September 27, 2020 - Evan Luebbe

WWE Smackdown 9/25/2020

September 27, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

The Tribal Chief’s Mob Boss Storyline is Brewing

Roman Reigns, WWE’s Tribal Chief and Universal Champion, may be laying the foundation for a potential “Mafia-style storyline (according to Paul Davis of wrestlingnews.co) with his family in which he is a sort of “mob boss” type figure at the “head of the table” (Reigns used that terminology this week on SmackDown). This storyline will most likely get in full swing when Jimmy Uso returns from his torn ACL he suffered at WrestleMania 36 in the first-ever singles match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships (he suffered the injury back in April, so it might be reasonable to guess that he will be able to return in December/January).

Paul Heyman, meanwhile, recognizes that his purpose in this storyline is to aid The Big Dog in the process of becoming comfortable as a heel by creating a forceful and commanding presence. It not only makes for a good story, but it’s unselfish of Roman to push for his cousin to receive a title match after approximately a decade of competing in the tag team division (which has not gotten as much love in the last decade).

Speaking of that, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Gran Metalik in singles competition as his partner Cesaro has also done recently. This, along with the fact that Metalik’s partners Kalisto and Lince Dorado are arguing with each other and seemed to have disagreements regularly, is a giveaway that the champions will most likely retain their titles at Clash of Champions Gold Rush.

Unfortunately, the women’s tag team division is not receiving a high level of permanence either. This division was thrown together as somewhat of a last-minute thing, with not very much prior planning. As a result, Mr. McMahon is building this division as he goes.

The Fiend is the end game of Roman Reigns’ universal title Reign; the Foundation for this Match is being laid right now with Alexa Bliss

The Fiend’s presence was once again felt despite the fact that he did not make a physical appearance. He can seemingly control Alexa Bliss’ behavior by selectively invoking the screeching noise at certain times. The WWE universe is fully aware that the end game of Roman Reigns’ Universal Title reign is a match with The Fiend (most likely at WrestleMania 37, hopefully in front of live fans).

Alexa is already mesmerized and somewhat possessed by The Fiend. It might be feasible to imagine that she will become a mouthpiece for The Fiend (because she is so naturally gifted on the microphone). It is easy to envision her creating memorable moments with Paul Heyman on the stick each week. Another reason this is so easy to envision coming to fruition in the coming months is that Alexa was staring down Roman Reigns this week as he made his entrance – foreshadowing things to come.

Riddle’s Feud with Corbin Extended

King Corbin defeated Matt Riddle in what was easily the best match of the night – Corbin has earned major praise for being an extremely safe worker and protecting the body of whoever he is working with on that particular night. This result should serve to extend the rivalry between Corbin and Riddle. The Bro got the victory over Corbin at Payback on August 30, so it would be very feasible to figure that there will be a third encounter between the two men since Corbin got the victory in the second meeting this past Friday.

Matt Riddle is on an upward trajectory since debuting on the main roster in June. Other than defeating AJ Styles in his first match on the main roster, the victory over Corbin is Riddle’s biggest victory. The Original Bro should be a key component of the WWE main roster for years to come.

The storyline between Bayley and Sasha Banks Marinating

Sasha Banks may return to set up a Hell in a Cell confrontation with Bayley, but for now, the story needs time to breathe and marinate in the minds of the WWE universe. This will serve to make the story have more impact on each competitor when it finally does come to ahead. For now, Sasha might want to stay away to further the storyline and give it an adequate amount of time to simmer.

WWE Raw 9/21/2020

September 27, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Tom Phillips is back on Raw where he belongs as the voice of the show; and it’s always a joy to hear Jerry “The King” Lawler on Commentary

Retribution Debuts (surprising it wasn’t on Pay-Per-View)

Retribution’s first six-man tag team match against The Hurt Business ended by disqualification to protect the group so they can more quickly develop into a dominant faction on the main roster. There are about 25 members so not all of them were recognizable. However, the recognizable members were Dominik Dijakovic (the leader for now), Mia Yim, Mercedez Martinez (she was called up to the main roaster rather quickly after being in NXT for just a couple months), and Dio Maddin (who was on commentary for Monday Night Raw about a year ago and decided to pursue an in – ring career again).

