Evan Luebbe

Palace of Positivity, Baby!!!

SmackDown Live is officially not the house that AJ Styles built anymore. Kofi Kingston’s victory over Styles this week got me thinking that it might be more beneficial to WWE to have him retain his WWE Championship against Randy Orton at SummerSlam.

For a couple of weeks now I have been leaning towards Orton because we know what we will get out of Randy Orton as champion (we’ve seen it 13 times) and it seems like a decent time to put the belt on him because it’s been over two years since he held the WWE Championship. While this is a decent argument, after rethinking it, there is still a little more potential left for WWE to explore with Kingston as champion, for example a feud with Ali, Andrade, or most intriguingly a big clash with Big E, who has serious potential.

I know I have said all along that I didn’t see Kofi holding the title past SummerSlam, but there seems to be too much potential that WWE has yet to be explored with Kingston as champion. Yes, live event attendance is down for events headlined by Kofi Kingston, but I do not believe this is necessarily being caused by him (it was instead poor storytelling which is being addressed and rapidly improved in my opinion).

What is Dolph Ziggler’s obsession with Goldberg because it won’t lead to a potential confrontation or rivalry between the two, at least I wouldn’t imagine. What might be a great rivalry, however, is one between Ziggler and Sami Zayn because Zayn analyzes what’s wrong with everyone but himself from a psychological standpoint, and Ziggler seems to be ignorant of his own psychological issues (in storyline) and says every scenario in which a superstar achieves major success should be him and he makes excuses all the time as to why it’s not him. The Miz confronted him about this topic about a week ago and he dismissed it. Anyway, Zayn has Aleister Black to deal with right now before we get to this, but this will be a great idea for WWE to look into in the future.

Trish Stratus having one last match to finish off her career with Charlotte Flair is a brilliant idea. WWE needs to capitalize on this now while Trish still has decent in-ring ability. This match will also elevate Charlotte Flair and do for her similar to what the match with John Cena did for Roman Reigns.

Ali really impressed this week and is absolutely deserving of taking the Intercontinental Championship off of Shinsuke Nakamura. Audiences have a harder time resonating with Nakamura because he has a little bit of a hard time with the English language. He talks a bit slower because of this, so he cannot get as many words out and therefore connect with the WWE universe as much as some other superstars.

Great Storytelling

WWE followed the massive rating increase of the Raw reunion with one of the best episodes in recent memory, in this new, edgier, slightly more sophisticated version of the Attitude Era. The last segment of the show was particularly awesome with utter chaos taking place.

I had absolutely no idea what was happening, and it was one of the greatest things I have seen on WWE TV in a long time, particularly when Cedric Alexander jumped off the platform right above where superstars make their entrances (it reminded me of the 2014 match between The Shield and Evolution when Seth Rollins jumped off that same platform to take out everyone). Mostly what might result from that altercation are SummerSlam matches between Drew McIntyre and Cedric Alexander and one between Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe.

 

Speaking of Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar ensured that he wouldn’t by any means be going into SummerSlam. Seth could be seriously hurt after that F5 on the stretcher, unlike Alexa Bliss. It was also encouraging to see Seth possibly developing a new wrinkle to his character before his match with Dolph Ziggler by embracing a playful attitude backstage with the Street Profits.

Another great event that happened on Monday Night Raw was that the OC, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were crowned Raw Tag Team Champions, meaning that now all three members of the OC are now champions. This should be great for business as it now establishes them as a dominant heel faction similar to the Undisputed Era down in NXT (a big congrats to them as it looks like NXT will move to FS1 starting in October when SmackDown moves to Fox).

It makes sense that The Usos were taken out of the spotlight heading into SummerSlam due to Jimmy’s recent predicament with law enforcement. The OC is also picking up major steam and this will open the door for new rivalries because Gallows and Anderson have not been champions much since they entered WWE (only one time).

Ricochet absolutely deserves a SummerSlam match with AJ Styles and is on his way to becoming a massive star in the company.

