November 16, 2019 - Evan Luebbe

Good Quality

November 19, 2019November 16, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

For all the scrutiny SmackDown has gotten since moving to FOX, the quality of the show is pretty damn good with WWE settling into its new home. The show is starting to feel more like an actual sporting event, as promised. My hypothesis is… this is due to the pace of the show slowing down and not feeling so frantic, as is the case with some other wrestling/sports entertainment programs.

It’s very hard for one to tell whether Daniel Bryan is a face or heel in his rivalry with Bray Wyatt. He is so introverted, maybe he’s going after tweener territory, which might be a good spot for him at this point in his career.

The blue Universal Championship to match the color of SmackDown (even though I personally think red suits the character of The Fiend better).

Maybe Vince McMahon will wind up changing Shorty G’s name back to Chad Gable in several months like he just did with Ali by adding the “Mustafa” back into his name.

Side Note: I will not be writing about next week’s go-home episode of SD before Survivor Series because I travel to Philadelphia.

Offseason

November 19, 2019November 16, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

It might significantly help WWE in the company’s effort to create top stars like The Rock and John Cena if they instituted an offseason. The reason I say this is because of the WWE universe’s extremely short attention span when it comes to which superstar receives a push (I am talking primarily about people of the millennial generation and younger – and that’s okay for me to say because I’m one of them).

As soon as one superstar gets anything reminiscent of a sizable push, fans seem to turn their attention to about five other superstars who aren’t getting the same kind of love from Vince McMahon and the WWE creative team. It seems that unless your name is Becky Lynch or your last name is after a legend, then it’s virtually impossible to get over. Just look at Seth Rollins as the most recent example, or Roman Reigns.

An offseason would give fans an opportunity to take their attention away from the product and get a little bit of a break from constantly seeing the same people getting the same treatment. I know it’s not feasible, but just pretend for a minute that injuries were not a thing and the NFL season went on year-round. People would be even more sick of seeing people like Tom Brady succeed.

In my view, WWE would have two options in terms of how to execute this offseason. The first option would be to take the months of May, June and July off and resume a few weeks before SummerSlam, kind of the way the NFL does it where the Fall season is played out followed by an off-season – chronological order.

A second, and slightly different option, would be to have kind of a midseason break, in which the Fall months between SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble are taken off. I could see WWE choosing to go with the latter in order to set themselves apart from any other sporting organization. This would also be helpful in an effort to change public opinion that WWE is viewed more so as a sporting agency, which I know is a dream of Triple H’s.

WWE has already made a great deal of progress in 2019 in terms of this, and I believe instituting an offseason would make these positive effects even more far-reaching.

MJF Budding Superstar

November 19, 2019November 16, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

I can fully understand why some wrestling fans gravitate toward AEW more than WWE because the content they produce is far edgier. They are basically doing what WWE did to win the Monday Night Wars. WWE used to produce content very similar to this back in the Attitude Era, but the company has gone softer (particularly in recent years) in an attempt to appeal to viewers of all different demographics and ages.

AEW provides fans with just enough familiarity with WWE (because they have at least 5-7 superstars and several other employees who worked with WWE in the past. Jon Moxley, formerly known as Dean Ambrose in WWE, was probably the character with a vibe very reminiscent of a superstar in the Attitude Era. And Chris Jericho, Le Champion, may be the greatest of all time after having success to this degree in two different companies.

Jericho, in my opinion, is the perfect first world champion in AEW because he has such an established reputation around the world. Fans are virtually immune at this point to growing tired of his reign as champion because he has reached a level of superstardom where fans just simply accept he is one of the greatest.

One of those employees is Jim Ross, who worked as the play-by-play announcer for WWE. He did the same job Michael Cole currently does– and he serenaded the WWE universe right through the Attitude Era. Many older wrestling fans have a sentimental soft spot for “Good Ol’ JR” because he guided the company, at least on screen, through probably the greatest Era in professional wrestling history.

As I was watching Jericho and MJF’S promo segment this week, I heard a couple of their remarks and I thought to myself, “This is exactly what WWE did in the late 90s. Why don’t they do that stuff anymore?” If they did, they would lose their audience under 12, but they would gain a lot more viewers in the 18-34-year-old demographic, which mostly drives the product.

MJF is also a budding superstar in the professional wrestling/sports entertainment industry. He appears to be much further along in his development and much more comfortable in front of a live crowd than even Randy Orton or John Cena was at age 23. It takes a whole lot of nerve to be able to command an audience that well at such a young age.

Contrasting NXT and AEW

November 19, 2019November 16, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

It looks like Finn Balor will begin a rivalry in place of the one he was supposed to have with Johnny Gargano until Gargano’s injury heals. This was very much expected, and the rivalry will be with Matt Riddle. Riddle will be taken out of the WarGames match at Takeover and be replaced by Dominick Dijakovic. The feud between Gargano and Balor is still expected to happen; it’s just been delayed a little.

Congratulations to Isaiah Scott for picking up a victory over Bronson Reed. I love what “Swerve” brings to the table, but I was anticipating that Reed would pick up his second straight victory. This is a prime example of one of WWE’s issues (and the sports entertainment industry at large) that they constantly face. Every superstar now receives 50/50 booking because fans are so quick to turn on any superstar who received any hint of a major push.

