1) Kevin Owens (or the US Championship?)

With the arrival of Dean Ambrose on Raw, it seemed obvious that Raw’s midcard champ would be making the opposite switch and with this in mind, Smackdown didn’t make anyone wait before revealing that KO had been brought to Smackdown. With this arrival came a change in KO’s appearance; a new light gray suit and a newly cleaned up beard. While subtle, this was a nice change that not only visually displayed the transition but a seeming change in attitude for KO as the Prizefighter came across as more subdued and professional.

While Owens being sent to Smackdown seemed more like a formality because of Ambrose’s move, being that KO has seemingly faced everyone worth facing on Raw the move is still worthwhile and because this also came with a subtle change in character, it’s hard to argue with Owens joining the blue brand. The only true downside I can see at the moment in this move is it complicates the title match between Jericho and Owens at Payback with the added stipulation that whoever wins that match will become a Smackdown Superstar. It was alluded to that it was the belt, not Owens, who was drafted and if this is the case, would Owens still be a superstar on Smackdown if he loses? Or would Jericho take his place? Even though it’s obvious Owens will win due to Jericho’s band going on tour after Payback, the in-universe logic here is so spotty that it’s hard to ignore.

2) Sami Zayn

While on some level it’s frustrating to see Sami Zayn go where Kevin Owens always goes due to the fact that their story has ran it’s course on multiple occasions, the prospect of a match between these two is always appealing and the interactions between the two can always be used to build up one of them almost instantly as a result of the history attached to them. Kevin Owens aside, Sami Zayn is a perfect addition to the SD roster as he fills out both the midcard and is almost instantly an eligible competitor in the main event scene. In addition, Smackdown is clearly becoming more of the clear cut “wrestling-focused” show it was meant to be and Sami Zayn fits perfectly in with the likes of Styles, Nakamura, and Owens.

3) The Shining Stars

The last thing the Smackdown tag division needed was another jobber tag team and yet The Shining Stars are what we got. At worst they will act to replace Heath Slater and Rhyno and at best their debut on Smackdown is foreshadowing a more serious, threatening team; but when your gimmick used to be selling a timeshare in Puerto Rico, can anything really save you?

4) Jinder Mahal

To be honest, I nearly forgot that Jinder Mahal was sent to Raw despite how prevalent he has been recently. Mahal has certainly been trying his hardest and is in amazing shape but due to his jobber status since his return, he has little to no character and is hard to be taken serious as any threat. Despite this, Mahal helps to build Smackdown’s midcard further and if he provides Mojo Rawley with his first big feud, this may be a blessing in disguise.

5) Tamina

While it may be stretch to declare Tamina a part of the Superstar Shakeup due to how she was never a part of the initial brand split last year, it’s exciting that Smackdown now has it’s own Nia Jax-esque beast. I haven’t seen much of Tamina’s work but from what I remember she was like a more polished Jax with an even greater look. I am very excited to see what she brings to the division.

6) Charlotte

Perhaps the greatest acquisition of the Shakeup, Charlotte moving to Smackdown instantly makes the division more legitimate and brings some much needed star power to the blue brand. The prospect of Charlotte versus practically any woman in the division is extremely tantalizing and for the first time in months, I can’t wait to see what the Smackdown women bring next.

7) The New Day

Whereas Charlotte is benefiting a division that has been stagnant for a while, The New Day is making a division legitimate for the first time ever. While they were relegated to a sole video package this week due to Kofi Kingston’s injury, The New Day are likely the second best acquisition of the Shakeup. By having less polished and interesting teams face New Day, they almost instantly gain greater credibility given the three men’s pedigree and this is exactly what this division needs.

8) Rusev & 9) Lana

Rusev adds even more to what is becoming a stacked midcard and further reinforces Team Blue as the wrestling focused show. Like Owens, Rusev has faced everyone he truly could on Raw and Smackdown gives him plenty of new opponents and brings a long-deserved Rusev World Title reign closer to reality.

While it was assumed that Lana would automatically find herself moving with Rusev (a la Maryse), it seems as though Lana is finally being pushed as a singles competitor. There is little to say here but if done right (and if she has any actual skill in the ring), I could see Lana becoming HUGE given how much she got herself over with just her mic skills and looks while accompanying Rusev.

10) Sin Cara

…but the Cruiserweights are on Raw

Overall Thoughts and Winner

In terms of both star power and balancing out the roster’s weaknesses, Smackdown demolished Raw, and yet both brands honestly came out on top here. Smackdown developed a entire complex and interesting midcard in a night and Raw became a more fun show in the same timespan, and neither show arguably lost much. Smackdown however had a near perfect new lineup with every new superstar serving a purpose (besides perhaps Sin Cara), whereas Raw had nearly half of their new stars arrive with no clear purpose at all.

Whoever you think won the shakeup, it’s hard to argue that WWE didn’t need this shot in it’s arm and more than ever the brand split seems as though it was necessary.

Till next time,

Lucas

Superstar Stalemate(?)

Raw and Smackdown were hard to compare this week as they were essentially one long show with the Superstar Shakeup taking the form of a two-night long narrative which truly changed how both shows will look and feel moving forward. In response to this, I will again be taking a week off from comparing the two directly and more or less comparing which show made out with a better roster after the shakeup. This format of comparing the two shows in ways outside of segments may become a more reoccurring concept so please stay tuned in the future.