Categories RAW

Unpredictability in Matches

AJ Styles brought up an excellent point last week when he said that he would like to see some “unpredictability” incorporated into matches through superstars having the ability to finish matches with any move rather than having one or two signature finishing maneuvers.

WWE would have more freedom if this were to be incorporated and there would be more creativity put into each match with this philosophy. The audience would constantly be on their toes wondering when exactly the matches would end. Audience members may be a little more reluctant to get up and get food or something because they’d be unsure if they were going to miss the end of a match, so in that sense, it may draw more eyes to the WWE product.

For example, almost every time Roman Reigns hits a Superman Punch a WWE fan knows that the match is most likely almost over but not quite. And when he hits his Spear that’s it. It might be refreshing to see him win matches with a Powerbomb or a Legdrop in the ropes. It was great to see one night on Raw about eight months ago when Seth Rollins won a match (I’m pretty sure it was against Dolph Ziggler) with a Superplex off the top rope into a Falcon Arrow because no one knew for sure whether the match was going to end.

“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt – Potential Universal Champion

This proposal may be a little too far outside the box for WWE to go through with, but I’ll propose it anyway: what if “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt were to become the man to take the Universal Championship out of the clutches of Brock Lesnar, because it won’t be Seth Rollins (does anyone honestly think that, he would cash in the money in the bank contract and win the Universal Championship only to lose it in his first defense against the former champion. It would be awesome if it were Seth Rollins but based on history that is not likely). Wyatt will presumably go over and beat Finn Balor at SummerSlam given that Balor is preparing to take a hiatus from WWE. The creative team could use this victory to springboard Wyatt and make him an immediate title contender, facing Lesnar at either Hell in a Cell or at Survivor Series.

This may be wishful thinking, as it seems more likely that WWE would orchestrate something like a triple threat match down the road between Lesnar, Rollins and Reigns. WWE could have Roman Reigns claim to Seth Rollins that he obviously cannot get the job done against Lesnar so The Big Dog needs to be involved. Reigns also has not been in the picture for any major championships since his return due to the fact that WWE has wanted to ease him back into full-time competition. Consideration also needs to be given to Drew McIntyre.

Alexa Bliss Face Turn

One thing to potentially watch out for is Alexa Bliss turning babyface, maybe even as soon as after SummerSlam. The reason this may be a possibility is that during Alexa’s feud with Bayley she defended herself as to why she developed such an attitude about herself. She claimed she was bullied by Bayley as well as nearly everyone else in the NXT locker room. She even went so far as to say specifically that the only person who would stand up for her was Charlotte Flair. A face turn would be refreshing for Alexa because it would give her the opportunity to have rivalries with several women who are heels, like Mandy Rose for example, that she otherwise would not be able to work with. Others like Sportskeeda have talked about this as well. She has been a heel since her debut on the main roster back in 2016 so it may be time for a change. As a side note, WWE may also want to consider doing the same thing with The Revival.

Daniel Bryan Direction Change?

So, Daniel Bryan teased a career-altering announcement on SmackDown recently which turned out to be nothing. However, it has come to light that the announcement he was going to make maybe a move to 205 Live. This is exactly the type of thing 205 Live needs to establish itself as a top destination for superstars: An established and well-credentialed big-name in wrestling who can help elevate individual superstars on the brand as well as the brand itself. While this seems like a demotion for Bryan at first, when one looks at it from this perspective, they realize that he is a man who was truly committed to the betterment of WWE as a whole. He can also use this for himself as an opportunity to increase TV time (and Rowan potentially) and seek to get his “The New Daniel Bryan” character more over than it already is today.

Undisputed NXT

It would be awesome if Triple H works to explore making each member of The Undisputed Era champions because the group is gaining an awful lot of transaction and influence in NXT. They have been a group for nearly 2 years now, and even Roderick Strong has been a member of the group for quite a while.

