Phantom Bump Podcast

NOTE: This was written and recorded BEFORE Bobby Lashley won the WWE Championship! So, have some fun and just replace him in this booking with any other RAW heel in his spot!
Thanks!

The hot topic as of late in the wrestling world is definitely the booking on WWE RAW, and as of late, I mean the last handful of years truthfully. While there are absolutely bright spots, it's often overshadowed by terrible black clouds looming overhead of totally nonsensical decisions week to week. 
It’s a complete lack of continuity. It’s uninteresting stories. It’s 50/50 booking. It's start-stop pushes. It's wasting talent, we could go on and on here of course. In this episode however, your Phantom host tries to keep things short, sweet and a little more positive as he takes his seat in the Armchair once again, grabs his mighty pen, and submitted for the approval of the internet wrestling community, he shares how HE would book RAW's midcard through Fall 2021. 
Including the end of Retribution, the U.S Title scene, Hurt Business, The Women's Tag Titles + MORE! 

The booking of Rey Mysterio since his WWE return a couple years ago has been, well, like most booking within WWE, confusing. He's been up and treated like a star, he's been down and fighting over eyeballs for 67 months. In this episode, Phantom grabs his mighty pen, his handy dandy fantasy booking notebook and shares a fun scenario that see's Rey Mysterio, the at-one-time "king of the cruiserweights" go back to the division that helped gain him prominence in the wrestling world. This storyline see's him build a feud to WrestleMania 37 aiming to reclaim the Cruiserweight championship, one last time. 

The best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be, and a real strange run in WCW.  Originally brought in to be an enforcer for an Eric Bischoff VS Larry Zbyszko match, and then played part in a weird Montreal Screwjob rip off attempt between Sting & Hulk Hogan, the moment The Hitman was brought in to WCW, it already fell flat. From there, of all things, it wasn't until Vince Russo started booking WCW in '99/00 when Bret Hart started getting the main event push he was deserving of, but it was likely too little too late. 
While there's rumors that Bret's attitude played part in his booking, or just Eric Bischoff's interesting in all things NWO over anything else, regardless of the reason, Hart felt off in WCW.
So, with the 20/20 vision of hindsight, toss on your pink & black, pull up your armchair, and let's fantasy book what maybe could've been some of Bret's run in World Championship Wrestling. 

An issue plaguing the wrestling world in general, but with WWE as it's greatest (or worst?) example. That issue being, a tunnel vision for booking decisions and a lack of storyline depth, especially with a loaded roster. 
What do we mean? Well, we do NOT mean "wHy cANt eVeRY 0ne mAIN evENt?!", what we mean is, why can't everyone, on every level of the card, have some sort of story? Of course not all at once, but intertwining and interweaving week to week, month to month, showcasing that there truly is something always going on, given you have so much talent. What instead happens, is one big push, for one or two stories, aiming to make some social media buzz, and everyone else who ISN'T the focus that week gets cast aside and forgotten.

Isn't weird when you watch a star you're interested in care a LOT about winning and being the best for a couple weeks and then all of a sudden nothing really bothers them out of nowhere and they stop? It's almost like....they're just scripted to do so with no consistency in mind?....

DISCLAIMER: I know they're a growing company, and honestly, your Phantom host is what one would call an "AEW mark" on the internet. Big fan here, but an honest one.
But, that doesn't mean we can't notice some of the kinks they're in need of working out! While they've proven themselves to be a GREAT alternative to WWE, righting many of the cliche wrestling wrongs we've come to know and hate, there's some small gaps there still needing fixed up.

What this leads me to believe, is sometimes, you can tell the "inmates" are running the asylum. From strange character builds, "too relaxed" of booking changes, that weird time where rules were being only sometimes enforced by refs, commentary being too loose, not knowing what The Dark Order really is, and mainly not finding the key to how to use their women's division, in this episode, your major AEW fan of a host walks through some of the current issues that the Elite company have the capabilities to work through, and need to be worked through sooner than later as they grow.

