August 17, 2019 - Evan Luebbe

More Planning

August 17, 2019August 17, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

There seemed to be much more planning for this week’s episode of SD Live because the show felt much more well thought out. This is a refreshing change from the last few weeks which featured multiple changes from Vince McMahon mere hours before the show started.

Daniel Bryan and Rowan left the WWE universe with a cliffhanger to keep us counting down the days until next Tuesday night. They promised to reveal Roman Reigns attacker since they forced Buddy Murphy to admit that he lied when he said that he saw Rowan neared the scene of the crime. Also, remember how I said Drew McIntyre should be the obvious favorite to win the King of the Ring tournament? Well I stand corrected. I didn’t think Kevin Owens would enter, but now he should be the favorite. This could be the first major accomplishment he has to start off his main event push.

It was very exciting to see Buddy Murphy getting a huge opportunity against Roman Reigns in his debut match on SD Live, because the former Cruiserweight Champion is more than deserving. He may be thrust into a program with Roman Reigns as his first big feud on the main roster. This is a sign that the company thinks very highly of him if his first big program is with the company’s top dog.

Side Note:The Revival are undoubtedly becoming much better mic workers. This progression is good to see. Ali’s repackaging should be interesting to watch play out. One more thing: it’s probably a good idea for WWE to not feature The Fiend on TV right after SummerSlam because this will add to the mystique of his character.

Austin Endorses Seth

August 17, 2019August 17, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

It is a very big deal that Stone Cold Steve Austin, one of the greatest of all time, publicly gave Seth Rollins his approval as Universal Champion while Monday Night Raw was on the air. Seth’s confidence has clearly risen because of this as evidenced by the promo he cut right before his match with AJ Styles. His confidence level and energy level are simply different in a very positive way. Now his mentality is truly that “I definitely deserve to be champion and I’m going to set the tone for the rest of the company.”

It’s fantastic to see Sasha Banks returning for the first time since ‘Mania. She was sorely missed because she is one of the best female performers in the company. The heel turn was expected and is welcomed because she is a better heel than babyface as evidenced by her NXT days. She will make for a great challenger for Becky Lynch and I guarantee there will be more eyeballs on the women’s division because of her return. The new hair color is also a refreshing change.

I’m unsure whether to be excited about the King of the Ring tournament to begin considering that it hasn’t been all that exciting the last few times WWE has done it (remember King Barrett). A perfect winner of this tournament would be Buddy Murphy, because he doesn’t have any other major championships or accomplishments on the main roster. This could serve in storyline as the accomplishment that gets the attention of WWE management. That is only assuming WWE doesn’t choose to go with the obvious choice, Drew McIntyre.

You’ve got to wonder if Rey Mysterio’s cryptic and emotional promo and his reference to his family is foreshadowing at the in-ring debut of his son Dominic, who is signed to WWE. He and Andrade can churn out great matches like it’s nothing. Also, Keep an eye on Drew McIntyre. A big push for him could be in the works to start very soon. He was protected at SummerSlam and not made to look weak by serving as backup for Shane McMahon.

Side Note:Maybe, since Elias has grounds to argue for a rematch against Ricochet (who has major support from the company), perhaps this could start a slightly more serious push of Elias. It’s also worth noting that Samoa Joe seems to be in the process of a gradual face turn after showing concern last week for Roman Reigns. He still seems to be untrusting of the WWE universe, however.

Balor & Lashley Observations

August 17, 2019August 17, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

Before covering SummerSlam, I wanted to include a quick paragraph about how utterly astounded I was learning that Finn Balor does “absolutely zero cardio” in his training regimen. One would think that cardio is all he does just looking at him and considering how ripped he is.

Also, one person who was forgotten about and left off the card (which is somewhat disappointing) is Bobby Lashley. I proposed a couple months ago that perhaps Lashley could be the man to challenge Lesnar for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but it seems WWE has elected to go in the complete opposite direction. Hopefully Lashley will be pushed at least a little post-SummerSlam. It would be a great reward to him for all of his hard work over the years to receive at least one Universal Championship opportunity before his extremely physical in-ring style begins to diminish. If Vince McMahon doesn’t like the idea of a Lashley-Lesnar match it could always be against someone else (just a suggestion).