We’ve got another WWE event coming up, which means it’s time for another examination of who will have the biggest spotlight placed on them during the show (coming up later on this week with the “top stars predictions” post) as well as the focus for this article, which is the polar opposite: the superstars who are being left out in the cold and aren’t showing up at all.
As always, this is ignoring the folks that are inactive for various reasons such as Ryback’s contract issues, Neville still being out with an injury and so forth. Those are self-explanatory and don’t really require any discussion. However, there are a handful of other wrestlers who could justifiably have been booked for the event, yet for some reason don’t have any matches announced.
Let’s take a look at some of those names.
Big Show
A few weeks back, Big Show made an appearance out of the blue to basically give a pep talk to Crews only to disappear again. This is a veteran and a giant who should always be wanting a world title and, in theory, should also be in contention for a belt just by his sheer size. Why is he not even attempting to qualify for the Money in the Bank match?
It would have been one thing to see him have a match and come up short, as that would have explained his absence from the card. Chris Jericho, Alberto Del Rio or anyone else could have beaten him to earn their spot, rendering him out of the running. That is why a name like Zack Ryder isn’t on this list, because he lost his chance and he doesn’t have a backup feud to go with. While Big Show isn’t involved in any kind of program either, he hasn’t even tried. Instead, it just seems like Big Show’s taking a break, yet still hanging out backstage. Very odd.
Kalisto
Some United States champion, right? This poor guy had two title reigns that amounted to absolutely nothing, and not only is he not a valuable member of the roster at the moment despite being a title-holder this year, he’s not even in the ballpark of being a contender.
By no means would I want WWE to just slap a few extra names onto the ladder match for the sake of it, watering it down and turning it into a mess, but you’ve got to feel bad for someone like Kalisto. If things had been booked differently, he could have been either fighting for or defending one of the midcard belts, if not at the level where people would be interested to see him potentially win the briefcase. Now, on the other hand, he’s in a position where he and his tag team partner aren’t even involved in the fatal 4-way for the tag titles.
When they were positioned to possibly take over the spots Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio have, it was as if the match didn’t even need to happen. Nobody in their right mind thought The Lucha Dragons could have usurped those positions, and eventually, that was proven to be true.
The Other Tag Teams
As I mentioned above, adding more people to a match doesn’t necessarily make it better, so the four teams fighting for the Tag Team Championship are more than enough. That match is sure to be a lot of fun and too many cooks in the kitchen would probably spoil the broth.
It’s one thing for The Shining Stars to not be in contention, as they are just awful and have done nothing since making their re-debut. Even with Breezango and The Golden Truth, there’s potential to be spontaneously added to the card as a pre-show match or something along those lines. With The Usos and The Dudley Boyz, however, those four men are almost always toward the top of the division.
Again, it’s not bad to have people sit things out once in a while to do something different and to keep things fresh. I’d much rather see the lineup we have scheduled than for Enzo and Cass to be replaced with Jimmy and Jey, or for The Club to have The Dudley Boyz in their stead, but it’s still interesting to note how we finally have a diverse enough division for some flexibility and WWE may be putting an end to that with the upcoming brand extension. Enjoy the lack of repetitive matches now while we have it, as a month from now, you’re going to see the same teams lock up over and over again.
The Miz
I’m a big fan of The Miz, and while some didn’t like the idea of him being the Intercontinental champion again, I would go so far as to say not only do I endorse that concept, but I also would be down for a world title reign if we have two belts—despite how I want to keep it at just one world champion.
Of course, being a fan of The Miz as champion means I’d also like to see him do something like, I don’t know, defend that title? Once he lost his qualifying match, he just scooted off. So soon after winning that belt, we’re already back to another time frame where a champion isn’t appearing because he’s filming a movie instead. Nobody was set up to challenge him for that belt, so it isn’t as if an injury caused a change of plans or something unavoidable popped up at the last minute. This was known well in advance.
The Miz hasn’t done much with that title so far, and unless he’s going to be wrapping within the next week or so and then coming back full force, why bother giving it to him? That makes me feel bad for a guy like Zack Ryder, knowing that he could have at least held it for a few weeks and it wouldn’t have really changed the landscape all that much. If The Miz is going to miss Battleground as well, a new champion should have been chosen instead of him so the Intercontinental title doesn’t stay inactive for so long.
The Seventh Money in the Bank Competitor
Up until last week, WWE was advertising seven people to be in the Money in the Bank ladder match. Then, suddenly, the graphics changed and the phrasing changed to ignore any references to adding more people to the bout. Instead of saying that the field was not yet set, the commentators and anything promoting the match strictly adhered to words that pointed out those six men as being the options and nobody else.
Who was that extra person supposed to be? Randy Orton? Bray Wyatt? Anybody listed above? We may never know, but that guy is definitely not scheduled for the card as of right now.
So who do you think are the most overlooked superstars to not be booked on this card? Which matches would you have set up to rectify that issue? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