1) The Miz & Maryse

Raw began this week with John Cena’s music disguising the debut of The Miz and his wife, Maryse. While a clever way for Miz to get heat, the Cena parody is kind of stale in it’s fourth week. With this removed, The Miz is a great addition to Raw and being possibly the person who benefited the most from last year’s brand extension, he now truly fits into Raw as an immediate upper-midcard or even main-event performer. Let’s just hope Miz goes on to fight someone other than Dean and that Maryse stays as close to him as possible.

2) Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose has fallen far from his spot as one of the company’s top babyface’s since last year and I can’t say if he will really benefit from being on the A show. Dean worked well for the most part on Smackdown due to the small size of the roster and lack of main event established faces which made his character inconsistencies and frustratingly boring matches more forgiveable. On Raw there are so many others who do what he does better that I can’t see Ambrose thriving unless they unfortunately go to a Shield reunion.

3)Bray Wyatt

This is where things get messy. Wyatt is the current No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship and yet got drafted to the show where that belt is not defended, and as a result is in a weird limbo between brands. Wyatt’s movement to Raw after already being set up for a rematch against Orton seems entirely shortsighted in the eyes of the WWE and not only seemingly spoils the victor of the horribly named “House of Horrors” match as there is no way Wyatt is taking another world title to Raw, but also muddles what is already a ridiculously stupid story between Orton and Wyatt. Furthermore, while the prospect of a Wyatt/Balor feud is interesting, the way this feud is seemingly building simultaneously with the Wyatt/Orton feud just makes both stories seem less important and unfocused.

4) Alexa Bliss

Alexa Bliss is exactly what the Raw’s womens division needed. Not only does Bliss offer a fresh heel for the likes of Sasha and Bayley to compete against but also differs so much in style and size from everyone else that every possible matchup is an exciting prospect. Second only to The Miz in my opinion, Bliss really came into her own on Smackdown and went from being a promising NXT call up to one of the top women competitors in the company. Like The Miz, Bliss now fits right in on the A show and can hopefully be elevated to new heights on Raw.

5) Mickie James

While James joining the same roster as Bliss is unfortunate given how intertwined their story has been since her return, ultimately this move serves as something of a reset for James after how her momentum on Smackdown was squandered and thus I’m cautiously optimistic.

6, 7, 8, & 9) Apollo Crews, Kalisto, Curt Hawkins, Heath Slater and Rhyno

There is very little to say about these moving superstars as other than Hawkins getting squashed by the Big Show, none of these men received anything more than a graphic announcing their move. All in all, these men are all additions that will add depth and more possible jobbers to their respective divisions and thus the utilitarianism of these moves have to be understood to be respected. Also: at least Kalisto is finally on the show with the Cruiserweights.

Overall Thoughts

As a “Shake-up” rather than a full redraft, Raw’s new additions will certainly change the landscape but doubtfully do anything to affect the main-event scene given how stacked Raw already was with main event talent. The best addition was probably Alexa Bliss given how her addition to the roster will probably have the greatest effect. It will be interesting to see if a more traditional draft will be seen in the coming months, and if so, will these changes now even matter? At least for the time being, with more colorful characters in their midst, Raw is finally a more “fun” show after a near year of a little too much seriousness.

Till next time,

Lucas

Wrestling Overdose

I realize that last week I failed to make a second post as per usual and honestly, I was just exhausted with wrestling. After ‘Mania weekend and all the weekly shows which followed, I needed a break from sports entertainment. In addition, Raw clearly won last week between the two shows in nearly everyone’s eyes, making discussion and review rather irrelevant, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to talk about. In fact, three NXT call ups were made and the way in which they will possibly change the landscape of the divisions they entered into are definitely something worth talking about.

And with that…

Raw’s One Shortcoming

As stated before, Raw was largely a much better show than Smackdown this week but this doesn’t mean they got the better hand in the dealing of NXT call-ups. Don’t get me wrong, The Revival were totally worthy of a main roster call-up but of the two rosters, Raw really didn’t need them in my opinion. Given the depth of their tag division already (which was just recently bolstered further with the Hardy Boys), and the fact that character wise The Revival are similar to Anderson & Gallows, I can’t see why Raw needed the Top Guys. Smackdown is extremely lacking when it comes to heel tag teams with The Usos straddling the line between heel and face far too much too even count, and The Revival could anchor that division and fill that role for months to come.

Ten More Reasons to Watch Smackdown

Now this call up came as a genuine shock. Given how much Tye Dillinger has lost to Sanity in NXT, I assumed he would eventually get some victory over them and perhaps become NXT champ by the end of the year after overcoming those odds to form a satisfying narrative arc. Instead, Tye was called up to Smackdown this week and despite how this may negatively affect NXT in the long run by abruptly ending this story, it is truly a blessing for the SD midcard at the moment. Smackdown’s midcard has been drowning for months with little aim and purpose, being occupied largely by weak characters like Kalisto, Apollo Crews, and Curt Hawkins. Dillinger is a shot of life into this division and a feud with the midcard champion is bound to be entertaining with his charisma and skill.

Strong Style Arrives on the Main Stage

Whereas Dillinger’s debut was a surprise due to a lack of narrative conclusion, Shinsuke Nakamura’s debut was a question of “when” this week rather than “if” with the conclusion of his feud with Bobby Roode. Thankfully, Nakamura went to Smackdown where the more colorful characters and better stories exist and it seems as though he will be treated with respect. Nakamura can easily be an immediate addition to the SD midcard or the main event scene (if they’re feeling gutsy) and add legitimacy to either in a heartbeat. Additionally, Nakamura is such a huge star that the loss of Cena for a few months is made substantially easier with his presence and the way in which this seems to be the purpose of Nakamura’s addition seems to say a lot about the higher ups opinion of the King of Strong Style. Of all the NXT call ups from this week, Nakamura’s addition is the one I am most interested about. While I doubt this will happen in today’s world, WWE’s history with Japanese competitors seems to suggest that Nakamura may become the victim of racism and stereotypes or jokes and he is much more than this. But… I mean Nakamura vs. Styles in WWE is now closer to being a reality than ever and it’s hard to be pessimistic too much.

