Last week, WWE announced their Network numbers, and to no shock, they were less-than-stellar. Thus, WWE decided to disband the six-month commitment, add more to their library and gave away a free trial 30-day trial. One would assumed that WWE would make Survivor Series as best as they could. But who even knows anymore what this company’s objectives are.
After a two-month drought, though, WWE’s product has become somewhat watchable again. And that mostly has to do with Randy Orton. His new raged out babyface persona has injected some freshness into the product. He has went through a lot of peaks and valleys throughout his career. He has been either very hot or very cold – nothing in between. Before, he was meandering and just trying to do enough to stay relevant. But now, his character has arced and has shifted into a more intriguing direction.
In contrary to most WWE babyfaces, Orton expresses actual human emotions. When someone attacks him or screws him – he intensifies with exasperation and anger. Simply put, he is not a goody-goody phony babyface who is too concerned over its uprightness and becomes mundane as a result. He is one that acts upon his emotions and allows practical things to trouble him, which makes him more human-esque.
And besides, not every babyface should be an exemplary role model. In truth, a babyface does not have to be perfect. They just need to have appealing characteristics. And frankly, a character’s weaknesses are more interesting than its strengths anyways – which is why most fans found the characteristically flawed CM Punk way more interesting than the purely unadulterated, goody-goody John Cena.
Speaking of compelling babyfaces, Dean Ambrose is now feuding with the returning Bray Wyatt. In early-to-mid October, Ambrose was emerging into a unique role. His actions and promo made him seem ahead of the curve. The character was not falling for hackneyed traps conventional babyfaces fell into while some of his promos were breaking the fourthwall. But he unfortunately went back to being the “lunatic fringe”. Don’t take this the wrong way: I am not denying that he is amazing at playing loose cannon. It just felt like WWE was on to something with the sharp-witted, ahead of the curve gimmick.
The Ambrose vs. Wyatt feud’s did not start with a bang. There is no sugarcoating how bad HIAC main event’s conclusion was. It downright sucked. This feud a few months ago would have been a dream match to some. Now, however, it is not even close to being one. In fact, most people are not very excited about their match nor are they excited about Ambrose being shipped back to the mid card.
Wyatt has not only lost his aura, but people have also lost interest in him. This does not mean his future is hopeless. He has talent and the aptitude to portray a mesmerizing character, but it will take more than a few weeks off and more ill-defined promos to resolve his dilemma. While his promos are unique, they now seem like they’re mysterious for the sake of being mysterious. Both Wyatt and creative should be more concerned on getting across his motives and messages because it does not matter how mysterious his promos are if they do not make sense.
WWE putting the US title on Rusev was a good decision. However, WWE could have booked it much better. There was minimal build behind it. The company should have spent time building up how important the match was and what it would mean if he won the title. They instead had Sheamus lose to Tyson Kidd and Rusev squash Zack Ryder. Neither of those booking decisions made anyone look forward to the exclusive network title bout.
Frankly, booking decisions like this makes me wonder if McMahon is losing his mind. This was something TNA would have done – a company that ran off thousands of fans because of their inept booking decisions. Frankly, WWE tried to get from point A to point D by skipping B and C. Some people hotshot booking. I would personally call it lackadaisical booking.
In the Survivor Series’ main event, Team Cena will take on Team Rollins. It has not been determined who all the wrestlers will be – and your guess is as good as mine. Nonetheless, it has been a long time since WWE put some thought into a traditional Survivor Series match. Typically, they just throw together two teams and then they wrestle over nothing. This time, however, there is something on the line. If Team Rollins loses, the Authority must disband. When done right, stipulations can have a huge positive affect on a match.
By way of short-sided booking, WWE has made wins and losses hardly matter. Consequently, matches with nothing at stake are generally pointless. Here, though, we have a match that could have a major affect on the landscape of the company. Just by raising the stakes, it has elevated this from an ordinary one all the way to an important one.
As a smart man once said, the first step to fixing a problem is admitting there is one. WWE can keep unloading their entire library on the Network, or they can admit they have a problem. This problem has been boiling for years and has driven countless of fans away. Because of the Network, WWE is finally feeling the affects for all their current and past mistakes.
What is the major problem? Management. The company’s formatting, presentation, announce team, little emphasis on the wrestling, little emphasis on the midcard, lack of new main eventers, conservative booking, shortsighted booking, recycled booking, nonsensical booking, goofy booking, camera shooting….the list just goes on and on why people grew sick of this company. And while the past two weeks have been a tiny step in the right direction – they still have a long way to go before they make their product a must-see one again.
