November 24, 2019 - Evan Luebbe

Contrasting AEW & WWE Rosters

November 24, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

The men’s division in AEW – particularly the top 10 or so guys – is virtually on par with that of WWE. There are absolutely no concerns in that department. The character development of the guys in AEW is every bit as good and in some ways a little better than WWE. It cannot be argued that they have more creative freedom and room to be themselves. Two AEW guys who are great examples of this and who were also contracted with WWE in the past are Jon Moxley and Pac.

The place where AEW is lacking, to a degree, and where WWE is far and away superior is in the women’s division. AEW is in no shortage of in-ring talent in their women’s division, but they are at a shortage with the amount of attention they pay to storylines involving women.

This will surely improve in the future – the company relies more on the men’s division right now to draw eyeballs and create interest in the product. The AEW women’s division seems to have a bright future; a little patience, however, is needed.

CM Punk’s Criticism of WWE

November 24, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

CM Punk makes some very valid points regarding his criticisms of WWE. Even a WWE fan like myself has to acknowledge that he is exactly right when he says that there is too much micromanagement in WWE. Even Vince McMahon himself has to admit that sometimes he is a bit of a control freak who overthinks some elements of his product. The problem with that is the product becomes watered down at times.

For this reason, the product might be even a little better when Triple H completely takes over day-to-day operations of the company because he is a little more relaxed when it comes to this. He doesn’t seem to overthink things and just goes out there and does it.

WWE could learn a thing or two from AEW in that regard. Tony Khan and the rest of AEW management allow superstars to have much more creative freedom. That is exactly why Dean Ambrose left WWE earlier this year and is having great success in AEW as Jon Moxley. The company allows its superstars to trust their own instincts in front of the crowd and improvise a little bit by inserting just a little bit of their own material if they happen to get stuck as far as the direction of a promo.

Trust is a very powerful thing you can give someone. The best part about it – is that it is intangible. Yet another reason why one has to believe AEW has experienced so much early success is that they have Chris Jericho, a very established star, as “Le Champion” carrying the company in the right direction.

He’s so experienced and is still able to put on great matches, not to mention he has multiple other businesses. For example, AEW will have an episode of Dynamite on January 15, 2020 in Miami, Florida as part of one of Jericho’s cruises.

Samoa Joe on Commentary Salvages Monday Night Raw

November 24, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

It looks like WWE came to the realization that Jerry Lawler and Vic Joseph did not provide quite the level of excitement that the WWE universe is used to on Monday Night Raw November 11^th. Because Dio Maddin is still out due to his storyline injury from Brock Lesnar’s attack, Vince McMahon wisely chose to add a new member to the announce team for the November 18th episode. Samoa Joe did an excellent job on commentary and made the show feel a little more exciting and unpredictable.

NXT has dealt with a mild amount of overexposure. The entire reason it has been so successful is that it has gotten the right amount of exposure. WWE just needs to stay the course and the ratings on the USA Network will surely rise. The presence of AEW, however, will make this process slightly longer and more difficult.

It has been revealed who WWE is going to push heading into the end of 2019. Some up-and-coming superstars will receive the bulk of Paul Heyman’s attention such as AOP, Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy. AOP’s eventual clash with The Viking Raiders is something to look forward to. The budding rivalry between Buddy Murphy and Aleister Black is absolutely perfect and is just what each superstar needs right now. The two young stars can build each other up into legitimate title contenders.

Humberto Carillo will also continue to be very heavily pushed as he will get yet another opportunity at AJ Styles’ United States Championship on November 25th.

Vince McMahon seems to be building the pairing between Lana and Bobby Lashley toward a wedding between the two at ‘Mania. Lana is such a bad actor that I don’t see the WWE universe being able to tolerate this storyline for that long unfortunately. The funny thing about this is that it’s serving as a constant reminder of just how much Vince McMahon failed by not capitalizing on Rusev Day and putting a title on him during that time because fans are still chanting it. Maybe it could be revived.

Breakup of The New Day

November 24, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

A potential avenue could have been created for WWE to orchestrate the breakup of The New Day with the injury to Xavier Woods. Upon his return, he and Big E could decide to turn on Kofi Kingston because he has gotten most of the glory out of the three men. This could have built up some resentment and jealousy from Xavier and Big E, particularly when Kofi was WWE Champion.

WWE is excellent at feeding the unexpected nature of the injuries into its storylines. For all I know, they could elect to do the exact opposite of what I am proposing and that would work out just fine. The New Day has probably been the most successful group WWE has ever seen. They have been a blast to watch over the last 5 years.

Elimination of 205 Live and Dark Matches

November 24, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

In my humble opinion, 205 Live as well as dark matches before Raw and after SmackDown should be done away with in order to avoid overexposure of the WWE product. Take the two dark matches that occurred after the November 15th SmackDown for instance: Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin and Daniel Bryan vs. The Fiend.

Both matchups will take place at TLC and Survivor Series respectively. Why does WWE feel the need to have matches before Pay-Per-View, taking away from the confrontation at the actual event? The elimination of these would also give superstars an opportunity to foster a better lifestyle for themselves and their families. It could also provide their bodies with some much-needed rest. Live events don’t necessarily have to be done away with because those events contribute to the overall storylines for Raw and SmackDown.

Regarding 205 Live being canceled, cruiserweights can’t be made into more of a special attraction that is only featured on NXT. More is not always better, and fan burnout from overexposure is a real thing.

Mustafa Ali Big Push Pending

November 24, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

The recent regaining of his first name coupled with his appearance on the CBS Evening News could signify that WWE has come to the realization that they have struck gold with Mustafa Ali. The former cop has formed a deep connection with the WWE universe in a relatively short amount of time. Not to mention that he makes a political statement with his ties to the Muslim religion.

Perhaps Mustafa Ali could ultimately end The Fiend’s Universal title reign. If this were to come to fruition, WWE would have succeeded at two different things:

Successful elevation of The Fiend, and
A brand-new top star would be created in Ali, which is something WWE has struggled with in recent years.

AEW Full Gear Main Event

November 24, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

The Full Gear main event on November 9th between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley was a little gory and uncomfortable to watch at a couple of points. What drew fans to it was the palpable level of passion the two men brought. They told an absolutely fantastic story without saying a word. There hasn’t been a match with a combination of that much passion and brutality (including broken glass and barbed wire) in probably 20 years.

It’s good for Jim Ross to have gotten an opportunity to call a match with that level of brutality and brilliant storytelling. He did not call ECW back in the day, but he did call some bloody matches in WWE, the most famous possibly being the Hell in a Cell confrontation back in 2005 between Triple H and Batista