Till next time,

Lucas

You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when a powerful piece of fiction moves you intensely? Where you sit and reflect on what you’ve just experienced while simultaneously longing for more while also realizing what just ended doesn’t need anything more? Few works have had this effect on me with Se7en, Bioshock: Infinite, and The Last of Us being the first examples which come to mind and now the Undertaker’s retirement has joined this mystifying group.

I realize that of all the weeks to write a reflection post on a blog focused on comparing Raw and Smackdown, the week after Mania is probably a strange one, but I really need to get some things off my chest regarding Sunday’s main event and I hope you will indulge me. I’ll probably get to Raw and Smackdown later this week, but for now let’s talk about the end of the career of a man who will never be replicated.

The Case for Reigns

Like everyone else, I was hesitant when it became clear that Reigns was going to be the opponent for Taker at this year’s Mania. At a time when it was unclear if Taker would have any matches after this Mania, Reigns seemed like a choice to satiate Vince McMahon and nothing more when arguably better choices existed in Cena, Balor, etc. Despite this, the build for Taker/Reigns was far more interesting than I think anyone anticipated as Reigns showed arrogance and a lack of reverence for the Deadman’s epic career as no one before him has. These heelish tendencies added some depth to Reigns character and created an interesting dynamic between the two performers where a legend wasn’t receiving the respect he deserved and a brash superman believed he needed to prove something to the WWE Universe. While I may be reading too much into the buildup, I don’t really think this is the case when this story played out in the match itself.

Reigns frequently looked absolutely stunned at the beginning of the match when Undertaker got the upper hand as though he was finally realizing the scope of the Undertaker’s (kayfabe) strength which men like Shawn Michaels warned him about. As Reigns gained the upper hand and Undertaker began to look broken and weak (reflecting his real status as a performer), Reigns realized that he must be the one to end Taker’s career and had a face of regret and sadness before doing the deed. Even after he won, The Big Dog’s reaction didn’t reflect his arrogance or even an ounce of happiness, and instead only reflected a somber sense of regret but knowledge that he had done what he needed to in order to establish himself further.

The now almost infamous Tombstone piledriver botch arguably worked for the match as it served as the point which bridged together these two emotional halves and illustrated Undertaker’s fall from grace.

This story was an amazing combination of kayfabe and real life circumstances coming together (much like Roman Reigns’ own complex relationship with the fans) and characterized Reigns as a man who will stop at nothing to reach the top, but isn’t emotionless.

If anyone was going to retire Taker and have it enrich his career, it needed to be Reigns. No one else could have told this story and had it make sense for his character and no one else could retire Taker and not be harmed by it in the opinion of the smark fans (because honestly this opinion couldn’t get much worse).

Looking forward, a match between the two men who beat Taker at WrestleMania is the logical next step and finally makes Lesnar beating Taker seem like a smart decision now that another man has joined this elite, two person class to create a story which can exist without Undertaker but relies heavily on his legacy.

Finally Laid to Rest

The retirement ceremony for Taker is just as important as the match itself and just as deserving of discussion. Simply put, it was beautiful and subtle like few things in WWE are. As Undertaker removed each of his iconic articles of clothing and placed them in the center of the ring, Taker seem to be stripping away a layer of kayfabe and returning to a life where he is only Mark Calaway. The lighting here was dark enough to make his expressions unclear, but defined enough to show the emotion he was expressing in his face. As he left the ring and kissed his wife (breaking kayfabe in a rare moment for such an old school performer), everyone knew what was happening and wanted the moment to both last forever and end to stop the emotional torture.

The bare Undertaker went up the ramp only to descend into a pit which brought to mind both being laid to rest and being sent to hell. This image will genuinely last in my mind forever and will surely be remembered by anyone else who witnessed it and recognizes Undertaker’s legacy.

A Wrestling Unicorn

Smackdown began this week on what I assumed would have been the closing segment in the contract signing between Shane McMahon and AJ Styles for their WrestleMania match. Shane began the conversation by explaining how Smackdown LIVE was built on opportunity and AJ Styles was the man who took the biggest advantage of this to become the biggest star on the brand (that isn’t named John Cena). While all of this is arguably true both in kayfabe and in reality, the point is kind of dulled when you realize that despite this being the case in Shane’s mind, he STILL failed to put him in a WrestleMania match before their confrontation and the company itself STILL failed to put him in a match with someone who is an ACTUAL wrestler.

AJ retorted with his own effective (to a degree) point after his usual bravado that Shane isn’t known for fighting regular wrestling matches and will be fighting an uphill battle against the man who is arguably the best wrestler in the world. This argument helps to make a singles match with no extra stipulations more interesting between the two but will almost make Styles seem stupid when he inevitably struggles against Shane on Sunday despite the fact that McMahon’s son is, as Broken Matt Hardy would say, a “spot monkey”.

