Well hasn’t November been a miserable month, apart from real life atrocities which I won’t discuss here WWE has been in turmoil ever since the scheduled departure of John Cena following Hell in a Cell. At the end of October we received the news that Randy Orton had suffered another shoulder injury and would be out for 4-6 months. During the WWE UK tour Seth Rollins landed awkwardly and tore his ACL, MCL and Meniscus, he will miss 6-9 months and finally Cesaro. On the eve of Survivor Series news broke on Twitter that Cesaro had torn his left Rotator Cuff and would be out for 4-6 months. Crying yet? Well you will be when I get on to creative and the booking of Survivor Series.
The reverberations of Seth Rollins injury were felt companywide in early November, the fact that WWE’s then current WWE Champion and number one heel was looking to be on the shelf for the foreseeable was not good news. One simple mistake not only derailed the career of Seth but also scrapped all immediate booking plans and surely the Road to Wrestlemania was redirected. The news broke on social media almost immediately and also fellow SLTD writer @AdamOB_UTS who was in attendance at the Dublin show reported it straight away. There was a collective sigh from most wrestling fans as Seth has been the focal point for WWE over the last year and their No1 bad guy, his absence it very noticeable. At the time of injury Roman Reigns was the number one contender, however that was to change as WWE quickly stripped Seth of the title and announced a 16 man WWE title tournament set to culminate at the Survivor Series PPV.
Without going into too much detail WWE ruined what would have been a golden opportunity to create a new era, a new champion. Instead of the tournament commencing at Survivor Series itself WWE decided to have the first few rounds play out on television. Another annoyance was the fact that WWE included stars that were either non deserving of a place in the tournament or who had been buried on TV multiple times already this year. The matches themselves although good lacked the extra something to make the tournament appear special or mean more to the fans. Fans wanted an idea reminiscent of the 1998 Deadly Games tournament not some ill-conceived plot to once more push Roman Reigns down our throats. The semis and final took place at Survivor Series with little excitement. For those fans old enough to understand how the business works, we all knew what direction WWE were going in at the event but yet we still hoped for a different idea or decision to be made to create some diversity. Roman was crowned WWE champion after a very quick match with Dean Ambrose, the crowd was indifferent to his win and the crowning moment was anticlimactic. The moment was quickly turned on its head however as Triple H made his way to the ring and then later by Sheamus who as you can guess took the opportunity to cash in his briefcase and become WWE Champion.
Survivor Series was also the heavily hyped 25th anniversary of the Undertaker’s illustrious character and career, quite a feat within the wrestling industry. However what transpired at Survivor Series was nothing more than an exhibition match featuring two legends Undertaker & Kane systematically burying the Wyatt family once more. Therefore the finale to Hell in a Cell was a complete was of time for the WWE, the fans and the talent. I really wonder what the Wyatt family have done to become consistent jobbers to who WWE believe are the real stars of the show. What annoys me more though is that WWE have at their disposal one of the greatest talents of this era in Bray Wyatt, a man who can put his hand to anything and turn it to gold yet who always comes up short when it matters. I also have to question Undertaker’s thinking here as he obviously doesn’t believe the Waytt’s are worthy enough of beating him given his treatment of them in 2015 alone.
Survivor Series capped off how terrible a month November was…..that was until Raw on the 23rd November, with a 2.1 rating, terrible reviews and a lack of star power or direction the show crashed and burned. The decision to book Roman to win the tournament at Survivor Series then to have Sheamus cash in dramatically back fired on WWE. Roman and Sheamus are both good workers but they are not what the fan base want, Dean Ambrose receives the biggest reaction almost every week and he definitely did at Survivor Series yet he consistently gets bypassed by the company because of the Roman Reigns mind set. Raw was the poorest it has been for a while, New Day it seems although entertaining may have started to outstay their welcome, they seem to just ramble at times and it goes on and on. Neville a promising high flyer took on former World Champion Mark Henry without any build or explanation, the Wyatt’s 24 hours after being buried rebounded against the Dudley Boyz and reverted back to the norm.
The WWE wheel keeps turning but when will they stand up and take notice that their product is failing, why is it that NXT with only an hour each week and a quarterly PPV is the superior show. With only an hour at their disposal NXT seem to be able to build characters and wrestlers over time yet Raw and Smackdown can’t achieve it with five hours combined. Over the last 18 months WWE’s one track narrative has been to push Roman Reigns as the new/future face of the company without any diversion, if the fans revolt WWE push harder. The zero reaction to Reigns finally winning the big one at Survivor Series is a direct message from the fans that the narrative is not working. Roman Reigns is the new John Cena, the good looking company man who prevails against the odds, the good guy who never lets you down. Unfortunately for Roman he doesn’t get the desired response due to his heelish mannerisms and massive ego, the kid is a natural heel….Paul Heyman come on down and give this guy a hand. Okay so maybe Paul isn’t the answer but Reigns needs a mouthpiece, he needs an advocate, apart from the UFC experience Roman can be what Brock has become. Roman can be the man if his positives are accentuated and his negatives are hidden. Simple booking, big results.
This monthly report may seem a little on the negative side but my positivity comes from tuning in to NXT and watching the slow build storylines leading up to the next NXT special in London on 16th December. The slow burning feud between Finn Balor & Samoa Joe has classic written all over it, the slow turn by Joe and unrelenting attacks on the champion have made for riveting television. The continued rise of Apollo Crews has him currently colliding with Baron Corbin, the fact that Corbin interfered in Crews NXT title opportunity will not go unpunished. I have also personally enjoyed the development of Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson, they resemble the tag teams of the 80’s and are proving to be a hit with fans. This week’s episode also featured Bayley defending her NXT women’s title against the despised Eva Marie, personally Eva I felt performed admirably against Bayley and earned the respect of the fans.
As I’m writing this it has just been announced that Randy Orton now requires neck surgery and will be out for a longer period of time, the bad news in WWE just keeps coming. On Raw this week Roman requested his rematch against Sheamus, this match has been confirmed for the TLC PPV in December. One can’t fault WWE for the injury of Seth Rollins, he is a massive loss when you consider how much time WWE gave him and the build he received. As explained above Reigns is the programme, and the programme isn’t changing as far as WWE are concerned. They have a plan with Roman and they are sticking to it until the very end. As WWE enter their most important time of the year both creatively and financially questions are continuing to be asked of the product, wrestlers and if WWE know what they are doing. With Christmas nearly upon us I hope WWE can muster some goodwill spirit in December and hopefully end the year with a Christmas cheer.
@ciaran_1986
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