WWE Fastlane is tonight, the final stop on the road to WrestleMania.
After that, the path is clear to the ‘Showcase of the Immortals’.
But as for now, that path is still very unclear for many WWE superstars. Both Raw and Smackdown Live’s main title picture could change drastically between now and the biggest show of the year on April 2nd.
As for the rest of the card, there were plenty of twists and turns this week too, but were they good or bad?
#1 Good – Orton burns down the Wyatt compound
The shocking conclusion to Smackdown Live this week, where Randy Orton burned down the Wyatt compound makes the ‘good’ list… just.
I had mixed feelings about this segment, Orton turning on Bray had been expected for a while, but the timing of his betrayal seems a bit off. Although Orton recently received the ‘keys to the kingdom’ for his show of loyalty to Wyatt after his Rumble victory, which plays well into this story, everything feels poorly timed.
But why wait for AJ Styles to earn himself a WrestleMania match, effectively replacing him?
And why not turn on Bray after winning the Rumble?
Regardless, I am willing to give WWE the benefit of the doubt, and overall I enjoyed this dramatic segment, plus Orton’s pose in front of the burning building might be one of the most iconic WWE images in recent memory, therefore it makes the ‘good’ list this week.
#2 Good – Harper vs Styles
Due to Orton’s actions a couple of weeks back and the inconclusive finish to the battle royal last week, Luke Harper and AJ Styles would compete one-on-one this past Tuesday for the chance to face Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania.
This was expected to be a great match and it definitely delivered.
Luke Harper has broke out into a main event star in recent weeks and, although it was a bit of a surprise to see him lose, he is certainly in a better position now than he was a couple of months ago.
It will be interesting to see what Harper does at Mania now that he is seemingly out of the WWE Title picture.
#3 Good – Miz TV
Although Orton’s betrayal of Bray Wyatt was the most talked about moment from this week’s Smackdown Live, my personal favourite segment was John Cena’s appearance on Miz TV.
The two men have a lot of history which was revisited during this promo, firstly from Miz who had Cena’s mic cut so that he could vent his anger for all the opportunities that he feels Cena has taken from him. Miz cut a great, and very real promo, that called out some of Cena’s controversial and hypocritical moments from the past 10 years.
However, when Cena eventually had the opportunity to speak, he verbally destroyed Miz in what was as close to a shoot promo from Cena that we have seen since his feud with The Rock. Clocking in at just under half an hour, this was a lengthy segment but well worth the watch for anyone of you that may have missed it.
#4 Good – NXT Tag Team Scene
The main event of this week’s NXT saw the Authors of Pain defend their tag team titles against #DIY.
This was a typically great match from Ciampa & Gargano, as well as Authors of Pain who continue to impress. However, the match ended in a no contest after interference from The Revival which seemingly sets up a three-way match between The Revival, #DIY and Authors of Pain at NXT Takeover: Orlando.
If this is the case, this match has the potential to be the best match from across the entire WrestleMania weekend.
#5 Good – Strowman/Roman Brawl
As he did last week, Braun Strowman excelled in the closing segment from this past Monday’s Raw in a contract signing for his match with Roman Reigns at Fastlane.
Unsurprisingly, the contract signing soon became physical and led to a brutal brawl between Reigns and Strowman, which saw the turnbuckle explode after Reigns was thrown into it – a fun and unique spot that set up Sunday nicely.
WWE’s booking team often comes in for some criticism, but you have to give them a lot of credit for how they have built Strowman into a genuine superstar.
#1 Bad – Ziggler again… again
Someone who has not been booked well recently is – yep, you’ve guessed it – Dolph Ziggler.
Yet again, Dolph makes the ‘bad’ list this week.
I mentioned a few weeks back how Dolph’s feud with Apollo has been booked backwards and that continued this week when Apollo, the babyface, would cheap shot Ziggler before their match this Tuesday.
They would go on to compete in a lacklustre ‘Chairs’ match, which barely utilised the chairs until the finish. It was poor all around, as has been the case for the majority of this feud, and continues to do neither man any favours.
#2 Bad – Poor Bayley
Bayley was once again treated as a joke on this week’s Raw, and even took the pinfall in her tag match with Sasha Banks against Nia Jax and Charlotte. Great way to make the Raw’s Women’s Championship look prestigious!
I understand the storyline that WWE is going for here, but it’s going too far in burying Bayley and is barely giving her a chance to show that she does belong at the top of the Women’s division.
What’s even worse is that she will more than likely lose her Championship to Charlotte at Fastlane, which will prove all of Bayley’s critics right and make her Title reign pretty pointless.
#3 Bad – Belittled Foley
At least Bayley wasn’t berated by Stephanie McMahon again this week.
Instead, that honour went to Raw’s General Manager, Mick Foley.
Steph was her usual patronising self this Monday and talked down to Foley by calling him a “shell of his former self”. Again, I understand that this is building Steph’s heel persona, but with no retort from the people she berates, it makes whoever she targets look pathetic and we never seem to get a pay-off which sees Steph get her comeuppance.
Unless, WWE are planning for Foley to smack Steph around with a barbed-wire bat, I don’t really see the point.
#4 Bad – New Day’s Oscars gag
After the well-publicised Oscars gaffe from last weekend, you just knew WWE were planning a reference on Raw.
But what was the genius joke that the team of WWE writers came up with?
Well, when the Shining Stars came out for their match against The New Day, Xavier Woods was handed an envelope that revealed that there had been a mistake and that Primo & Epico would actually be facing Big Show later in the night and that New Day’s match was against Rusev & Jinder Mahal.
Oh, how I laughed.
In all seriousness though, this was painfully bad and did nothing to help New Day’s stale personas.
#5 Bad – Raw crowd
I’m all for crowd participation at shows, the paying fans are entitled to voice their opinion at the right time. But, this week saw somewhat of a disconnect between the crowd in attendance and the viewing audience at home.
During the Seth Rollins segment where he would give an update on his WrestleMania status, the crowd would inexplicably begin chanting “CM Punk, CM Punk”. I was quite taken aback by this as I, and most people I have spoken to, were genuinely invested in this segment and wanted to see whether or not Rollins would be able to compete at Mania. All that these chants accomplished was to ruin a good segment that was well-delivered.
For me, the “CM Punk” chants have grown old, but with Raw emanating from Chicago next week, we can expect to hear more of the same.
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