As tensions rise, Daniel Bryan (who has been officiating this signing) steps in to make the two shake hands and settle their differences like a father controlling his unruly children. This leads to Styles leaving the ring before giving in to Bryan’s request and the rarest of occurrences happens: a contract signing doesn’t end in physical confrontation.

This segment seemingly happened in the wrong order in the buildup to Mania as this seems as though it would have occurred prior to the animosity in the past weeks so the intensity could ramp up rather than down. Regardless, it was an effective, if stunted segment, and added further complexity to the conflict.

Overall Score: 6/10

John Cena: Wanted for Verbal Murder

The Miz and Maryse debuted the final part of their “Total Bellas Bull**** Segment” during the middle of the show and although it was generally more of the same as last week’s segments (and far too long, with a commercial even being inserted between the parody) it still managed to be entertaining with Miz portraying Daniel Bryan as a child with a beard who needs a juice box and The Miz and Maryse breaking character to provide a final statement. If the segment had ended there, it would have been a great go-home visual but unfortunately John Cena and Nikki Bella had to come out.

As much as I appreciate John Cena’s control of the mic and his verbal banter, Cena’s face offs with a heel too often end up with the heel being suffocated and this was no more apparent then in this segment. John shut DOWN The Miz and Maryse and the two never got a single rebuttal in before leaving the ring with his tail between his legs. It doesn’t matter HOW good a promo is, if there is no conflict from it, then I honestly don’t see much point when building up a feud. At least John Cena said “P***y” on TV. So that was cool.

Overall Score: 7/10

A Weak Consolation

Luke Harper deserved to be in the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania. He was an integral part of the Orton/Wyatt story and while I understand the appeal of a one-on-one match, the story shouldn’t have been built so around Harper if he was not ultimately part of the climax. I bring this up as Harper vs. Wyatt taking place on the go-home Smackdown as the main event is not a fitting consolation. The match itself was honestly quite good with Harper doing his best to show his amazing in-ring ability and look strong in the process. Unfortunately this showing had the unfortunate side effect of making the world champion look weak after apparently absorbing the powers of satan from Sister Abigail last week?

Wyatt did manage to win, but only after Harper hesitated to take out his former mentor and for some reason, left Wyatt bewildered after the fact. Whatever the reason was that Wyatt had done this, it was not clearly explained in the match or by the commentators and left me really confused. What happened next left me even more perplexed as Randy Orton appeared on the TitanTron and the lines between over-edited pre-recorded video and the live footage was annoyingly blurred as Orton announced he was comically at the Wyatt compound (again) and about to drive a crusix(?) into Sister Abigail’s unguarded grave to drain Wyatt of his power.

Was this supposed to be taking place when Wyatt hesitated in? Is Luke Harper just so strong that he was beating “Satan Wyatt” for 75% of his match? Why would Wyatt accept a match which could expose his weakness? Why isn’t someone guarding the Wyatt compound? Orton’s nonsensical sermon was both overcomplicating the story further and raised all of these greater questions that do nothing but make the situation comical.

Overall Score: 6/10

Average Total Score: 6/10

Smackdown this week managed once again to be an overcomplicated show that largely made WrestleMania seem less appealing rather than more so and has made me decide that Raw is currently a far stronger show than Smackdown. As bloated as Raw sometimes is, Smackdown is just far too complex for it’s own good and hopefully WrestleMania will act as a reset for the show.

Winner This Week: Monday Night Raw

Raw continues it’s sweep of these weekly contests with ease and it simply comes to down to better storytelling both in the ring and out. It’s unfortunate that Smackdown has seemingly fallen from grace after the shallow roster depth was fully explored and again, I hope WrestleMania ending or a draft will refresh the show soon.

Till Next Time,

Lucas

A Squandered Story

Raw began with confidence in it’s women as Bayley opened the show and immediately connected with the audience by connecting her upcoming appearance at WrestleMania to her experience as a child compiling money from her friends to buy ‘Mania on PPV. Bayley was comfortable on the mic and came across not as a scripted robot but as a real fan, strongly reinforcing her character, but was quickly interrupted by Charlotte and the segment went quickly down hill.

Charlotte again brought up the idea that Sasha Banks is playing Bayley and weaseling her way into the title picture after being (arbitrarily) forced out of it at Roadblock and although this idea was initially interesting, Sasha’s heel turn is so inevitable and telegraphed at this point that their is very little drama. There is foreshadowing and then there is smacking your audience over the head with storytelling

Sasha then came out to cut a extremely cringeworthy promo to assert that her and Bayley were “big girls” and could separate business from personal matters before being interrupted by Nia Jax.

Nia Jax went off on the mic herself and is still one of the most damaged superstars in the company when it comes to cutting a promo. Jax’s voice and delivery run so counter intuitive with her character that she is almost a satire of a monster heel and her comical lines don’t help matters much.

The segment was ended by a commercial break and inevitably led into an unexciting tag match with all four women.

It’s unfortunate that this match for ‘Mania is so loosely strung together when the ingredients for a really intimate and interesting story exists between Sasha and Bayley is somewhere buried underneath this mess. While I doubt the ‘Mania match will be bad, it won’t carry the same emotional weight as it could and at worst, it could be as childish, insulting, and boring as this opening segment was.

Overall Score: 4/10

Has the Reigns Heel Turn Already Happened?

The second hour of Raw kicked off with Roman Reigns calling out The Undertaker in what was easily the segment of the night. Reigns came out and quickly antagonized and seemingly controlled the Philadelphia crowd with his work on the mic as he spoke down to the city which once booed him out of the 2015 Royal Rumble. The Big Dog has been putting his reps in on the mic and it truly showed on Monday night as he exploded with confidence and ease that seemingly showed a glimpse into the megastar Reigns could be one day, and the one who Vince McMahon already sees.