For this to happen:

  • Adam Cole would need to retain his NXT Championship against Johnny Gargano at Takeover: Toronto 2;
  • Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly would have to win the NXT Tag Team Championships from the Street Profits;
  • And, the previously mentioned Strong would have to win the North American Championship from Velveteen Dream and survive the experience (it’s also great to see Pete Dunne, who held the United Kingdom Championship for nearly 2 years, added to this match to make it a triple threat).

Jordan Myles is officially a name to watch for after advancing to the finals of the NXT Breakout Tournament. And, after seeing Shane Thorne come out and establish a presence for himself at the commentary table, he may be on to something and this may be the beginning of at least a small push for him. Johnny Gargano has legitimately done it all in NXT, appearing at more Takeovers than anyone. The street fight stipulation for his NXT Championship match with Adam Cole seems predictable, but it should still be an awesome match.

It’s quite clear that Bianca Belair is set to work her way back into the NXT Women’s Championship picture. She is simply too great of an athlete to not go to the main roster otherwise.

Damian Priest, formerly known as Punishment Martinez appears to have found a niche for himself in WWE and has now been established as a significant threat in NXT, unlearning the biggest victory of his WWE career to date against Keith Lee (who is bound to receive a push at some point in the future based on the reaction he gets from the crowd).

Categories NXT

Reigns Full – Time Again?

Everyone in the WWE universe has to be excited that Roman Reigns worked double duty this past week, having a match on Raw and SmackDown (this might due to the fact that his match on SmackDown was very short). This suggests Roman may be getting closer to returning to WWE on a full-time basis. He is the cornerstone of the company at the moment so that’s a huge development.

Another big WWE development was Kofi Kingston challenging Randy Orton to a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam. He referenced a match that took place nearly 10 years ago between Randy Orton and himself where he accused Orton of using his influence to hold Kingston back and prevent him from being established as a main eventer. Orton happily admitted to this and claimed that Kingston still isn’t ready to be WWE Champion. This is all storyline by the way and there is no real beef between Orton and King as far as I’m aware. Randy Orton may seem to have been around WWE for what seems an eternity. And he does have an awful lot of championships, but he is such a badass with the few words he does say. WWE may want to look into pushing Roman Reigns very similar to the way Orton is pushed if they plan on maintaining the same character for Roman. WWE did a great job of it this week on Monday Night Raw with the confrontation with Samoa Joe.

Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon should have a very entertaining match at SummerSlam. It was a good idea on WWE’s part to add the stipulation of Owens quitting if he were to lose because this will garner major interest. It’s nothing that hasn’t been done before. However, it will more than do its job to set up a first meeting since their Hell in a Cell match in October 2017 when Kevin Owens was saved by Sami Zayn.

Apollo Crews has to be feeling very encouraged by his match with the Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. He was getting major pops from the crowd for all of his big moves (how could people not love his in-ring ability) and The New Day was freaking out. Speaking out that it was great to see The New Day for a little over half the show before they were replaced by Michael Cole and David Ottunga. Michael Cole is an expert by the way at the commentary table. He did a flawless job of switching roles to being more of a color guy and letting Tom Phillips handled the play-by-play stuff, which he has been doing for years on Monday Night Raw. He’s almost like a referee; no one noticed the change, so it’s not a big deal.

Side Note: Charlotte Flair and Ali seems to be in somewhat similar positions heading into SummerSlam. Flair is determined to ensure that she (as the greatest female superstar of all time which is very hard to argue) is a major part of the show. Ali, on the other hand, has a taller task ahead of him of rebooting his entire character. At this point he seems hard to envision as a heel, so WWE will probably elect to rebrand his face persona.

