Evan Luebbe

Steve Austins Broken’s Skull Podcast with The Undertaker

My primary takeaway from this first episode was when The Undertaker (or Mark Calloway) said “less is more.” This is incredibly true and very applicable to the superstars of today. Sure, they can’t do everything you could imagine athletically, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if they can’t captivate and enthrall the audience. They have to make them care about their particular character and show them why their character is different from anyone else.

I personally love guys like Ricochet and want them to succeed more than anything. But, superstars need to be able to develop a mystique about them that makes the audience care and draws in the WWE universe if they want to truly get over and have longevity and marketability within the company. The process of getting over comes down to character every bit as much as, if not more than, athleticism.

Rollins Heel Turn Cemented for The Week

Seth Rollins’ heel turn is finally official, at least for this week. WWE creative went about it in a very clever way by adding a very real element to it.  This is exactly what Seth does on social media, a perfect example being when he called AEW the minor leagues of wrestling. The more he talks, the more he seems to stick his own foot in his mouth. He did it this time by calling out and almost insulting the entire Raw roster after they gave it their all at Survivor Series.

Seth is going to play more of a tweener character where he’ll be working as a heel in some programs and a babyface in others; very similar to what Roman Reigns was doing several years ago. Hopefully he will have more luck in getting over with the WWE universe as a more authentic character who is true to himself.

It’s impressive for Rey Mysterio to still have the endurance at 45 years old to be able to put on three matches in two nights; and look good doing it. This has been a good run for Mysterio toward the end of his in-ring career with WWE.

His primary goal right now may be to hang around long enough to give his son Dominic a good storyline to springboard his career with WWE. Rey has probably won a title at this point for that reason which is extremely unselfish, and I greatly respect that.

Side Note: it’s good to see AOP being given an immediate spotlight upon their push. The red friend is clearly the place for new stars to be created right now in WWE.

Categories RAW

Survivor Series

The single biggest take away from Survivor Series was that NXT seems to have been officially established as a third brand in WWE. NXT is no longer just developmental, but rather a place that has more of a focus on recruiting young talent that has not previously been with the company.

It just feels right to have Becky Lynch main-eventing a Pay-Per-View. She creates the same aura John Cena did; not so much in terms of on-screen character but because they both command the attention of the audience so well. They emanate the feeling that they are in exactly the right place within the company that they should be. Shayna Baszler also already feels like a main eventer.

The NXT roster had an extremely strong showing, winning 4 of 7 head-to-head matches between Raw, SmackDown, and NXT overall at Survivor Series. Three of four which took place on the main card.

Three NXT superstars stood out:

  1. Rhea Ripley had an amazing weekend, leading each of her respective teams to victory, each with a disadvantage.
  2. Adam Cole and Pete Dunne each fought through injuries from the previous night to put on what was probably the best match of the night. This match also put NXT in the spotlight because it was for the NXT Title. I would love to see the spectacle these guys could execute when fully healthy.
  3. Keith Lee is another one that stood out, mostly for not only eliminating The Architect Seth Rollins (who is due for a heel turn) and being put over by The Big Dog and the top superstar in the entire company Roman Reigns. Roman is a very classy guy in his own right and legitimately cares about the company more than anything.

While it was nice to see Dominic doing his absolute best to even the odds for his dad Rey Mysterio, it simply was not enough to overcome Brock Lesnar. This was more than expected. It has become somewhat of a staple for Lesnar to have his best match of the year at Survivor Series: AJ Styles in 2017, Daniel Bryan in 2018, and now Rey Mysterio in 2019.

I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of emphasis “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and the Universal Championship received. At least for this Pay-Per-View, it was relegated to the status the WWE Championship has been under for about the last three years. The Fiend and Daniel Bryan both deserve better than this.

It seems that WWE could possibly create a tag team of Daniel Bryan and The Miz which would be a great idea since they have an extensive amount of history with one another deleting back to 2010 in the first season of NXT.