Reigns exclaimed that he was going to put the Undertaker down and didn’t care if you are “Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, or The Undertaker” as it is his time now, his house now, and his yard now. Ignoring the semi-silly dog metaphors, these lines were said with such vigor and aggression that Reigns came off as a heel again in a move that I doubt was accidental. If the rumors that Triple H wants to change the fan perception of what is heel and face is are true, Reigns may be the epitome of that effort and no night made it more clear than this.

Taker quickly interrupted Reigns with a pre-made video promo that smartly kept Undertaker from overexerting himself and kept some mystique to the character. It says something about Undertaker’s legacy and presence that he is still able to come off as intimidating and threatening despite how silly the promo package was in isolation. Lines like “At WrestleMania, The Ultimate Thrill Ride will be your last ride” could only be delivered by Taker and send chills down my spine as the camera cuts to a tombstone with Roman Reigns name on it with the date of WrestleMania engraved in it.

Undertaker made a surprise appearance to declare Reigns will “Rest in Peace” after some clever editing and lighting tricks and if I had any complaints about this segment, it would be how it abruptly ended here with no real conclusion.

Overall Score: 9/10

A Goldberg Match Sized Segment

Raw ended with the much anticipated final encounter before Lesnar and Goldberg before their Universal Title match at WrestleMania. Heyman delivered what was another effective, but all-in-all forgettable promo and further reinforced the idea that the Lesnar act is really getting old, making his inevitable win over Goldberg this Sunday even more frustrating as Goldberg has so much more to give in the main event scene in my opinion. (C’mon give me that Roman Reigns and Goldberg feud I’m salivating for)

Goldberg interrupted Lesnar as expected and insisted that the two bring a little WrestleMania to Philly since Goldberg can’t bring all of Philly to ‘Mania. Despite how it is all he has done in his current WWE run, Goldberg STILL managed to surprise me by running to fight Lesnar and spearing him instantly, laying him on his back. It was great to see Goldberg stand tall again (largely due to my dad and I’s affinity for him) but I can’t help but shake the feeling that the match this Sunday is going to be a mess with a heel Lesnar going over.

Overall Score: 7/10

Average Total Score: 7/10

Raw began with a whimper this week an went out with a bang and all in all did a good, but not the best, job of sending people home hyped before Mania. It’s unfortunate that storytelling in the women’s division has still clearly fell behind that of the men’s division but hopefully with the pressure of Mania season gone, the division can breathe again next week.

Till next time,

Lucas

The Phenomenally Sympathetic Heel

Smackdown opened this week with a fantastic video package recapping AJ Styles loss to Randy Orton last week and his subsequent confrontation with Shane O’Mac over the result which was covered in last week’s Talking Smack (a show which is almost necessary viewing at this point). The editing and aesthetic of this package was as wonderfully cinematic as WWE video packages typically are and when combined with the excellent camerawork done last week, the frayed and frustrated mental state of Styles was expressed superbly in a few short minutes even if the storytelling intentions here run counterproductive with character’s actions but I will discuss this later.

This eventually led to AJ Styles coming out to the crowd and in a nice touch, he eschewed his normal entrance routine and attire in a way that truly shows how fed up the man is. Styles accepts that he lost his coveted world title at the Royal Rumble to John Cena but asserts the problems began when he never got his one on one rematch. I like this continuity but all this does in the end is point out Smackdown’s rushed title change for the Bray Wyatt program at ‘Mania and how this had to be accomplished at the expense of AJ Styles and John Cena’s title runs. This becomes even more problematic when you realize how agreeable all of Styles points are, and he is supposed to be the heel here. If this is supposed to be an attempt to introduce some moral ambiguity into the storyline, why have the segment later on in the show where Styles attacks Shane and treat AJ like the scum of the Earth on commentary?

Styles continues to make valid points in asserting that despite Randy Orton burning a man’s house down and desecrating a grave, Orton still gets a title shot at WrestleMania and ISN’T being arrested. The crowd laughed at this and so did I but, this line became problematic later on in the night. He goes on to say that despite making SD Live the better of the two shows in 2016, he still doesn’t have a WrestleMania match and that he may not have a career anymore as well as he leaves the ring (foreshadowing). This once again builds sympathy towards Styles and further complicates things.

Styles was fantastic on the mic here and in a vacuum this segment was great, and I will grade it as such for building up AJ as a an individual to be sympathized with, but a lot of what this segment does narratively is shot down by the end of the night in what was the middle segment I will cover.

Overall Score: 8/10

Wrestling Logic Meets Real World Consequences

After the opening segment, AJ Styles was seen waiting in the garage of the venue for McMahon given Daniel Bryan’s words earlier in the night. He is seen waiting in multiple short segments before Renee Young finally comes up to question what AJ Styles intends to do, and AJ responds with the painfully cringe filled:

“Wrestlemania is the ultimate thrill ride, but I don’t have a match at Wrestlemania so I need to get my thrills where I can”

Before the viewer even has a chance to roll their eyes at how terrible this one liner is, the garage door opens and Shane McMahon finally arrives. Styles promptly attacks Shane in a vicious manner and this reaches a climax when Styles tosses Shane’s head through a car window, leaving a (possibly real?) gash in his head. People quickly rush to Shane’s aid as Styles leaves, but not before giving him a solid kick to the head.