Raw Reunion

The one segment that stood out most to me from Monday Night Raw was the segment involving Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe, and Joe was the one who stood out. He pointed out that WWE fans allow themselves to indulge an awful lot in nostalgia, which is an irrefutable fact. But the only reason WWE obliges to this is because it proves to be a massive ratings draw and gets the crowd to pop, including me, every time they do it. Joe also looked good in what was a very high-profile match with Reigns. WWE may want to seriously look into orchestrating a meeting between Reigns and Joe at SummerSlam, because these two have obvious chemistry in the ring and they haven’t met in a one-on-one match in over a year (the last time they met was at Backlash in May 2018). This proposal is obviously made with the assumption that Roman Reigns is good-to-go for the match. The reason I say this is that, while it is great to see Roman back, he has still not been cleared to return to full-time action (this is the reason that he has been featured primarily in tag team matches; like Extreme Rules for example).

Another high-profile segment from Raw was Seth Rollins’ promo of his SummerSlam match against Brock Lesnar in which he will be challenging for the Universal Championship. Speaking of that, it was on Miz TV, and this reminds me that a match at SummerSlam between Dolph Ziggler and The Miz that I talked about last week is reported not to be in the cards. WWE does in fact have about five storylines repeating themselves currently because the landscape of WWE looked eerily similar about two years ago).

Seth makes it seem surprisingly believable that he may be able to pull off the seemingly impossible yet again and take the Universal Championship out of the bearpaws of Brock Lesnar. The reason as to why he was able to make this seem like such a believable scenario is because he pointed out the fact that Lesnar was simply a man like everyone else and that he could be beaten on any given day. By doing this, Seth made The Beast seem relatable.

One other notable thing that happened was Bray Wyatt attacking Mick Foley. WWE needed to give him something to do while Finn Balor took the night off. While Balor is in the midst of preparing to take time away from WWE, Wyatt is preparing for what seems like it may be a significant singles push. I figured that he might attack Stone Cold Steve Austin after a very heartfelt promo in which he referred to everyone affiliated with WWE (including the WWE universe) truly being a part of the WWE family. In order to advance the storyline and help cement Wyatt as a main event superstar (my original thought was that Austin might bring Kevin Owens out and give him a few pointers on how to improve his Stunner).

Becky Lynch and Natalya had another heated exchange which got physical and the spotlight was presently taken off Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. The potential “inevitable” (Express) return of Ronda Rousey was also hinted at, with a few references of her being sprinkled in.

Sami Zayn also seems to be somewhat lost in the shuffle of Monday Night Raw as he took yet another loss to Ray Mysterio this past week and seems to be lacking direction at the moment. That’s okay, however, these things will happen. It’s all part of the grind and he has surely learned to accept and love the ups and downs he will experience in his WWE tenure.

Side Note:As always, it is incredibly exciting to see John Cena; The Club is officially being re-named the OC; The Usos will get one more Raw Tag Team Championship match with The Revival at SummerSlam, which is very smart considering how much Prestige they have in WWE. The Viking Raiders should be next in line to challenge for the titles; Eric Bischoff made a small appearance to let the on-screen audience know he is now running SmackDown Live; lastly, the events surrounding the 24/7 Championship turned out to be very entertaining, and the right guy walked away with the title at the end of the night – R-Truth.

Categories RAW

Balor Time Off & Reigns’ Ring Attire

Another noteworthy thing that will be happening in WWE most likely after SummerSlam is that Finn Balor will be taking a couple months away from the company to “recharge.” He will obviously be around until that point and go ahead with his match with Bray Wyatt. It is fully understandable then why he dropped the Intercontinental Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura.

Roman Reigns is quite clearly not as over as he was a few months ago after WrestleMania, but I have a theory on this and fortunately it’s very fixable. It all comes down to his ring attire. That is the first thing people see when he walks out, and it’s somewhat unappealing to see him dressed in that raggedy sweatshirt-looking thing.

Now Roman Reigns is a better-than-average looking man so he can pull off something like that, but it’s less than appealing to the eye. I would never proclaim to be a fashion critic, but this may have something to do with Reigns appeal with the WWE universe taking a small dip in recent months since he began wearing the new attire. No need to worry at all, however, because his attire will change soon as it rotates every few months.

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Disclosure: This site is not affiliated with WWE – just a diehard fan writing commentary on events.
 
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