Welcome back to another Monday Morning Q&A where I toss out some questions to get a feel of how you guys and gals are feeling about certain topics.
So here are 5 questions I’d like to toss out for this week. I’ll give my answers, too, but the key here is that I want to know what YOU think! So make sure you chime in!
1) Theoretically, if WarGames forced the losing teams to leave for good, would you rather the new NXT 2.0 breed get booted off the show or for the remnants of the black and gold era to be forced to leave?
I hate to write them off so fast, but the NXT 2.0 class would be my choices to leave.
Bron Breakker is good so far, but I’m not gushing over him as some “give him the WWE title already” guy like some are.
Carmelo Hayes is talented, but so are dozens of others who have been fired in the past year. He doesn’t stand out to me yet as special above them.
Grayson Waller, again, talented, but not someone I could say is irreplaceable.
Tony D’Angelo is fun for a character, but they aren’t even going with the flow and allowing him to be a babyface. What’s the fun in it if we have to boo him?
Meanwhile, Johnny Gargano’s one of my favorites on the roster, Tommaso Ciampa’s great and I wish he could have gone up to the main roster already, Pete Dunne’s one of the most consistently great in-ring performers and LA Knight is a damn good talker who carries himself like a legitimate star.
2) Using this chart provided by WWE, who would you choose for your women’s NXT WarGames team?
Give me Raquel Gonzalez, Kay Lee Ray, Dakota Kai and Io Shirai. They have the best track records out of anyone. Technically, Gigi Dolin has a tag team title in that row instead of Kai, but Kai’s far more experienced.
3) In the past year, we’ve seen many NXT Superstars called up to Raw or SmackDown and then released. Which of the following men called up from NXT in the past 12 months do you think will have the better year in 2022? The list includes Austin Theory, Commander Azeez, Damian Priest, Rick Boogs, Ridge Holland, Shanky and Veer Mahaan.
Rick Boogs seems to have gotten over a bit naturally, but I don’t see a huge ceiling for him in 2022 in the sense of becoming world champion or anything.
Shanky seems doomed. It wouldn’t shock me if he’s gone in 2022. Not that I’m wishing that, but it’s just a prediction.
Commander Azeez has had a few starts and hasn’t gotten too far, either. They seem so focused on Omos, too, that it wouldn’t shock me if they look at him as “the lesser tall guy” and his stock lowers in the coming months.
I’m very curious why Veer was given a surname (rare) and is getting vignettes about “coming soon to Raw” when he’s been wrestling there for months. Maybe they actually like him. Then again, we saw what happened to Hit Row and they supposedly liked them, too.
To me, it really comes down to Ridge Holland, Austin Theory and Damian Priest.
Holland is off to a decent start. They paired him with Sheamus, which is a sign they like him. He’s big and tough, so he definitely has that going for him. However, he’s just gotten to the roster, so he has some room to grow.
Priest is the safest bet. He’s had an amazing 2021 and I think they really look at him as a worthwhile star. It’s strange, as he’s on the older side, but look at how well they’ve booked him. That’s not out of coincidence.
However, while Priest is the safest bet, I’m going with Theory. I think his segment with Vince McMahon proves the boss sees something in him akin to a new John Cena and he’ll be a pet project for quite some time. It would shock me if he goes all of 2022 without winning at least a midcard championship.
4) Same question, but for the women: Aliyah, Doudrop, Shotzi Blackheart, Toni Storm and Xia Li.
If I went with pure logic, I would say Toni Storm. She’s good enough and so young that WWE could legitimately give her a run to the Royal Rumble and have her win the championship at WrestleMania. I don’t see that happening, though.
Aliyah is going to become a jobber. It’s just her pattern. Poor girl. Hopefully, she breaks that habit, but I don’t see it happening.
Doudrop’s done well in the past few months, but I don’t think they’ll be willing to make her the absolute focal point on either brand. Without putting the belt on her, there’s a certain level where she loses momentum.
Shotzi’s gotten a push recently out of being ignored for the start of her main roster run. A good sign for the future? I hope so. However, I don’t think it’ll happen as a heel. If they keep her a villain, I think they’ll grow tired of her not getting more boos quicker and that’ll sour them on her. In my mind, Shotzi’s a babyface and they’re doing her a disservice.
My bet is on Xia Li. They’ve invested in this comic book introduction and those vignettes should be a sign they are invested in her, by proxy. Whether it’s the Chinese market they want to appeal to, or that they actually see her talent, I’m hoping she has a great run in 2022.
5) With Joe Gacy (245 lbs) competing for the Cruiserweight Championship, 205 Live no longer being live and featuring talent outside of the cruiserweight division, do you think the division is dead? If so, do you think WWE will cull this belt at some point next year or change it in some fashion?
The division is 100% dying, that’s for sure. 205 Live in and of itself is a zombie show in that it is fundamentally dead and they clearly aren’t putting any thought or effort into it, but it’s still technically existing. I assume this is just because they have a contractual obligation to keep it going until Hulu drops the deal, so they’re treating it with as little care as possible because it just doesn’t matter to them, similar to Main Event. Everyone knows that show’s worthless and it seems 205 Live is the same, but with the NXT talent.
My guess is they decided in the recent chaos that they don’t like the cruiserweights having their own title and they’re in a transition to get the title into a new phase. It’s either an active choice or a subconscious one. Joe Gacy challenging for the title might be their way of testing the waters, or just a sign they really truly DO NOT care.
I think at some point in 2022, we’re going to see the NXT Cruiserweight Championship get merged with the North American Championship and go away.
Let us know your thoughts about these questions by answering them in the comments!