This segment was enjoyable if simply viewed as a brutal attack as it was just that, and a highly effective one. The thing is, it runs completely counter productive with what Styles did earlier in the show. WWE are not so stupid that they could think people would not sympathize with Styles, right? Not only that, but it still isn’t completely clear as to why Styles is so exclusively mad at Shane when Shane was the higher-up who supported him going on to ‘Mania in the first place. It is clear that the final destination of Styles vs. Shane is taking precedence over this plot making any sense and that is sad given the potential here for a morally grey Styles taking on a McMahon that isn’t the traditional evil boss character.

Anyways, the segment continues a bit later as Styles is in the locker room getting his things to leave as The Usos and Curt Hawkins chastise him for his actions as if attacking someone backstage is not a daily occurrence in kayfabe and a crime punishable by law.

Speaking of which…

Daniel Bryan stops Styles on the way out and is flanked by police officers and security guards, and he makes it clear that Styles did something REPREHENSIBLE and must be punished for his actions, subsequently firing him and having the men in black escort him out.

…What?

Let me get this straight. AJ Styles made sympathetic points at the beginning of the show, subsequently attacked a man backstage as most superstars do at some point in the WWE, and is kayfabe FIRED for it as though he committed a high level crime? What world is this now?

This storyline wrapped up for the night when Shane McMahon stepped out into the entrance ramp at the end of the show (completely overshadowing American Alpha against The Usos) and announced that AJ Styles now had an opponent for ‘Mania (presumably himself).

This was another segment that in theory was a great idea and it was executed incredibly well but it just had some glaring plot holes in it while simultaneously running so against who AJ has been presented as so far.

Overall Score: 6/10

The Backbone of Wrestling is Dead

Before I begin I want to explain that I know the Wyatt/Orton segment was not the closing segment of the night, but the American Alpha/Usos match that was technically the closing segment only really existed to lead to the closure of the Styles/McMahon plot thread for the night and so I will not be counting it.

Anyways, Randy Orton came out to explain his actions against Bray Wyatt further and this essentially just led to him reciting some of the same lines from his promo at the Wyatt compound and asserting that at WrestleMania he needed to finish what he started.

Bray Wyatt quickly interrupts and explains that he is in the ashes of the Wyatt compound which Orton burned down. Wyatt elaborated that Sister Abigail was the spawn of Satan and her powers are now passed onto him, but immediately muddled this by explaining that her heart is still beating. Regardless, Wyatt further added the grandiose statement of “Now I am the lord of lords, omniscient… I’m born again Randy, in her ashes” and subsequently covered himself in dirt.

This segment had some great visual parallels to Orton’s segment from two weeks ago through it’s reversed setup of characters with Orton now in the ring instead of on the titantron and vice versa and Bray’s nearly completely dark setup but like the AJ/Shane story, the character dynamic here is so out of touch with the audience.

Orton was receiving chants from the crowd despite, once again, BURNING A MAN’S HOUSE DOWN and even though Bray Wyatt was clearly being booked as a face and receiving the according reaction after his title win, he is now being booked as a heel who is using the powers of Satan? This storyline gave me such high hopes and it is so frustrating to see this be the result. Orton could infiltrated the Wyatt family for any more interesting reasons from trying to see what makes the Wyatts so powerful, to simply trying to take over the family and the best we get is just Orton getting revenge on Bray Wyatt for what exactly? The weak feud they had leading up to this? What did Bray do to deserve having his house burned down? Are we really just gonna see Orton take the title from Bray at Mania? And if so, what kind of payoff is that? The arson wins?

What I mean by “The Backbone of Wrestling is Dead” is that the heel/face dynamic that elicits responses from the crowd and drives the stories of wrestling is so convoluted here that it’s hard to see what the hell WWE is doing when one of their main feuds heading into their biggest PPV has no clear heel or face despite that the crowd has dictated these roles in a way that could let the feud happen naturally and poetically.

Uggh.

Overall Score: 4/10

Average Total Score: 6/10

Smackdown was a frustrating dud this week. The execution of it’s primary storyline segments were really well done but clash so heavily with both logic and the basic storytelling of pro wrestling that it’s hard not to be sick of the product. What was once the best written of the two main shows has now become a mess of storylines and underutilized talent. A draft can’t come soon enough.

Winner This Week: Monday Night Raw

Raw won this week, no question. Despite amazing execution of ideas, Smackdown is still just far too convoluted compared to the simple and effective storytelling of Raw. It seems Smackdown’s writer are finally working against the show instead of setting it apart and Raw’s writers have seemingly found a groove to work in which makes the show as substantial and important as it is usually treated as.

Til next time,

Lucas

Snoozeplex City

Raw began this week with a video packaging recapping Lesnar’s attack on Goldberg last week that allowed him to get his heat back and featured some great time remapping and color adjustments which satisfied the video nerd in me. This transitioned smoothly into Lesnar himself entering the arena with his ever-present advocate, Paul Heyman, to begin the show proper. Paul Heyman went into typical Paul Heyman mode and delivered a standard promo for his client that was passable if not completely lacking in the compelling narrative that drives the best Heyman promos. While it was nice to see these two brought out given their star-power, the promo didn’t really seem to warrant it given how standard it was: “My client will beat Brock Lesnar and it will be a great comeback…” etc., etc., etc.

One interesting point to note was how Heyman called the F5 the “…single most devastating move in the history of the WWE.” Clearly he forgot about Hogan’s leg drop…

In the end this segment existed to simply remind the audience that their is a Universal Title match at Mania and nothing more.

Overall Score: 5/10

From Filler to Killer (Segment)

When it was first announced earlier in the night that Roman Reigns would be taking on Jinder Mahal of all people and I was really taken aback. Mahal is so far out of Reigns league in terms of star power and character that this match initially seemed to be filler meant to assert Reigns as dominant.

And it was just that. While not as dominant as it should have been in my opinion, Reigns quickly went over in this match and looked strong as he overcame Mahal’s (surprisingly stiff) offense and took his opponent to the mat with two Superman Punches. Despite this, the gong of The Undertaker which interrupted the match at one point and allowed Jinder to mount his attack let me knew this match had a greater purpose going forward in the overall segment which followed.

This gong served to alert Roman of Taker’s appearance and logically led to him calling out The Deadman but, instead of Taker coming out, Shawn Michaels did instead. Given Michael’s spectacular Mania matches with Undertaker in the past, this instantly made a ton of sense. Additionally, this appearance was unannounced ahead of time and came as a genuine surprise, a rarity in WWE these days.

The purpose of Michael’s appearance was to warn Reigns that at WrestleMania “He is gonna eat you alive” due to the fact that Undertaker is clearly already in Roman Reigns’ head. Reigns disputes this given that WWE is now “his yard” and Michaels quickly retorts with the fact that he is known as “Mr. WrestleMania” and should be respected on this subject. During this entire exchange, Reigns is respectable of Michaels but noticeably more cocky than he normally is as he seems to underestimate Undertaker. Not only is this great character depth building but utilizes Michaels in a way that isn’t selling the crowd a goddamn WWE Studios’ film and should be applauded.

Reigns leaves the ring but not after dropping a line that only reinforces the previously mentioned cockiness but also worked as a great injection of reality:

“I appreciate your advice… but The Undertaker retired you, and I’m the guy who’s gonna retire him”

Before Reigns could soak in this moment too much, Braun Strowman blindsided Reigns on the way up the ramp to seemingly inject some greater intrigue into the story by proposing a triple threat. Given Taker’s physical state over the past few years, a triple threat would not only allow Taker a chance to breathe but also allow the other two men to carry the match, something they can clearly do as evidenced at Fastlane. While it may look less impressive than a one on one match on paper, I welcome the triple threat idea and look forward to what they do next week to address this.

Overall Score: 8/10

Attitude Era Angst

Stephanie McMahon began the closing segment in the ring and welcomed Mick Foley out so he could fire the individual he needed to as per Stephanie’s request earlier in the show in order to prove his loyalty. Foley reveals that Stephanie is the name he came up with in order to improve Raw and defends this decision with passion as Stephanie stares at him in disbelief. Triple H quickly comes out to interrupt Foley and the real meat of this segment begins as the two begin to verbally spar with Foley largely asserting HHH operates solely in the shadows to build an army of men for nefarious means as HHH argued that Foley is just a nostalgia act that is only receiving attention given Stephanie’s affection for him. The debate seemingly ends when HHH brings up cutting Foley’s kid’s futures short in the WWE (something which has been well documented in Holy Foley) and Triple H gains a mental upper hand.

Appearing defeated, Foley is told to “Tuck his tail between his legs and waddle up that ramp” and begins to leave as The Authority continues to talk down to the audience. In a great moment, HHH notices Foley still hasn’t left and as he approaches him to leave again, Foley hits HHH with a surprise mandible claw and starts to take The Game down before he is stopped short of a full takedown by a low blow from Stephanie.

This interaction between Foley and HHH was a very high point of the show and despite a few slipups from HHH under a barrage of CM Punk chants directed at him, both men commanded the mic and the arena. Like the Reigns segment earlier in the night, a dose of reality was injected into the conversation with comments like “I don’t have to pretend to like you HHH. I don’t need you and I don’t need this company anymore” from Foley which bring to mind the rumors that Foley is on his way out from WWE and in doing so makes the tension seem much more real. It was also near cathartic to see Foley get some physical payback by attacking HHH after being emasculated by Stephanie for so long and if this is the climax of his story, I welcome his departure.

The segment continued as Seth Rollins came out to save Foley from HHH’s wrath and things surprisingly became physical as Rollins dropped his single crutch and began assaulting HHH. After driving him out, Rollins stood tall but was stopped short of ending the show with pride as HHH reentered the ring with Rollins’ dropped crutch and viciously beat him with it.

It was extremely fun to finally see these men come to blows and seeing HHH bend the crush on Rollins’ genuinely injured knee was the perfect kind of cringe as it once again brought a level of reality to the show as I found myself asking if Rollins was truly okay.

Overall Score: 9/10

Average Total Score: 7/10

If the opening segment of Raw this week was a more unique and compelling promo by Heyman, this week’s Raw could have been a near perfect show in building up Raw’s marquee WrestleMania matches. Whereas Smackdown has been needlessly complicating it’s primary stories in recent weeks, Raw is sticking to simple and clean stories that are still compelling and thus much more accessible and interesting. Too often Raw doesn’t feel like a big show anymore but this show was NOT a small show. The reliance on Attitude Era talent this week could be seen as a negative but considering how they were used to support the storylines of younger stars, I truly cannot complain. Let’s hope that they can keep this momentum up and make WrestleMania truly seem like a must-see event.

