Between Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, the Mixed Match Challenge, 205 Live, all of the WWE Network specials and shows, all of the YouTube content, pay-per-views, special events, social media and dirt sheets, there’s just so much WWE material to soak in throughout the week.
In a lot of ways, it’s overwhelming, and it makes someone’s job like myself that much harder to do when you tend to cover a lot of the same major topics over and over again while the smaller things are pushed aside—or, in some cases, things change week to week and you’re always focusing on the bigger picture and can’t weigh in on the twists and turns that make the sum of its parts.
To kind of counteract, I figured I’d start a new segment here on eWN that I’ve been toying with for a while, dubbed Fast Count. Essentially, it will be a “quick thoughts” type breakdown of a variety of topics that happened throughout the week in a smaller format, rather than choosing to either create giant think-pieces about every little thing or letting them slip through the cracks entirely.
With Fastlane coming up, I figured now was as good a time as any to dust this project off the shelf and give it a shot, so without further ado, here are some of my takeaways from this week in WWE:
What the hell is going on with Asuka’s title shot?
I honestly can’t tell if WWE is purposely trying to keep things “interesting” by saying she’s fighting Alexa Bliss, only to pull a fast one on us and go “ha, got you guys, she’s actually fighting Charlotte Flair” so we can be surprised, or if there’s some legitimate wires being crossed about their plans.
With Nia Jax and Asuka fighting again, I’m still thinking there’s a Triple Threat with those two and Alexa on the horizon, but I can’t think of anything decent for Flair to do, which makes me think a Fatal 4-Way is going on with Bliss, Jax, Bayley and Sasha Banks.
I’m interested, but my head is starting to hurt.
So Mickie James is definitely a heel now.
Up until Monday Night Raw, she was a babyface who was possibly being taken advantage of and didn’t realize Bliss isn’t really her friend. Now that she’s taken cheap shots at attacking Asuka, she’s flat out turned.
I hope she doesn’t take on the responsibility of being the heel that everybody can beat every week. I’d love to see her be Ronda Rousey’s first legitimate feud after WrestleMania, instead.
Oh, so the Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt thing isn’t over yet.
The Ultimate Deletion wasn’t something I thought would happen at WrestleMania. I figured the card was too stacked as it is. Maybe I’m wrong, and there is an actual plan to do something different and weird.
Time to cross my fingers that it isn’t too weird, as I wasn’t the biggest fan of the House of Horrors match, and I don’t know how they can pull off a pre-taped thing happening at WrestleMania, of all shows.
The Miz vs. Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins could steal the show at WrestleMania.
I’m so glad to see that The Miz won’t just be in a squash match against Braun Strowman (more on him, later) and instead, he’s being set up for what easily has the potential for the match of the night.
These three guys have a chance to put on one HELL of a match if given enough time, and this has skyrocketed to one of my most anticipated things to look forward to for New Orleans.
The Bar has no challengers?
If Sheamus and Cesaro have beaten everybody there is to offer, surely, this implies someone from outside the roster will challenge them, right?
The Authors of Pain would be my top pick, if that’s the case, but I honestly don’t want to see that happen here, nor SAnitY (who I don’t think would have great chemistry with The Bar).
Instead, I’m just hoping for The Revival and The Balor Club to get in the mix. I would have said The Miztourage as well, but, well, I think the match would be better without them.
I’m not going to lie, though, that it didn’t cross my mind that War Machine isn’t in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and could possibly answer the call and get a big push out of nowhere.
And the Warrior Award goes to…
Very cool to see Jarrius “JJ” Robertson being the recipient of this year’s Warrior Award at the Hall of Fame.
That kid has gone through a lot more than most of us will ever have to experience and he still manages to keep a positive attitude and be a little ball-buster on top of it, keeping his edge despite all his hardships.
Truth be told, I’m more excited to hear his acceptance speech than Goldberg’s, which is weird, cause I’d rather listen to a kid talk than to listen to a guy talk about his kid again.
Braun Strowman vs. Elias? Really?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Elias, and I’d love to see him hold that Intercontinental Championship sometime in 2018, but he’s not on the same level as Braun Strowman is right now, and if this is the best WWE has in store for The Monster Among Men, they need to wake up.
Booking Strowman as strong as they did for Elimination Chamber and having him get the last laugh with Roman Reigns proves they’re not unaware of Strowman’s popularity, so why was there not a more solid plan in place for him?
Plan B, where B stands for Braun
Supposedly, the reason is because Strowman is in limbo of whether or not he’ll be inserted in the main event to replace either Roman Reigns (due to the possible steroid scandal) or Brock Lesnar (due to him possibly not cooperating).
Alternatively, he and Elias could be inserted in the Intercontinental Championship match, which I wouldn’t like to see all that much, as it’s just a copy of the Elimination Chamber we just saw, and it would feel a bit underwhelming in my mind. Plus, it would potentially saddle Strowman with the wrong belt, and I want to see him holding that world title instead.
