Employee of the month
No, not an actual vote (though if it were I would put my check next to Santino Marella’s name for this month) but more a reminder that the WWE is just another company. Whilst talk of "boyhood dreams" might sound enlivening during a championship match promo the truth is that wrestlers are merely well-paid staff employed to act out the boss’ intentions and earn the company money. Now I’m no expert on the film industry but I’m fairly certain that few (if any) actors have been fired from studio productions because they believed the script wasn’t presenting their characters in the manner they would have wished.

Are YOU the problem with WWE?
Ask WWE fans who they think is to blame for the current state of the promotion and they’ll furnish you with a list that will more than likely feature Vince, Stephanie, Laurinaitis, Ross and/or HHH, depending on their preconceptions. However, art isn’t merely about an artist’s ability to make available his or her ideas for public scrutiny but more a tangible interaction between artiste and audience, for which the viewer has an even share of culpability. To put it another way, if the WWE sucks sometimes then it’s as much your fault as it is anyone else’s.

What's your major malfunction?
In pro-wrestling, as in life, no one is perfect. Not even Mr Perfect. As certain as death and taxes, every wrestler will have a chink in their performance armour in some way and it is the job of management to cover these flaws by avoiding them, using them or solving them.

Flame-grilled grapefruits anyone?
Seeing as it’s a fairly quiet week in the world of pro-wrestling and not one story stands out above any other, I thought I’d look at a few minor issues and make some subtle but poignant observations about them.

Chasing the McMessiah
Of the last ten Raw/Smackdown brand carrying champions, only three achieved significant pro-wrestling success before joining the WWE (Guerrero, Booker, Mysterio). Two achieved success in other fields (Lesnar, Angle) and the remaining five either got minor starts elsewhere or developed exclusively under the WWE umbrella (Cena, Batista, HHH, Edge, JBL).

Champions, by any other name
There are many different reasons why WWE superstars are given a title run. Whether dictated by the desire of the fans, the needs of a feud or as a necessity of the wider WWE picture, it isn’t as simple as "the best performer or wrestler" at any particular point in time.

Do they make pink throwbacks?
It’s odd how a flippant aside, indiscernible from a plethora of bold, blanket statements, can trigger an obscure train of thought. During the ‘Larry King live’ WWE broadcast recently on CNN regarding the Benoit situation I noticed that, in answering a question about how seriously WWE superstars take their responsibilities as role models, Bret Hart replied "watch John Cena".