Shinsuke Nakamura is significantly benefiting from the presence of Sami Zayn. What is happening is that the WWE universe is getting so irritated by Zayn and his punchable face that they are starting to develop a liking again for Nakamura. As a result, I would expect WWE to turn Shinsuke into a fan favorite again within the next couple of months, leading to a match between him and Sami Zayn at ‘Mania.

Potential option ideas for WWE creative to execute at Survivor Series 2020 are:

  1. To either have each match have some sort of Royal Rumble implication (I will leave it up to them which implications they choose for the matches to have, but it would be great if the Survivor Series matches had some type of impact in the future).
  2. Or, WWE could always go back to the more traditional route of orchestrating it so the Survivor Series matches served to create new, marketable superstars; either way, I just think I speak for the entire WWE universe when I state that it would be beneficial if one of these transpired.

Side Note: The Viking Raiders needed the victory in the tag team match to keep their momentum as an unstoppable force in the Raw tag team division. Very smart decision.

NXT Takeover: WarGames

Most true wrestling fans have an appreciation for NXT Takeover events because while only 4-5 matches take place at each one, they are still of the utmost quality and keep fans talking about them for several months until the next Takeover.

The current NXT superstars who will most likely be receiving a sizable push heading into WrestleMania season are Keith Lee and Dakota Kai. Lee has probably traveled about 90% of the road to being built up properly in order to become a champion in NXT. The NXT universe is chanting “Bask in his Glory” when he is not even participating in matches – and this is a telltale sign that a superstar is clearly over with the audience.

The most despicable heel turn of the night goes to Dakota Kai. This will undoubtedly draw eyeballs to the storyline she is involved in, because there was really no clear reason as to why she would attack her best friend Tegan Nox. This could make Kai a household name in the NXT women’s division.

This comes at a great time in her career, because she has had trouble for a while getting over as a babyface. Now in one night, she goes on to be one of the most hated superstars in NXT with perhaps the only exception being Shayna Baszler

I must say that if people really pay attention to WWE they could have seen the Kevin Owens appearance at Takeover coming. Triple H was talking to him on the previous episode of Monday Night Raw about how he has been told on a few different occasions over his time on the main roster that he doesn’t exactly fit the mold of what a traditional WWE superstar is supposed to look like, and he loves it. This is accurate, and Kevin has extraordinary potential in WWE to be a massive star.

He could be like a Steve Austin type of persona if WWE has the inclination to turn him into that, since he’s already got the Stunner. Maybe this was the reason behind his tweet from a couple of months ago that read: 14 – 24 – 20, coinciding with the letters of the alphabet spelling NXT. He could have been saying “I’m coming soon.”

I can’t be 100% positive because he left the ring prematurely after giving Tommaso Ciampa a hug, as if to say this was a one-time thing.

It’s a smart storyline move on WWE’s part to orchestrate an NXT Championship match to take place at Survivor Series. While the matches should all be great, none of them have very many implications for the future other than the couple title matches. It will be nice to add one more. In my humble opinion, I would orchestrate for at least some of the Survivor Series matches to have some sort of Royal Rumble implication.

The most established NXT superstar was booked to win the match which was absolutely the right call – Pete Dunne was the beneficiary. The other two superstars in the match are both incredible talents, particularly Damian Priest. Both are most likely future champions; they have just not built enough of a following yet.

Finn Balor may be a heel, but it has to be respected that he did exactly what he said he was going to do by beating Matt Riddle, a wonderfully talented superstar in his own right.

Contrasting AEW & WWE Rosters

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

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

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 11th. 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.

Categories RAW

Breakup of The New Day

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

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

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:

  1. Successful elevation of The Fiend, and
  2. A brand-new top star would be created in Ali, which is something WWE has struggled with in recent years.
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Disclosure: This site is not affiliated with WWE – just a diehard fan writing commentary on events.
 
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