Til next time,

Lucas

Out with Injury

So I said last week that I would conclude my thoughts on attending WWE Fastlane later in the week. Then I got pneumonia and I did nothing but watch Twitch and sleep for 6 days. I am totally comparing apples to oranges when I say this but: holy shit, I can’t imagine being someone like Seth Rollins and being out with an intense leg injury for months at a time when I could barely stand missing two days of work and 3 days of class, but I digress.

Now back to our regularly scheduled (ha) programming!

The WWE Law of Enjoyment?

Fastlane was arguably not a good PPV. It was one of the worst PPVs in the history of the company if you listen to the smarks online (give me a break). Despite this, I really enjoyed Fastlane, and as far as I can tell everyone around me did as well. Looking back at it with as much bias removed as I can remove, I still don’t think it was even close to terrible. The only thing that was really not good was the Rusev/Jinder Mahal power hour where the two men took part in unannounced matches that seemingly took forever and made little sense booking wise and narratively. However, when these matches were happening live I didn’t care at all. I was seeing Big Show, Rusev, and Cesaro wrestle!

There is this near indescribable feeling that takes over when you are there and you somehow forget to a degree that you are watching a narrative based show and just take the event in in a moment by moment basis. Granted this was my first show and maybe this feeling goes away later after a certain time of going to events but I now have this theory that the level of enjoyment derived from a show is exponentially higher when attending it. I know it’s not really a groundbreaking idea but it finally explains to me why live crowds on tv sometimes seem so disconnected from the audience watching from home in terms of reaction.

Maybe when I eventually rewatch this PPV and gauge it’s quality as I typically would a PPV my opinion will change, but part of me doesn’t want to do that out of an expectation that it will take away some of the magic from that night. We’ll see.

The Attitude Era Demographics are Long Gone

When you bring up pro-wrestling to most people today, their idea of the demographic seems to either be children (boys) or grown men in their mid 20’s-30’s, and I primarily believe the common conception is the latter. I think a lot of this is still a holdover of public perception from the Attitude Era as it was wrestling’s biggest boom period to date where the target demographic was those groups (much to the chagrin of parents nationwide). Being at Fastlane, it was clear to see this is not the case anymore.

On TV broadcasts, the audience seems to fit the misconception as the people who pay the most for the hard camera seats are almost always either these hardcore male adult fans or parents buying for their children. In my section though, the audience was an amazingly broad snapshot of what the entire arena was. There were a huge amount of women (both adults and teenagers) the typical fans discussed prior, children of all ages (including one badass kid dressed in full Finn Balor garb), an elderly man, a married couple, and everything in between.

While I doubt this will happen anytime soon, I really hope that one day public perception of the WWE audience can change as it was honestly empowering to learn that I wasn’t in this really niche community of fans I thought I was but in a community that includes almost anyone you can think of in your daily life. Since reentering the WWE fanbase I wouldn’t say I have been ashamed to be a fan but it wouldn’t be the first thing I’d bring up to someone I met. At this point however, I am fully confident in expressing my love for WWE as I now know I’m far from alone in that (even though WWE’s social media presence clearly indicates this already but whatever…)

Also: kids love Enzo and Cass. Seriously.

Playing Catch-up

This weekend I plan on doing a ton of catchup to bring this blog up to a current status again. It’s gonna be a struggle to watch 5 hours of wrestling in (presumably) one sitting but I do it for you guys.

Yes. I mean you, the one guy who reads this blog .

Till Next Time,

Lucas

Hold the Phone

This week’s posts are going to be a tad different than every other week and there is a good reason for this. As I have mentioned before in my Raw posts, I was going to attend Fastlane live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Not only was this my first WWE PPV attendance but my first WWE event in general and as a result I have tons to say and given the nature of this blog’s posts, I’d like to take this week to reflect on what I went to and how it’s changed my viewing of the product as a whole instead of reflecting on the shows themselves this week.

More Players than You Realize

The first thing I realized that has changed my viewing experience is just how many people operate in the background. Although I had always realized that people were obviously working behind the scenes at a WWE event to make everything happen, I never realized the scale of it all. There are people constantly maneuvering the crane camera, handheld cameras, moving cables, setting up pyro, setting up the ring, etc. and the way it is masked on TV is honestly astounding. Major props go to WWE’s production crew as the way they are able to operate in a near invisible state to the TV audience is both impressive and admirable given my past employment in performance theater.

Pro wrestling is often compared to a stage play in terms of the storytelling and segmenting but this comparison is really most relevant here. As overstated as it is in most entertainment, the background players are truly unsung heroes who deserve more recognition in some way.

“You Seem Bigger on TV”

On TV, WWE events seem massive in their scale. The ramp seems 10 yards long, the Titantron as big as the side of a barn, and the ring larger than most bedrooms. Being at an event I realized how intimate everything actual is (assuming most arenas are the size of the Bradley Center). The ramp is really only like 6 feet long, the Titantron is maybe only as large as a monitor in a Buffalo Wild Wings, and the ring is maybe just as large as two king beds. I was so worried in getting tickets that I would be too far away to really experience the event but, even being 4 seats in from the ramp, I felt that I was right there. A lot of this differing perception is due to how the event is shot on tv. Unless the arena is as big as a stadium, I now realize a full shot of the arena is rarely ever used and the camera angles often don’t encompass the entirety of the action. Part of this is obviously for cinematic effect but part of this is now obvious to me as a conscious effort to make everything seem bigger than it is.

I can’t say that this is a negative but is another thing that has reshaped how I view the events and appreciate the camerawork even more.

PART 1 END

Later this week, I’ll talk more about my experiences at Fastlane and articulate my reflections further.

Till next time,

Lucas