I have returned once again to give you my
general thoughts over aspects of the business today. I wrote out a
pretty nice introduction to this blog series in the first edition, so if
you have yet to read it, you can find that in the articles section.
What do I want to talk about today? Well, I would like to talk about the
main event scenes in the WWE and TNA.
I am really happy to see Daniel Bryan as WWE World Heavyweight Champion,
he is obviously the most over wrestler on the roster right now, and
deserves to be given the spotlight. I have mixed feelings over the WWEs
choice to pit Kane against Bryan, it feels like quite the mismatch.
Since Kane turned corporate, he hasn’t looked like much of a threat to
anyone, his team lost to the Shield at Wrestlemania in spectacular
fashion, and it’s obvious he doesn’t deserve a title shot, but we all
know the “Authority” just want somebody to keep Bryan busy while
Evolution take on the Shield.
It’s a decent first title defense for Bryan, however, WWE need to do a
massive job of making Kane look as much of a threat to the title than
they possibly can. I wonder if Bryan vs Kane will end up getting the CM
Punk treatment and end up not being the main event of the PPV. It would
be a downer to see how much they built Bryan up to Wrestlemania, only
for him to defend his title in the middle of the card over a six man tag
match or the Cena vs Wyatt feud. The crowd need Bryan to be up last, as
he always (9 times out of 10) gets the biggest pop of the night, and it
will send them home happy to see him defend the title.
Aside from that, I am really digging the “old school” vs “new school”
mentality in the WWE right now. You have Kane vs Bryan, Evolution vs Shield, Cena vs Wyatt, they cleverly utilize the older talents to make the new talent look good, and hopefully all the new school guys can be victorious,
as the WWE needs these new guys to get over. The Cena vs Wyatt feud
interests me, it’s probably the best opponent Cena has had since CM
Punk, and the crowd is really into Bray despite being a heel. The fact
that Wyatt is trying to steal Cenas fan’s is something that some fans
may find hilariously cool.
I am utterly disappointed at the lack of competition for the
Intercontinental, United States, Tag Team and the Divas Championships.
Who is Big E feuding with? No one. Who is Ambrose feuding with? No one.
Is anyone going to threaten the Uso’s? Doesn’t appear so. I suppose
Paige has a good opponent in Tamina for her title, but they really need
to get a feud going between these two, we need to see Tamina’s nasty
side, and get us to feel like she could defeat Paige.
I am going to move onto TNA now, after watching Impact Wrestling last
night (2am-4am) I was left with a somewhat confused stance on the state
of the promotion.
Ok, who did Austin Aries thrust his crotch in front of backstage? He
appeared legitimately pissed off before the match, and he didn’t work
like he normally does. The crowd were behind him and MVP, but he was
used to make MVP look as strong as Ryback in his early days (ok, slight
exaggeration), majorly selling his offense, and have MVP taken advantage of a missed 450 splash. Where does he go from here?
Kurt Angle looked much healthier after some time off, which he desperately needed. I was looking forward to Angle vs
EC3 at Lockdown because it could have made EC3s career, but it was put
off until now. Rockstar Spud is such a natural character, but it feels
like EC3 will be in a handicap match when they face Angle and Willow at
Sacrifice. It’s going to be a clear mismatch, but at least it will round
up this feud, and hopefully send Angle or Willow into something a bit
more meaningful.
Bobby Lashley is a huge highlight at the moment in TNA, whenever he
appears, the crowd are hot for him. He appears to have improved in the
ring, and has this presence about him that I can get behind. All he
needs now is a charismatic manager who can talk for
him.
What about those Sanada vignettes? I love them. I have always been a
huge fan of Japanese passion, mostly because I am an avid fan of
Japanese games, including RPGs. Sanada comes across like a true warrior,
fighting for the pride and history of his country. TNA needs more of
this, because it really does connect you to some of these new faces. I
am looking forward to Sanada vs Tigre Uno
part 3.
Storm/Roode vs Bully/Gunner was probably the match of the night, and
that was fairly obvious from when I first heard it announced.
Storm/Roode worked as well as they ever have, and as both are heels
right now, TNA is teasing a Beer Money reunion. I hope that’s the case,
and I hope the Wolves (who also had an interesting vignette) defeat the
Bromans and go on to feud with Beer Money, as that will put the tag team
titles back into the spotlight.
The KO’s division is heating up once again, as The Beautiful People go
back to what made them famous. Angelina is easily hateable, whereas
Velvet … yea, she puts the beautiful in The Beautiful People, while Angelina brings the heat.
No idea what they are going to do with Brittany, but Madison keeps
telling her not to get involved, which is odd for Madison, to see
Madison care about other wrestlers wellbeing, it’s a bit strange to see
Madison as a face.
As for Anderson stalking Shaw and visiting his house. It was .. well, I
didn’t know what to make of it. The whole point of Samuel Shaw (or so I
thought) was that he had a mystery behind him, but now we know he’s a
momma’s boy who still lives in her basement while she bakes him pies, it
kind of makes you feel more sorry for him rather than hate him for
being creepy. It was a bit cheesy, but different, and whether you liked
it or not, it added more story to this feud.
What the hell is with Knux? Are these segments meant to be leading
somewhere? I don’t know what to make of it to be honest, didn’t care for
it whatsoever.
So the main event scene confuses me the most. Here we go …
-Abyss turned heel after Eric Young revealed to him that he was
actually Joseph Park.
-Abyss joined Magnus for no apparent reason, siding with him after
Dixie was forced out of wrestling operations, so Magnus had someone who
could do his dirty work.
-Samoa Joe was a true contender for the title, but yet, kept getting
screwed out of his singles match over and over, getting him frustrated,
and subsequently, disappearing off the face of the earth.
-Eric Young wanted to feud with Abyss, but instead, ended up getting a
World title shot and winning the title on the same night.
-With Magnus no longer champion, Abyss gets frustrated with how he is
being treated (even though, wasn’t he meant to be getting paid a lot of
money to be protecting him?) by him, and ends up turning on him.
-Abyss apologized for what he did to Eric Young, and instead wants to beat up Magnus.
Magnus realized he won’t defeat Abyss, and instead hit him with a
chair and got DQ’d, managing to sucker Eric Young in as well, and
destroy him with a chair.
So with that said, Abyss was face,
turned heel, then turned face again in the space of a month, Magnus
went from being this severely weak closet champion, to a guy who can
destroy a monster, and the TNA Champion single handed, and Eric Young
went from being a midcard
clown, to the TNA World Champion with little to no build up. Samoa Joe
sits on the sidelines with no real explanation, while Austin Aries is
not being used, and anybody else who you would expect to be in the main
event scene are tied up in feuds.
I appreciate the wrestling in TNA, but what’s going on with the booking?
It feels like they have no direction at the moment, they are booking as they go.
In terms of overall momentum, the WWE is really getting back to what works, while TNA are deteriorating. TNA has lost
many names in recent times, AJ Styles, Sting, Chris Sabin, Daniels, and
possibly Frankie Kazarian soon. I hope TNA can build something fresh,
as we go headstrong into a new era of wrestling.
