Ricochet – AJ Styles Phenomenal

WWE can spot the obvious in this case that Ricochet and AJ Styles will produce incredible in-ring work. Like I said, this was obvious that WWE had to set up a feud like this, but they still deserve credit for making it come to fruition. Ricochet’s humility is not characteristic of a WWE superstar, but I like it because it is different and outside the box. There is also a certain level of grace and likability in Ricochet’s demeanor which is unique to him and it cannot be taught.

On a less positive note, I don’t know how to feel any more about the presence of The Undertaker. He should have retired 5 – 7 years ago and is not the same caliber athlete as he was then and he will only serve as a detriment to Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon, who can still legitimately go at age 49. It also does not make much sense from a storyline perspective because Undertaker lost to Roman Reigns two years ago at WrestleMania, so why would he want to team up with him? But clearly in WWE, once an event transpires, the very next week it’s like it basically never happened (short memory).

I cannot get very excited for the mixed tag match at Extreme Rules, even if it is for both championships (being Seth Rollins’ Universal Championship as well as Becky Lynch’s Raw Women’s Championship), because these mixed tag team matches are historically hard to coordinate the movements of the superstars because of the vastly different styles of the men and women. These matches are therefore awkward and feel a little slow. My hope is that they blow me, and the entire WWE universe, out of the water, however, because these are such great performers, tops in the industry.

Let’s be honest, did anyone even remember that The Revival were Raw Tag Team Champions, because I certainly didn’t, so The Usos will presumably be a nice change. R-Truth is getting a nice little spotlight since he has been 24/7 Champion. He plays the most entertaining imbecile ever, with remarks like his constipation reference.

Lastly, it was a brilliant and unforeseen move of the WWE creative team to have Samoa Joe go right after Kofi Kingston and the WWE Championship immediately after losing the United States Championship since he now has nothing to do in terms of going after a championship. He will be able to give Kofi a signature opponent where people will say looking back on Kingston’s reign “that match with Samoa Joe was easily the best one”. He did the exact same thing for AJ Styles in 2018. I thought WWE might let him hang in creative limbo for a while before maybe pulling the trigger on this because that is what they historically do, but it’s great for Joe that they didn’t immediately.

Categories RAW

Kofi Unbelievable

Corey Graves puts Kofi Kingston’s recent performances into words perfectly: “I do not know how he does it”. Four matches in three nights. Ridiculous. This will for sure be the most memorable stretch of Kofi’s career. And no Dolph Ziggler in the WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules, ensuring that Kofi will have a one-on-one title match with Samoa Joe.

There’s a very strong possibility The New Day may steal the show at Extreme Rules with Daniel Bryan and Rowan since they won a non-title match this week.

Alexa Bliss has to be pleased with Nikki Cross, at least for now, because she will be getting a title opportunity at Extreme Rules thanks to Cross. A significant development in the story is bound to happen at the pay-per-view, however, most likely leading to a SummerSlam bout between the two. The Miz may also end up having his rivalry with Shane McMahon culminating at SummerSlam despite the fact that it seems to be slowing the trajectory of his career and causing him to lose momentum. WWE appears to be maintaining his state of limbo by incessantly pushing Shane McMahon and trying to establish him as the new version of Vince.

Side Note: It’s worthy to note the possibility of Aleister Black wrestling Cesaro at Extreme Rules, especially considering that he has not had a match on SmackDown Live since April 15. On a supplemental note, which brand superstars are exclusive to no longer seems to matter with the implementation of the Wild Card Rule.

I only bring that up because these two superstars are apparently on different brands. The Wild Card Rule has created an essential brand unification, which is positive in the light that superstars will be free to challenge any other superstar in the WWE without having to consider which brand they are exclusive to.

Rollins Heel Turn?

It might be useful for WWE to consider the possibility of turning Seth Rollins heel. He is doing surprisingly well as a face, but it simply cannot be argued that he has done his best work as a heel. It is completely understandable why WWE is opting to keep Seth as a babyface, as he is in a state of constant paranoia with the possibility of a Brock Lesnar cash-in looming, but WWE may want to seriously look into turning him heel again once that threat dissipates.

There is just a very cool and authentic quality about that slow, maniacal laugh. If this were to take place, it would also foretell of a Becky Lynch heel turn since WWE typically likes to keep couples on the same side of the face-heel dynamic. This shouldn’t be very difficult since she is basically already a heel, kind of like Stone Cold Steve Austin back in the day.

Less Scripted Weekly Shows

My suggestion to WWE in order to increase interest in the overall product and hopefully increase TV viewership as well is (no, it’s not the creation of another title) for Vince McMahon to trust in his superstars and empower them more by allowing them to appear on shows without a script and speak from the heart and allow their intuition to guide them as they are cutting promos.

Writers and the production team are still extremely valuable and will still be relied on, I am merely suggesting that superstars improvise more because they have a great feel for what the audience wants out of the product. WWE could start this experiment by having several superstars appear at Live Events and cut one unscripted promo. The company could determine who could be trusted with this creative freedom because obviously not everyone is suited for improving and some would probably try to use it for their own personal gain. My gut feeling is that some really could elevate both their careers and WWE’s Universe stature. It could yield unexpected gains for both the company as well as the superstars personally.

If executed well, this unscripted element would bring back a raw and unpredictable/authentic element to Monday Night Raw which the show is sorely lacking (a perfect example of this was displayed in the mid to late 1990s when Shawn Michaels announced he was leaving the company for a while due to injury and claimed that he had lost his smile. One could see on his face that this statement truly came from the heart and there was absolutely no way that could have been scripted).

This is what Mick Foley was absolutely right about when he made an appearance on Raw a few weeks ago; the way to correct it was not with a 24-7 Championship, however.