It has been over a month since I wrote a blog and in the
past month WWE has been pretty terrible in that time. The stagnant product has been
unwatchable and the lack of a legit feud and slapped together storylines has
been very detrimental to the WWE. The ratings are down, and many people argue
that baseball and playoff basketball are the reasons why but I disagree. I am a
believer that if you give the people a good reason to tune in, they will. The
rating for the Memorial Day Monday Night Raw did a 2.7 rating, the lowest since
September of last year. In case you didn’t catch it, this means Raw had better
ratings when they were going against Monday Night Football in October –December
then what they have currently.
In my opinion the storylines are the
major reason for all of this. Usually at this time of the wrestling year there
are three major feuds, the personal feud (usually revolves around John Cena)
storyline and the two world title storylines. The personal feud right now is
John Cena taking on the Big Show at the next pay-per view No Way Out. The feud
started when the then “fired” Big Show cost Cena his match against the
Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and General Manager of both Raw
and Smackdown John Laurinaitis (I love saying his whole job title just like he does) at the
previous pay per view Over The Limit. If Cena would’ve won Big Johnny would’ve
been terminated from his position as General Manager to the delight of fans
everywhere since he is the heel authority figure. This all sounds good on paper
but there are a few problems with this. Big Show is well past his prime and in
most people eyes including my own, he is not a main eventer anymore. His
constant heel and face turns over the last few years have really hurt his
character. He isn’t very good in the ring either but that’s to be expected when
someone is 40 years old, over 7 feet tall and weighs 450 lbs. Also we have seen
Cena feud with the Big Show a few times already. Why again?
The original plan was for Tensai to
feud with Cena at the moment the brass threw Big Show in his place because
according to the dirtsheets (wrestling news sites) the brass are very
disappointed with the way Tensai’s lack of getting over with the fans. I have a
problem with this. I know he is not getting much of a reaction from the fans
but I don’t understand how they can tell all of this in the 2 months since he
debuted. You have to give a guy some time and a chance to succeed. It doesn’t
look like Tensai will get his chance soon since John Cena beat him in less than
ten minutes last Monday. As angry as it makes me, I think very soon, Tensai
will either be legitimately “future endeavored” or be forced to go back to old
gimmick from the attitude era as A-Train (a hairy comedy wrestler) which will
have to be demoralizing for a guy who left a good wrestling career in Japan to
come back to the WWE.
CM Punk is currently feuding with
Daniel Bryan and Kane. A Triple Threat Match for the WWE Title is scheduled for
No Way Out. Daniel Bryan’s Ex-Girlfriend AJ is also playing a small part in
this by hanging out at ringside with CM Punk gear on. I actually like this feud
because I love all three of these guys. It can’t get much better with Punk as
the babyface, Kane as the tweener (someone who is not babyface or heel) and
Bryan as the heel. This is probably the only interesting thing going on in WWE
at the moment even though AJ will probably help someone at No Way Out. There
are so many directions in which this can go. AJ can help Bryan out and possibly
rekindle her relationship with him or she can cost him the match as payback and
Punk regains the title or she can even help Kane and start a weird demonic
couple storyline with him. However, even though I like this little feud I am
not sure everyone approves. In real life, Punk and Bryan are friends. They both
were on the independent circuit, building a name for themselves. They both were
Ring of Honor World Champion. (ROH has been the premier indy wrestling company
for almost 10 years). They both got WWE deals and in 2011, they both won a
championship title. (Punk won the WWE title in July and Bryan won the World
Heavyweight Title in December). Hell, now they are both vegans too. With that
being said in most people’s eyes, this isn’t a feud you build for a pay per
views like Over The Limit and No Way Out, this is a feud you build for
Wrestlemania. However, even though I can see why people think this, I would be
willing to bet Punk and Bryan will at least battle at Mania 2-3 times in the
next few years and it will be great because the guys are two of the best to
ever do it.
