September 28, 2019 - Evan Luebbe

3 Title Matches Next Week

September 28, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

NXT has had a beautiful opportunity over the past two weeks to establish it itself as the premier wrestling show on cable TV before AEW’s deal when TNT starts on October 2 – and they absolutely nailed it.

What I think people love about NXT, and the reason it is able to separate it itself and create a distinct feel as opposed to the main roster, is that the superstars are given more than enough time for each individual match. Therefore, they have the opportunity to turn what would normally be a very good story into a great one. The key word in that sentence is time.

NXT definitely has no shortage of performers, but they don’t have quite as many as the main roster does. This might actually be an advantage because the performers Triple H is able to sign are all viewed very highly, and they are given the opportunity to reach their highest potential. That might be the key reason why NXT is growing so quickly and why every performer who is there wants to be there and would not rather be anywhere else.

Matt Riddle finally cashed in after almost a year with NXT and armed himself with the No. 1 Contendership for Adam Cole’s NXT Championship. It should be a great episode next week. It will provide significant competition for AEW with this NXT Title match, the NXT Tag Team Championships being defended by Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly against the Street Profits, and Shayna Baszler defending her NXT Women’s Championship against Candice LeRae. The match between Cole and Riddle will be excellent and either man could win. The Street Profits will probably lose, because they would probably just skip over their rematch and go straight to the main roster if NXT had suitable contenders right now for the Undisputed Era.

Candice LeRae also most likely does not stand a chance against Shayna Baszler. While I love Candice, Triple H has put an awful lot of time and effort into establishing Baszler as a dominant Women’s Champion. It would only be believable at this point if she were to lose the title to a bad-ass woman, and LeRae doesn’t bring quite enough of that.

Side Note: Keith Lee has an incredibly bright future as a serious title contender in NXT, with his ridiculous athleticism for a man that size.

KO – Shane Ladder Match

September 28, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

The final episode of SD Live on USA turned out to be a fun one. The new era on FOX will be a huge opportunity for WWE to further solidify itself as a company that is respected and beloved by mainstream society. Not only that, WWE has a great opportunity to change the way it is viewed by the majority of people and convince people worldwide to view it as a sport (Triple H has openly talked about how he would like WWE to be viewed as a sport as opposed to just entertainment).

One has to infer that the ladder match between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon will take place on the premiere episode of SmackDown on FOX October 4. This will be a great combination to the long-standing rivalry between the two men. It will also be Kevin Owens’ first ladder match since WrestleMania 32 in 2016 if I recall correctly. This may mean Kevin Owens will finally be able to move on to a meaningful feud – possibly for the WWE Championship – without Shane McMahon hanging over his head.

Erick Rowan has improved remarkably over the last several years in the ring and he is also much more comfortable on the mic. He just seems to be a perfect fit as a monster heel in WWE. Daniel Bryan officially turned babyface again, aligning with Roman Reigns to form a tag team to take on the former Wyatt family members/Bludgeon Brothers Luke Harper and Erick Rowan at Hell in a Cell. I don’t know about you, but I think I might be more behind Daniel Bryan than I was before he turned heel in November 2018.

Kofi Kingston very well may have conducted his best and most authentic interview of his WWE tenure this week with Michael Cole. He seems very comfortable, secure, and deeply rooted in who he is as a person. As much as you’ve got to love Kofi Kingston’s attitude, it’s still inevitable that The Beast Brock Lesnar will win the WWE Championship next week on FOX.

Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch took the next step in terms of advancing their rivalry. Their match at Clash of Champions was extremely intense and the rematch will surely be every bit as intense and maybe even a little more. It’s a possibility at this point for Sasha to win the title from Becky so she can gain more heat from the WWE universe. But the creative team is in a good spot with this match because either outcome could have a very plausible and interesting story.

A massive amount of respect has to be given to Ali because, while he took the L this week, he displayed his toughness while taking a major beating from Shinsuke Nakamura. I’m not a doctor, but Ali may be at least slightly concussed after that one. We have to feel for Ali a little because he looked as though he might get an intercontinental Championship match against Shinsuke after picking up a victory against him in a non-title match on the July 30 episode of SD Live.

Side Note: I feel like Carmella deserves an honorable mention because she has been thrust into the spotlight a little more after becoming the 24/7 Champion.

Last Title Opportunity for Mysterio

September 28, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

One has to feel a little bit for Braun Strowman because it seems that every time he gets in the picture for a world title match, he comes up short (no offense Gable). In the eyes of any observant fan, this obviously means that Vince McMahon doesn’t trust Braun enough to carry the company as its primary champion and face. He has had multiple opportunities at the Universal Championship (most notably against Brock Lesnar), but for whatever reason WWE has been unwilling to pull the trigger on him. This week on Raw, however, Strowman gets a pass because he fell victim to an attack by The Fiend Bray Wyatt. “Oh my lucky stars! The Fiend made a new friend.”

I think Rey Mysterio shocked us all this week in a very good way. He has been teasing retirement recently, but when a parent is doing something for their child, they can make miracles happen. WWE must have big plans in store for Dominic, because he is already signed to a WWE contract. Dominic will be with the company for many years to come, since he is only in his early 20s and has been under the training of Lance Storm. Mysterio vs. Rollins next week on the season premiere of Monday Night Raw is sure to be a main event that will draw quite a few eyeballs to the show. Personally, I thought WWE creative might use this opportunity to springboard the career of Ricochet, because they clearly love him and rightfully so.

