Welcome to the Dot Net One Shots. Each week, we will present a quick "one shot" thought from each staff member about the previous week in each of the following areas: WWE, TNA and Other (MMA, Indies, etc).

WWE

Will Pruett (Twitter - @itswilltime): Normally in WWE the mid-card storytelling is questionable at best, but it can be saved by quality at the top. Right now, none of their stories are clicking. Even the sure-fire C.M. Punk and Paul Heyman feud seems to be losing steam (thanks, R-Truth). This stretch of three pay-per-views (Night of Champions, Battleground, and Hell in a Cell) has really dampened my enthusiasm for WWE.

Jake Barnett (Twitter - @barnettjake): My apathy for the product goes up by the week. There really is no undercard to speak of. The Rhodes family situation had no follow up on Monday. The Big Show is taking up way too much TV time. Shawn Michaels has been dispatched to try and make up for the 6 weeks that WWE neglected to build a strong story for Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. Things are a mess at this point, and WWE is truly kidding themselves if they think John Cena returning to win a Championship WWE normally treats as second class is going to rescue the product.

Zack Zimmerman (Twitter - @InVasionZim): I understand the idea of using Battleground to get to Hell in a Cell, but it is flat-out unacceptable for a PPV to conclude the way Battleground did. To boot, Raw featured everything that Battleground did. It's a slap in the face to anyone who spent money to see it and hurts the fans' confidence in the PPV product moving forward.

Darren Gutteridge (Twitter - @Dazatheg): The booing of Kofi Kingston at Battleground was really interesting. This isn't X-Pac heat (or Bo Dallas heat as it should now be called), but a sign of apathy towards Kingston's terminable jobber to the stars role I think. Kofi can turn this around with the right push, but there are several other guys who could have received a similar treatment who should be sweating right now.

Chris Shore (Twitter - @TheShoreSlant): Big Show knocked out Triple H and the fans reacted. But was it the same reaction had they had Show do this sooner? Of course there is no way to know, but based upon how crowds have reacted over the many weeks of this story, I say no. They went too far for big Show to really get the full effect of that moment.

TNA

Will Pruett: As bad as I find the Dixie Carter story to be, I have to applaud TNA for shifting the focus of A.J. Styles and Bully Ray to each other on last week's show. TNA is trying to build to their biggest show of the year and the more these guys actually talk about each other, the bigger Bound for Glory seems.

Jake Barnett: Bound for Glory is a little over a week away. TNA is taping two episodes of Impact tonight, and the go home show for their biggest PPV of the year will take place in front of what will end up being a tired crowd. TNA needs some magic at this point to sell that show, and while I hope they pull it off, my first instinct is that they will head into Bound for Glory with a whimper. Their creative slump has not improved in the last several months, and it will take more than the tired heel authority figure trope to bust it.

Zack Zimmerman: I sat watching Impact last week with my non-wrestling fan roommates. They couldn't get over the fact that Hulk Hogan was on TV anywhere other than WWE in 2013. I couldn't get over the fact that the owner of the company was portrayed as finding more value in Hulk Hogan than AJ Styles, who is main eventing their biggest show of the year, in fact.

Chris Shore: Bound for Glory is just 10 days away and I am less interested in this show than I was for Battleground. The failure of TNA to deliver a solid build for this show is unforgivable and indicative of the problems backstage. Things are getting worse for the company every day it seems, and there doesn't appear to be any signs of hope for the near future.

Other (MMA, Indies, Etc)

Will Pruett (John Cena): The early announcement of John Cena's return has left me quite skeptical. Either his injury was not as bad as it was played up to be (possible, since he also wrestled one of his best matches ever with it at SummerSlam) or he is super-human in his recovery ability (also possible, but less likely as Cena gets older). Either way, hopefully he is not returning too early and risking another injury.

Jake Barnett (John Cena): I’m still having a hard time believing that WWE had heel General Manager Vickie Guerrero announce John Cena’s PPV return following his injury, with a cackle and a smile, as if she was a witch heralding one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. The crowd popped momentarily, but like me at home, seemed to immediately question if she was serious or not. I thought the way John Cena left for surgery, putting over Daniel Bryan in the ring and on the microphone, was fantastic. If they get Bryan back on track, it could be one hell of a story for him to return to. Rushing him back to face Del Rio for the second string Heavyweight Championship seems like a panicked premature decision, and one that won’t fix any of their previous poor booking decisions.

Zack Zimmerman (PWG): Most weeks, I watch WWE and TNA with a sense of duty; because I have to keep up. I enjoy NXT, but I watch it with a laptop in front of me, typing frantically. When I want to remind myself why I love wrestling, I watch Pro Wrestling Guerilla. I cannot recommend their product highly enough. Don't critically analyze, just sit and enjoy, and you'll likely agree that it's the best wrestling product in the US today.

Darren Gutteridge (NXT): The Ascension winning the NXT Tag Titles could end up playing a huge part in revitalising the tag division in WWE. While the acts has many problems, the fact they are monster heels provides fertile ground for producing strong teams underneath them. If WWE can do that, and then introduce the teams into a main roster division that is hot thanks to The Shield, the future may be bright.

Chris Shore (Wrestling): I have a serious question: Are things worse now in wrestling than they have ever been? TNA is an absolute mess. WWE is angering fans left and right (and their only "fix" seems to be bringing back John Cena too soon). ROH and the rest of the indies don't have any real juice. Has wrestling ever been lower right now? I'm very concerned for the industry, and not as a journalist. The fan in me is screaming for something, anything, of value to sink my teeth into and the industry has yet to respond.

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