Shane Thorne has also been a member of Retribution in recent weeks, so it would make sense for him to be another member. This also would be logical because Thorne did participate in several tag team matches earlier in the year on Monday Night Raw.

Keith Lee is protected with another Non-finish, this time by Randy Orton

Keith Lee’s match with Drew McIntyre ended in yet another non-finish with Randy Orton delivering another RKO to McIntyre ahead of their WWE championship encounter at Clash of Champions Gold Rush. The only match Lee has wrestled on the main roster that has had a conclusive and decisive finish is the one at Payback in which he beat The Viper in quick fashion.

As Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer is reporting, Mr. McMahon’s plan as of right now is for Randy Orton to win the WWE championship from McIntyre this Sunday and to hold the title until his big payoff match with Edge (once he returns from his triceps injury of course).

WWE reportedly chose to book an Ambulance match between Orton and Drew McIntyre so The Scottish Psychopath can be protected by not having to take a clean loss. The plan at the moment is for McIntyre to win the WWE title back in I would guess a year or so in front of the WWE universe so that he can have a “true crowning moment.”

There is also the potential there for Orton to begin a feud with Lee over the WWE championship at some point in time over the next few months to create a brand-new top-level star in WWE.

Seth Rollins’ primary goal right now is to make both the Mysterio kids into superstars; the Monday Night Messiah has arguably already succeeded with Dominik

Rollins wisely did not go back to the well of the storyline in which the legitimacy of Dominik being Rey Mysterio’s son is in question. Eddie Guerrero already told a brilliant story surrounding that topic 15 years ago. Instead, Rollins attempted to insinuate that Aalyah was not Rey’s biological daughter, claiming that Aalyah consoling Seth’s disciple Murphy last week was not characteristic of a Mysterio.

Rollins is in a stage of his career where he is heavily invested in creating new stars for the future of WWE and making sure the business is in good hands when he decides to leave. The Kingslayer arguably already accomplished that with Dominik by giving him his first three big matches in WWE (and sharing a heartwarming moment with Dominik after their SummerSlam match by giving Dominik his wrist tape as a symbolic and congratulatory moment, initiating Dominik into the business).

A romantic storyline is also budding between Murphy and Aalyah, and this could ultimately serve as a vehicle to write Seth off TV come December when his fiancée Becky Lynch is due to give birth to their baby. The Mysterio family already turned against Rollins, so it would make sense from a certain perspective for Aalyah to get in Murphy’s head regarding his own allegiance. Rollins would then have no allies, and this could give him a reason to not be involved in the storyline for a few months.

Braun Strowman defeats Dabba-Kato, who isn’t familiar enough with the WWE universe to be a massive star quite yet, but there is absolutely zero doubt that he will be in a few years. The man has everything you would ideally want if you were Vince McMahon

It will not hurt Dabba-Kato at all to lose to a former Universal Champion in Braun Strowman; instead it will do just the opposite. This is kind of an initiation match for Dabba-Kato to become a legitimate threat in WWE. The former football standout made his first main roster appearance in The Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018 before being sent to Evolve about a year later to work on honing his craft.

He made his return to the WWE main roster on the debut episode of Raw Underground on August 3, 2020. Braun Strowman was the perfect opponent for Dabba-Kato in his first major match considering that Braun eliminated him on the way to winning The Greatest Royal Rumble match (Kato wrestled the match under his biological first name Babatunde).

Vega’s first title Match Ever

Zelina Vega has some real in-ring potential that is largely untapped – no one has seen very much of her talents in the ring on TV. She absolutely gave Mickie James a much smoother match than she had with Asuka last week due to miscommunication with the referee – essentially James sold so well that there was a mistake. That will happen from time to time.

Zelina Vega will get an opportunity to test herself in her first ever title match in WWE. She most likely will not win the Raw Women’s Championship since she is going against one of the best in the world in Asuka, but this will still be very exciting for Zelina.