Did Brock Lesnar really not show up?
Please. Give me a break. Of course this is a work. Someone in the back realized that a face-to-face last time around between these two led to the ridiculous tug-of-war with the belt and thought to themselves “Maybe we can get them to cheer Reigns if we appeal to the smarks by making this about Lesnar not being a company guy and being given even more special treatment?”
It could possibly work, but only temporarily. The long game is for Reigns to be the top guy, not to dispel as many boos as possible for one match at Mania. Even if they’re able to get Reigns flat out cheered in New Orleans, who is to say once the program with Lesnar is finished, he isn’t booed out of the building the very next feud and can’t keep any of that momentum going forward?
Give the belt to Strowman. You know he’ll get cheered.
Just announce the Ronda Rousey match already
I really hope they don’t drag this out as much as they have so far. The promo on Raw felt like an extension of the same promo from Elimination Chamber, not the next step in the feud.
I’m not anticipating the next move, I’m getting impatient for the finish line. I don’t need another two or three weeks of the back-and-forth discussion, but I know that’s what I’m getting, because they kind of don’t have enough material to just book Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon on March 5th and set it in stone with a whole month to fill.
Just please don’t give Ronda too much mic time. She’s still learning and the more she talks, the worse this feud gets. Show more of Angle’s dopey “I’m about to get laid out” face, instead, cause that made me chuckle.
You get a Fastlane match, and YOU get a Fastlane match!
If I put my name in the hat to turn the now Six-Pack Challenge at Fastlane for the WWE Championship into a…I don’t know…Lucky Seven Street Fight…I guess I’m getting the approval.
Normally, when we joke that a pay-per-view is a “one match card” it’s because only one match is interesting or matters. This time around, with everybody being combined into the same title shot, it’s damn near a reality that it’s a one match card!
So is Dolph Ziggler a face now, or what?
He’s still “that damn good” but he isn’t as cocky about it, so a point for a babyface. He’s still coming out with no entrance, point for heel. He’s not done anything too, too heelish since his Royal Rumble return, point for babyface. He nailed Kevin Owens with a superkick, point for face. But he helped a heel beat a heel, so neutral point. Then, he helps out AJ Styles and John Cena to even the odds 3-3 and is clearly a babyface, but attacks Styles right afterward to undo that good karma.
Maybe he just “is” right now and isn’t a heel or a babyface or even a full-blown tweener.
How good are The Usos and The New Day?
God, that promo was fun to listen to. The passion behind it was intense, what they were saying was all true, and it felt to me like this feud went from “eh, seen it before” to “yeah, but they kicked ass together and this time might be even better!”
Nine years and no matches at WrestleMania that weren’t on the pre-show? Jeez, Usos, that’s some bad luck that isn’t deserved at all. Still, I’m rooting for The New Day to get that fifth title reign.
Did they just spoil the Mixed Match Challenge?
Up until this week, there was a seed of doubt that perhaps a loss for Team Awe-ska wouldn’t result in Asuka’s undefeated streak going down, as The Miz being pinned could be ruled as more of his loss than anything else.
It was a stretch, of course, but it was something WWE has done before, so there’s a precedent to pull that trick out again.
Now that they’ve flat out said a loss is a loss, it pretty much means this team wins, right? Surely, Asuka’s undefeated streak won’t end in a tournament that nobody watches, right before WrestleMania……
Why aren’t you watching 205 Live?
Cedric Alexander and TJP are so damn talented, and Roderick Strong pulled off perhaps the best move of the week against Kalisto for that finish.
If you are someone who complains about there being too many storylines, too much talking and not enough focus on the in-ring action, WATCH 205 LIVE!!! Prove to WWE that you want to see more of that! Don’t let it go by with no viewers and then be surprised when they don’t want to adapt that style of programming anymore.
John Cena vs. The Undertaker? I mean, Rey Mysterio?
Huhh??? Rey Mysterio? I didn’t see that one coming at all, and I don’t really put much stock in it, either.
Sure, he and Cena had a great match together on Raw for the WWE Championship back in the day, but what’s the storyline here if those two face off? Why is that the match that’s happening instead of The Undertaker, or for that matter, Samoa Joe (if he’s healed in time, of course)?
I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see Mysterio back in WWE, and I hope he does come back, but not for a match against Cena at WrestleMania.
No Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal?
There’s a rumor floating around that this won’t happen this year. I can’t imagine that being the case, particularly with HBO releasing a documentary about Andre the Giant on April 10th.
I’ll believe that it’s been nixed when I see something more credible than hearsay and speculation. I’m still thinking this is between Rusev, Goldberg and Bobby Lashley, at least at the moment.
Sunny arrested, again
*sigh*
WWE returning to Japan on June 29th and 30th
Good thing Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka will be champions by then, right? That can only be a good thing for WWE. Maybe they can snatch up some NJPW talent while they’re in the area, if we’re so lucky.
Those are my thoughts on these topics, but what do you think? Weigh in by dropping a comment below!