The World Heavyweight title feud has been
pretty terrible however. The World Champ Sheamus was scheduled to take on Alberto
Del Rio. The feud was nothing special really. I just don’t feel that these guys
hate each other. It just seemed scrapped together like they just decided to put
Del Rio with Sheamus just because there’s not another already maineventer heel
on Smackdown and they would have to take a chance on someone new. This combined with the fact that Sheamus character has been a
little stale lately with his boring irish stories on how he likes to “Fight”
have led to this becoming a “filler” feud. However Del Rio suffered a
concussion at the last Smackdown taping and will likely not be able to perform
on Sunday. Chances are a new opponent for Sheamus will be determined tonight on
Raw. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put on a good ol’ battle royal to
determine who the new number one contender is. It’s a 3 Hour Raw instead of the
usual 2 hours so they’re going to need something to take up time.
Speaking of 3 Hour Raws, the WWE
has announced that starting on July 23rd, the 1000th
episode of the show, they will be permanently going to three hours. I wish I
could say I am happy but I am not. On one hand I am glad the wrestlers have
more time to showcase their skills but WWE can barely put on a 2 hour show
consistently. Going three hours every week for Raw will be tough. I hope some
of the midcarders and wrestler who have been underutilized like Dolph Ziggler,
The Prime Time Players, Primo/Epico, Jack Swagger, Damien Sandow, Antonio Cesaro
and others get on television more often instead of just filler promos and
matches with Brodus Clay, Ryback, Santino and Ryder. Speaking of Ziggler I have
no idea what they are doing with him right now. It seemed like he may split
from his manager and storyline girlfriend Vickie Guerrero but now he’s just in
singles matches losing to Sheamus. I hope he doesn’t continue to be a “jobber
for the stars”. I hope he actually becomes a main eventer soon since he is one
of the best in ring performers I have ever seen.
Darren Young and Titus O’Neill
also deserve more legit tv time. They are quite hilarious, they get heat from
the fans and they seem like a legit tag team. They even had one of the most hilarious moments
of the year when they did the “Big Zeke ain’t got no cuts” bit. I miss the tag
division when you had guys who were actually friends in real life and not just
two guys put together because they don’t have a singles feud. In my opinion the
tag division should consist of the Prime Time Players, The Usos, Reks and
Hawkins and Primo/Epico. They’re should not be teams like Ryder and Santino and
R-Truth and Kofi. Just because Ryder is from Long Island doesn’t mean he should
be tagged with Santino who is “from” Italy. Same goes for Kofi and Truth. A
black guy from Ghana put together with a black guy from Charlotte doesn't necessarily come off as legit.
I love the WWE but I am not sure
about the whole 3 hour Raws every week. Some say it’s just a temporary thing
and that when the WWE Network debuts in November they are just going to convert
the extra hour into a pre-show on there. I hope it works out well and the
inconsistent product goes back to how it was the first 4 months of this year
but I’ll keep my expectations low for now.
Other Tidbits….
Heres the hilarious “Big Zeke ain’t got no cuts” promo…
Kevin Nash will be playing a supporting role as one of the male strippers in the upcoming
movie Magic Mike…
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| Kevin Nash in the Back |
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| Nash (Left,Back) |
Remember at Edge's WWE Hall of Fame Induction when he thanked a Beth for making his life complete....well apparently Edge is now dating diva Beth Phoenix, they were spotted at game 1 of Stanley Cup Finals in Newark…Edge was romantically linked to Lita a few years back, Lita is supposedly dating CM Punk for the 2nd time...Punk and Beth Phoenix were also dating for a little while but they broke up in this past fall...how ironic
If you haven't heard yet, in other wrestling dating news, Darren Young was reportedly dating diva Tamina Snuka, Cody Rhodes is dating former announcer Eden Stiles and Daniel Bryan is dating former diva Brie Bella....I know way to much pointless information.
I will be writing another new blog Thursday about Chris
Jericho and Randy Orton Suspensions, Increased Workloads for WWE Wrestlers and
the New NXT…
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