Asuka initiates Peyton Royce into Stardom

Similarly to Dabba-Kato being initiated into becoming a top star by Braun Strowman, Peyton Royce received the same sort of initiation from the Raw Women’s Champion Asuka. Mr. McMahon views Royce as a potential top star in the Women’s Division in WWE and is preparing to give her a major push in the coming months.

Who better than the champion to introduce someone to the bright lights of superstardom? Let’s see how well Peyton Royce responds.

Cedric Alexander’s 50/50 Booking

Cedric Alexander taking a loss to Apollo Crews after just defeating Apollo’s partner Ricochet last week was a prime example of the 50/50 booking WWE is known for. This will ensure that Alexander does not accumulate too much momentum as a member of The Hurt Business; and the CEO Bobby Lashley coming out after the match to attack Apollo gives hype to their United States championship rematch that has gotten virtually zero attention since SummerSlam.

To be honest, I had no idea this match was even taking place this Sunday until this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.

Andrade and Angel Garza become the Number One Contenders for the Raw Tag Team Titles after about Six Months of being a Team

There were a lot of moving pieces in this match simply because there were so many competitors. Seth Rollins is clearly most focused right now on putting over younger superstars like everyone else in this match, including his own partner Murphy; based on this fact, we could rule Seth and his disciple out immediately.

Dominik Mysterio and Humberto Carillo are simply too young. They have about two years of combined experience on the main roster. Having said that, these are two key components of the next decade in WWE.

Andrade and Garza have had time to gel together over the last several months. They have been a tag team since before WrestleMania 36; the timing is also interesting because it coincides with them disbanding from their allegiance to Zelina Vega.

WWE has two Options to break Ric Flair’s Record – Orton or Cena

September 27, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

There are several reasons why Randy Orton might be the best option to receive this accolade. The first is that Ric Flair said on Monday Night Raw just a couple of weeks before SummerSlam 2020 that he wanted Randy Orton to break his record of 16 World Heavyweight Championship reigns – not John Cena’s record – because Flair held it first.

The second reason is that John Cena is a part-time WWE superstar now, and he will be remembered for his larger-than-life persona. Cena’s natural sense of charisma will live on forever regardless of how many World Heavyweight Championships he finishes his career with. Randy Orton on the other hand has never been thrust into the spotlight with quite as much mainstream appeal as his counterpart – Orton has always been 1B to Cena’s 1A. This is similar to the dynamic between Anthony Davis and Lebron James with the Los Angeles Lakers currently. It might give Orton a little more mainstream attention and serve to make him into an even bigger star.

A third reason this might be the way to go is that Orton has much more time left in his career. Randy has made it perfectly clear that WWE is still his main priority and he still significantly values being present each week to tell compelling stories for Mr. McMahon’s company. Cena is more of a movie star at this stage of his career who occasionally comes back to WWE; it seems that now the only period John can absolutely be relied upon to come back for is the buildup to WrestleMania each year.

However, given The Viper’s level of commitment, it’s very easy to envision those several years consisting of four more world championships (Orton is already at 13 so he doesn’t need very many more).

Essentially, Cena can only be counted on to be present in WWE once a year for a WrestleMania match each year. On the flip side, Orton has at least 5-8 solid years left in his career of being a very capable and committed top star in WWE. The Viper clearly cares a great deal about ensuring the future of WWE. One can see evidence of this by looking at Orton’s previous feuds with younger superstars like Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. It can even be seen in his rivalries right now with Drew McIntyre (first WWE Title) and Keith Lee, who is brand-new to the main roster.

A fourth reason Randy Orton could be a better choice to break Ric Flair’s record for world titles is because of his history with Flair (Cena has none by the way, so he might not be able to tell as compelling of a story on account of this. Orton was a member of Evolution with both Flair and Triple H and has a great friendship with both men both personally and professionally. Randy was also made into a star right after his incredible and bloody rivalry with Flair back in 2005.

All of this is great, but I have not yet addressed probably the most important point, and that is Randy Orton’s healthy relationship with Mr. McMahon. Let’s face it, you are not going to go very far in WWE is you are not on the same page as the boss. So long as Vince McMahon is in support of The Viper, his trajectory and stock will continue to trend in the right direction.