So anyone who thinks wrestling is fake, that’s only in the context of pre-determining who wins or loses as we all know. This doesn’t mean guys and gals don’t get legitimately injured and put on the shelf.
I think the recent announcement of Braun Strowman having to undergo shoulder surgery, taking him out of action for 6 months, is a stark reminder of how these are human beings making a living and their body is their asset in the profession. You look at a guy like Strowman, who is also being billed as a “Monster Among Men”, and think there’s no way a dude like him could get injured, let alone need surgery.
Well look at him now, out for 6 months. Yes, “Braun” plays a monster on TV, but the man Adam Scheer is a human being like the rest of us. And for those of you who still think this is real and say Braun deserves it for what he did to Roman, please take a deep breath and rethink what you are saying. You’re not an eight year old anymore…at least most of you who think that hopefully are not.
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The Fatal Five Way match set for Elimination Chamber to crown a new Number One Contender for the Universal Championship was a direct result of Strowman’s injury. If Strowman was still able to compete, we would have seen an Ambulance Match between him and Roman Reigns, Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt, and Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe in a possible Street Fight. Instead of getting those diverse matchups on the Extreme Rules card, RAW threw together their current top main event level talent into one match for the show.
Speaking of Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt, there’s either a lot of false starts with their feud or perhaps they’re changing their minds….though I don’t know why WWE Creative would think otherwise. Balor as the Demon King vs. The Eater of Worlds is just such a natural storyline only an idiot would not see it in front of them. But for the last two weeks, asides from Wyatt’s run in on Finn during the triple threat IC title Number One Contenders Match, those two have not had any other interaction until this Fatal Five Way was announced.
At the very least Finn could have done some run-ins during Wyatt’s match with Dean Ambrose recently. But nothing; it literally feels like WWE just dropped the entire script involving both men completely. But at least during the Fatal Five Way, there is a chance for Bray Wyatt and Finn Balor to restart their storyline during the match. That’s what happened with the Elimination Chamber match for the Smackdown Live roster back in February.
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The Intercontinental Title match ended between the Miz and Dean Ambrose ended in a disqualification, which set the stage for a rematch at Extreme Rules. But the stipulation is that Ambrose can lose the title via disqualification, which was spurred by the low blow he gave in front of the referee to the Miz.
It seems confusing that this stipulation was implemented by Kurt Angle. By all logic, if the issue was that Ambrose could keep the title by disqualification, why not just make the whole title match No Disqualification? It would be appropriate since it’s taking place at the Extreme Rules pay per view.
The only reason I could come up with is that this keeps Miz’s character as a cowardly heel type intact. But despite the fact that I think Miz’s move set is rather thin, I think he will walk away with the IC title. RAW needs a good secondary title on the show due to the absence of Brock Lesnar, the Universal Champion, and the Miz at least showed he can keep a title interesting and have a solid feud over the belt with the right person.
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So we have finally seen the end of the tag team Golden Truth. I wasn’t pining for it to happen, but I wasn’t upset. The team wasn’t really going anywhere, so it was a good clean break. The way Goldust did it was reminiscent of the way Kevin Owens ended his on screen relationship with Chris Jericho, albeit on a lesser scale of destructiveness. But I don’t think the impending feud between Goldust and R-Truth will really morph into anything that fans would be interested in.
It reminds me of the way Titus O’Neil and Darren Young eventually split. The rivalry they had seemed so forced and they kept having matches on RAW week after week, to the point where fans didn’t care and wanted them NOT to have matches. I’m seeing the same thing happening with these two guys who have been with the company for many years.
I give props to Goldust, that at his age, he’s still wrestling on a regular schedule. But it’s kind of hard to get behind anything some guy in gold paint is doing in 2017; the Goldust character is a throwback from the New Generation era of the WWE back during the 1990s. While that is a good nostalgia act for a special occasion, there really isn’t any room on the show at the moment for both Goldust or R Truth, except as a tag team.
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I must admit I currently lean on Smackdown Live being the better show, mainly because it’s only two hours and that gives the focus to the main storylines that keeps the fans engaged. Currently what they are doing with AJ Styles and Kevin Owens is solid. I’m not saying it’s spectacular…since I haven’t actually seen them go head to head in a one on one match before, but the development is very simple and makes sense. And now that they’ve worked in an injury angle to AJ’s knee, this will give their match at Backlash some additional context and Owens can work on the knee as a heel very effectively.
The Tag Team Title match between Breezango and the Usos is….intriguing in the sense that you’re not sure who to cheer for and who to boo. The Usos are playing the classic heels in terms of tactics in the ring, but their banter on the microphones have been hilarious. There was that segment on Talking Smack back when they just recently won their third Tag Team Titles and kept calling them their “hall passes”. And then this past week their promo on Breezango about them basically being the wardens of the penitentiary I thought was really good. WWE is well known for given their talent all the lines they’re supposed to say, but this seems more like when they just gave the Usos the main points and then just let them go at it, which was very naturally for Jimmy and Jey to do.
As for Breezango, while their vignettes about fashion policing have been quite entertaining, I can’t help but feel their tag team would be something more appropriate for NXT. Even though Tyler Breeze was an impressive singles star down in Full Sail prior to being called up to the main roster, if there was a possibility for both Breeze and Fandango to go back onto the developmental promotion it might help develop their tag team a bit more, the way a gimmicky team such as the Vaudevillains caught the attention of the NXT fan base. I know on Smackdown with these vignettes they are trying to build up Breezango’s profile on the way to the title match at Backlash, but I think they’re doing it mainly because they have the title shot; what happens after is anyone’s guess.
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I’ll end with some thoughts regarding the way Shinsuke Nakamura has been packaged on Smackdown Live, and I hope to God that he actually wins his match against Dolph Ziggler on Backlash this Sunday.
Unlike some of the casual fans of wrestling, I’ve pretty much seen all of Nakamura’s career in NXT prior to him being shipped onto the main roster, so I’ve seen his matches and understand the charisma and the unique presence he brings to the ring. The fact that WWE did an entire commercial for Backlash centred on Nakamura and that Nakamura is on the Backlash promotional poster, you’d have to be an idiot to think he wouldn’t win in his main roster debut match.
However, there is precedent for the WWE to completely change what was perceived as a planned script. AJ Styles made his debut in the 2016 Royal Rumble, and by the time he entered Wrestlemania 32 he was expected to prevail against Chris Jericho…but he didn’t; AJ lost the match. AJ went on to become Number One Contender and eventually WWE Champion. My concern is that they’re thinking they can do the same to Nakamura, have him lose his debut match, then have him win against a few days later and his career will take off like Styles did.
I think the WWE may be making a mistake if they’re going down that road. They’ve billed Nakamura as something unique and “someone nobody has ever seen before” to paraphrase one of JBL’s line about the Japanese superstar. To snuff out the hype while spending so much capital on building up Nakamura would make absolutely no sense.
That’s all my thoughts this week for RAW and Smackdown. Enjoy NXT Chicago and Backlash everyone!
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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