Oh the 24/7 championship. Many see it as a prop. Many see it as comedic relief. Many see it as the below mid card title. Many see it as the ugliest championship title in the history of professional wrestling, and well…all of those things are true…BUT, on a serious note, what we see the title as, as an opportunity for many on the WWE roster, if it were simply used correctly. In this episode, your mysterious host, “Phantom”, takes a dive into fixing the WWE 24/7 Championship, in many ways. From fixing the rules (yes, really), to giving it purpose, to making the stars WANT the title (or giving a reason they DONT), to pitching a MUCH needed redesign, we truly believe there’s life in the championship and just enough glimmer of hope that can see the world of comedy filler, blend with the world of actual championship, to make the title even the least bit meaningful, and simply, the RIGHT type of fun.

How about just less whacky races and Scooby Doo hallway gags aye? Although…an episode of RAW featuring superstars in whacky races gimmicks would be can’t miss TV…..hold on, gonna re-edit the episode…

Retribution. WWE's newest "anarchy" faction aimed at taking down the company for all it's sins and wrongdoings. The rag-tag group of revolutionaries ready to shake the brand to it's core. Who pushed things over, lit some fires, high-fived like school kids staying out late, and then went on to sign contracts with the company they hated...all with rejected names from a bad Mad Max script. Now that we've said all the things the IWC knows, let's ask, how could it have been different? What if? What if the group was treated like a modern day version of the NWO upon arrival? What if they did more than add shaky cameras to their segments to give it a "reality" feel? What if they targeted the Chairman of WWE itself?  What if they revealed their motives as gaining revenge for those fellow superstars mercilessly cast aside during a pandemic? What if the leader...was someone truly out for revenge?
Well, Retribution is a big "what if" and we give our best fantasy pitch as to how we would've liked to have seen it done. We go FULL fantasy booking in this episode, and shake up the wrestling world with some choices of WHO....but that's all we'll say for now. Go into this one with an open mind is all we'll say. Otherwise, flicker your lights and set your trashcan on fire, it's time to Phantasy book (and fix) Retribution! 

Recently, former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett made his return to the home of "sports entertainment" rejoining what is technically where he got his start, the NXT brand, as a commentator. Of course from the moment he came back, many of us were wondering how long he would stay behind the announcers booth, and while in real life, I think it's probably for good, that doesn't mean we can't have fun with another "what if" scenario and book it ourselves! In this fantasy episode, Phantom crafts a story that see's one NXT upstart call Barrett out from behind the announcing desk, believing Barrett is using the NXT brand to reclaim his lost glory. Where this leads in a few twists and turns, is seeing a New Nexus formed on the black and yellow brand, shining some much-needed light on some rather unused superstars and giving them purpose, much like the original Nexus did!
How's it go down? Well....I'm afraid I've got some BAD NEWS if you're lazy, because the only way to find out, is to listen! 

Baron Corbin, one of the more “love em’ or hate em’” superstars on the WWE roster, but one thing that this podcast thinks you can’t deny, is that he IS talented, and dare I say…underrated. That’s right, we’ve got a whole episode talking about Corbin and how, even though he’s always on our screens, he’s in fact been very misused by the WWE. He’s got all the potential in the world to join the “best big men” list, but being coated in comedy and coward gimmicks probably isn’t the way to do it. So in this episode I toss out some ideas on how I would fix Baron to bring out the badass side of him that’s hiding somewhere under that wolf’s fur…

Looking at the women's roster of the WWE over the past decade, there's one constant that, for some reason, seemingly hasn't gotten used to her full potential, through start-and-stop pushes. So, in this episode, we have some fun and fantasy book a story that see's one Natalya Neidhart decide to change that and take control of her future. Thus, goes searching for the right people to help her along the way, and ends up building a pretty solid..."foundation".