You don’t believe me; look at Kofi Kingston, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns being the most extreme examples. I’m not even sure if superstars like The Rock or Steve Austin would be able to get over – they probably would, just not super easily in today’s era. My theory on this is that it is directly caused by the short attention span that millennials have. A great deal of this, although not all of it, can be attributed to the advent of social media.

The Cruiserweight Championship match delivered precisely what the WWE universe anticipated. It was a highflying, incredible match in which the champion Lio Rush, who appears to have found his niche in WWE, walked out on top. Angel Garza gave a great showing, but he’s simply not quite ready for a title.

Side Note: I don’t see Aliyah getting over in WWE so long as Carmella is with the company simply because they look too much alike.

Backstage Scoop

November 19, 2019November 16, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

There were a few sizable insights that came from the November 12, 2019 episode of WWE Backstage. The biggest revelation was that CM Punk is officially contracted with FOX and is on a WWE program after departing nearly 6 years ago. He will appear starting next week, November 19, on WWE Backstage on FS1. However, this contract provides an avenue for him to potentially return to the ring for a match and WWE down the road.

It’s no surprise that The Miz and Paige have signed new contracts with WWE, but what is extremely surprising is that Johnny Gargano, or Johnny Takeover I should say, will miss NXT Takeover: WarGames because of a neck injury. WWE will need to get creative and find another way they can use Finn Balor at Takeover, because Triple H was clearly building towards a match between Gargano and Balor. I can’t see a scenario where the returning Balor is not used in some capacity.

Bray Wyatt’s Future After WWE

November 19, 2019November 16, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

Bray Wyatt could easily have a job as a member of the WWE creative team after he finishes his in-ring career. The reason I say this is because of how imaginative he gets with his own gimmick. Most of the promos and extras that provide his character with direction are not by the creative team but come from the mind of Bray himself. He then executes it beautifully.

Underwhelming Episode

November 19, 2019November 16, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

The Veterans Day addition of Monday Night Raw was an underwhelming show indeed. However, this needs to be put into perspective. People on the Internet are always so quick to criticize WWE for any and all bad events they put on. They forget that WWE has no off-season and shows go year-round; it’s inevitable that the quality of shows will fluctuate depending on the time of year. They cannot all be A’s; there will be a few D’s and even a couple F’s throughout the year.

My theory on the reason why this week’s episode of Raw was so underwhelming is that it was largely due to Dio Maddin being absent because of the attack from Brock Lesnar. Maddin has quietly established himself as a top-level commentator right up there with Corey Graves. In these matches, it’s not only the athletes that offer entertainment, it’s the commentators as well.

The show, which emanated from Manchester, England, started out with a pretty good promo and match afterward from Becky Lynch. Somehow the spell gradually got worse for about two hours until it was capped off with a segment from Lana which featured some terrible acting. I felt like I was watching a bad soap opera or Lifetime movie with my mom. Rusev only made the segment worse by playing dumb.

Becky Lynch is still fitting very authentically into her role as Raw Women’s Champion and it seems to be very much in the energetic state of doing whatever it takes to remain champion. It doesn’t matter much that she was unable to capture the Women’s Tag Team Championships with Charlotte Flair.

One way WWE could potentially help the underwhelming nature of shows such as this one is to establish the consistent presence of stars like Aleister Black rather than having him simply sit in the back and cut cryptic promos. He is a more than capable competitor and could provide significant aid in terms of TV ratings.

Randy Orton seems to be playing the role of a grizzled veteran, kind of like a Clint Eastwood type of character. Around the younger superstars who are trying to prove themselves, he seems to have the mentality of “you’d better not mess with me because I no longer have time for your crap.”

It can come across as being extremely insensitive in the moment, but one can sense that he really cares, kind of like Clint Eastwood’s demeanor. In the 2008 film Gran Torino.

Side Note: Humberto Carillo got the pin in the main event of Raw, which is telling. At 24 years old, he may be the best young prospect WWE has at the moment.

Speaking of Veterans Day, this is the time of year when we should most recognize people like Bobby Lashley and Lacey Evans for their service in the military. A special recognition goes from me personally to Lacey Evans – a former Marine – because I myself have a brother who is currently in the Marines.

Daniel Bryan – The Bray Wyatt Reunion

November 19, 2019November 16, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

It’s fantastic that Daniel Bryan, a former Wyatt Family member himself, has rekindled his rivalry with Bray Wyatt. The rivalry still feels fresh, however, because Wyatt has now brought The Fiend into it (others seem to think so also). Hopefully, they can build on the obvious chemistry they displayed when they worked together several years ago. They had an amazing match to open the show at the 2014 Royal Rumble. Daniel Bryan went on to WrestleMania that year to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and reap the rewards of the YES! Movement.

In an ideal world, WWE creative will be able to capitalize on the fact that they’ve already built a good amount of fan investment several years ago in the feud between Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. It just might keep the WWE universe captivated for at least a few months. In this scenario, the two superstars could work with each other until their WrestleMania programs begin, probably in February or March.