roster members provide a boost for Mania Season? Or, does WWE need something completely different\u00a0introducing brand-new names who have not been watered-down and over-exposed? It might seem like it&#8217;s too late to make a difference for WM32 business, but completely fresh new acts with some buzz and a cool factor making a huge initial impact might be WWE&#8217;s best option.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to 2016, where the\u00a0Bullet or Balor Club might be the key to WWE&#8217;s Road to WrestleMania just\u00a0a few weeks\u00a0removed from being big factors at\u00a0New Japan&#8217;s stellar Tokyo Dome Show.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1023335297\"><div id=\"pwtor-1397505272\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Welcome to 2016. One full week into the year, it already has that feeling of 2010 when the wrestling world turned into a madhouse. In January 2010, TNA brought in Hulk Hogan &amp; Friends and <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/01\/11\/caldwell-welcome-to-2016-the-year-of-craziness\/\" title=\"CALDWELL &#8211; Welcome to 2016, a year of madness\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[1501,274],"class_list":["post-7878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-takes_caldwell","tag-1501","tag-james-caldwell"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Crowd_WWE_WK_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7878"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8028,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7878\/revisions\/8028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}