Robert Roode showed some serious potential to be a future world champion in WWE as well. I would’ve never guessed he would be one of the final two men in the fatal five-way match. It would be great to see him receive a push similar to the one Triple H gave him in NXT, where he was the premier champion for about eight months before losing it to Drew McIntyre.

Vince McMahon clearly has a significant affinity towards Baron Corbin and is making no qualms about it. He is clearly the most hated heel in the company – and it’s not close – and he is fully embracing the role. The boos are deafening and Reigns-esque. Fortunately, WWE is not trying to force-feed Corbin to the WWE universe by incessantly pushing him as a babyface. Gable is also proving to have major potential and is using his excellent in-ring chemistry with Corbin to elevate himself. His moonsaults look exactly like Kurt Angle’s (maybe Kurt could manage him in the future).

Vince McMahon is also reportedly a huge fan of Gable’s and this is the primary reason he has received a recent sizable push in the King of the Ring tournament. Chad reminds me of a Daniel Bryan type purely because of his size, so maybe Vince McMahon has a sweet spot in his heart for Gable because he is a former Olympian like Kurt Angle and he possesses similar size to Daniel Bryan (and both of those guys worked out well in the past).

The Sasha Banks-Becky Lynch storyline has the potential to become the main story in all of WWE. Two of The Four Horsewomen of WWE with abilities as they have – this very well may be money. It is very reminiscent of the Sasha Banks-Charlotte Flair rivalry from about three years ago.

It is also not looking as though the Women’s Tag Team Championships are a significant priority at the moment. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross are currently in somewhat of a rivalry with Sasha Banks and Bayley, but they probably won’t be challenged at Hell in a Cell by them as Sasha will be challenging Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship and Bayley will presumably defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship at the event.

Regarding The Fiend, a few people on Twitter and YouTube have insinuated that this new gimmick for Wyatt could initiate the reunion of the original Wyatt family. Obviously for this to happen, Wyatt would need to lose his Universal Championship match to Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell (which seems unlikely), He would also need to be drafted to SmackDown with his brothers Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. They could even potentially convince Daniel Bryan to join them once again since he is currently a heel. This storyline would be a little different, but it would still have money written all over it (it probably won’t happen, but it’d be an awesome potentiality).

Corbin Second Option

September 28, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

It has come to light recently that Baron Corbin was WWE’s second choice to win the King of the Ring tournament. It’s not a big deal that my own personal pick Kevin Owens got booted, but it is telling that WWE’s original choice to win the tournament (and my second) was Drew McIntyre, and he was slated to be thrown into a program with Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship immediately after. This also tells the WWE universe that the creative team still has big plans for him in the future. He just had to have surgery at a rather unfortunate time (but we need him healthy for the road to WrestleMania).

Because of the unfortunate timing of this, don’t be surprised if WWE elects to do the KOTR tournament again next year and have McIntyre get the accolade. This would be reminiscent of when Triple H was positioned to win KOTR in 1996. Vince McMahon decided to give the accolade to Stone Cold Steve Austin instead because of the incident at Madison Square Garden.

The Kliq broke character to say their goodbyes to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, who were leaving the company for WCW. Triple H would ultimately win it the next year in 1997. The rise of Corbin is a pretty good consolation prize though.

Positioning for FOX

September 28, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

Some scenarios that would be great for WWE to make happen in connection with SmackDown’s move to FOX are:

Brock Lesnar wins the WWE Championship from Kofi Kingston
A marquee feud develops for Roman Reigns following Hell in a Cell and looks like it will be a tag team match where he teams with Daniel Bryan to take on Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, and
I’m proposing that Seth Rollins loses his Universal Championship to The Fiend Bray Wyatt and subsequently gets drafted to SmackDown, immediately turning heel and starting a rivalry with Roman Reigns.

First of all, most WWE fans liked Seth Rollins better as a heel, and that maniacal laugh he can do so authentically is very heel-ish in nature. Quite some time has passed since this conflict between the two former Shield members, and this would be a great way to kick off the FOX era for WWE.

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns are two of the biggest and most recognizable names WWE has to offer, and with Brock Lesnar being added to the equation as a potential WWE Champion, WWE could be in perfect position to garner a whole new audience on FOX. Seth has also never been featured regularly on SmackDown since the most recent brand split in 2016.

Another thing WWE may want to consider for the debut episode of SmackDown on FOX on October 4 is to orchestrate an attack on The Undertaker by The Fiend, since The Fiend already attacked The Undertaker’s brother Kane.

With the move to FOX drawing closer, it appears to forebode that WWE will make a real effort to establish SmackDown as the A- show over Raw. Don’t be surprised if WWE elects to move some top superstars over to SmackDown so they are in a position to garner a brand new fanbase on FOX. Stars such as Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins, The OC and Braun Strowman could all move.

We can’t forget either that Brock Lesnar is already there for what looks like the foreseeable future given that he will most likely win the WWE Championship. Vince McMahon has a real affinity towards former UFC athletes (particularly Lesnar), especially when you look at the career paths of stars like Matt Riddle, Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler.