Evan Luebbe

Less Scripted Weekly Shows

My suggestion to WWE in order to increase interest in the overall product and hopefully increase TV viewership as well is (no, it’s not the creation of another title) for Vince McMahon to trust in his superstars and empower them more by allowing them to appear on shows without a script and speak from the heart and allow their intuition to guide them as they are cutting promos.

Writers and the production team are still extremely valuable and will still be relied on, I am merely suggesting that superstars improvise more because they have a great feel for what the audience wants out of the product. WWE could start this experiment by having several superstars appear at Live Events and cut one unscripted promo. The company could determine who could be trusted with this creative freedom because obviously not everyone is suited for improving and some would probably try to use it for their own personal gain. My gut feeling is that some really could elevate both their careers and WWE’s Universe stature. It could yield unexpected gains for both the company as well as the superstars personally.

If executed well, this unscripted element would bring back a raw and unpredictable/authentic element to Monday Night Raw which the show is sorely lacking (a perfect example of this was displayed in the mid to late 1990s when Shawn Michaels announced he was leaving the company for a while due to injury and claimed that he had lost his smile. One could see on his face that this statement truly came from the heart and there was absolutely no way that could have been scripted).

This is what Mick Foley was absolutely right about when he made an appearance on Raw a few weeks ago; the way to correct it was not with a 24-7 Championship, however.

Biggest Surprise, Who Was Missing

Before addressing what did happen, let me address who did not show up at Stomping Grounds and may have been pivotal pieces if they had been present: The Miz didn’t make an appearance, and this was surprising because I figure that he might appear in the Roman Reigns match and help him get the victory over Drew McIntyre, but it was good to see Roman get the victory on his own.

Finn Balor I also did not make an appearance, which was less of a surprise. He deserved about a month off after taking that powerbomb on a ladder from Andrade at Money in the Bank. Another thing that was surprising was the feminist to the match between Seth Rollins and Baron Corbin. Here was my master plan: Bobby Lashley as the special guest referee (anything would have been better than Lacey Evans. This decision felt out of context and someone forced. Maybe a healthy Nia Jax would’ve been a decent choice that would have made sense), Corbin wins and becomes Universal Champion, and Brock Lesnar catches in a few minutes later to become champion. Lashley is still in the ring and has a standoff with Lesnar, setting up an epic Universal Title match at SummerSlam.

This is all hypothetical thinking, but there were several great surprises at the pay-per-view, the top one being Ricochet winning the United States Championship. No offense at all to Samoa Joe, but this will propel Ricochet’s career exponentially and solidify his name as a top superstar. In the immediate future, however, WWE should absolutely explore the possibility of a feud between The One and Only and The Phenomenal AJ Styles.

It was nice to end the show with WWE’s top power couple, walking out both with their titles in hand. On to other matters: it is obvious what WWE is trying to do by having Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn beat The New Day with Owens getting the pin. The plan is most likely for Kevin Owens to be the man to end Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship reign, perhaps at SummerSlam.

How about the strength of Xavier Woods though squatting Big E and failing the first time but getting it the second? It was a great surprise, by the way, to see the very creative ending to the Steel Cage match with Kofi jumping over Dolph for the victory, doing a suicide dive onto absolutely no one. I personally have always been a much bigger fan of Hell in a Cell matches, but even I have to admit that was some great work.

It was an extremely intelligent decision by WWE to have Daniel Bryan and Rowan retain their titles because Tacoma absolutely loved Bryan since it was his home state. Tucker and Otis are starting to turn some heads, however.

On another note, Nikki Cross set up what looks to be a surefire match at SummerSlam with Alexa Bliss by costing her the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The dynamic between Corey Graves and Byron Saxton is hilarious, with Corey constantly making jabs at Byron – and Michael Cole simply moves on with the commentary as if there is zero animosity in the air.

Roddy Turn

This has been subtly foreshadowed for weeks, but it was evidenced again that Roddy (Roderick Strong) will be the first member of The Undisputed Era to sever his ties to the group and end their dominance. This makes total sense as he was the last member to join the group. This imminent breakup was further brought out this past week by the fact that it was Strong who got the pin on Velveteen Dream to clinch the victory for his team.

Damian Priest, formerly known as Punishment Martinez, looks to have officially found his niche.

One other superstar who impressed the NXT universe is Xia Lee, so that is something to keep an eye on. Another superstar who looks to be getting a major push in the near future is Mia Yim.

Categories NXT

New Day Fresh Feeling

It’s a fantastic idea for WWE to emphasize the unity by keeping The New Day together throughout Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship reign. It simply doesn’t feel right for the brothers to split at this point, and it also brings in a fresh narrative to WWE since virtually all tag teams/factions break up after a decent amount of time (take Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannety in the ’90s, for example, or The Shield as the most recent example).

Speaking of their segment, Dolph Ziggler is doing a beautiful job of playing a character who is bitter about the past and it cannot let go. It is blatantly obvious, however, that Dolph will not be winning the WWE Championship this weekend because his character is placing far too much importance on winning. He is obsessed with the end goal and putting it up on a pedestal rather than focusing on the process (like Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers), decreasing importance, and seeing it as natural for him to be WWE Champion.

For example, Seth Rollins became Universal Champion by decreasing the importance of it and simply enjoying the process of being intercontinental Champion and also being Monday Night Rollins (same thing with Kofi Kingston).

I love analyzing WWE storylines from a psychological perspective (it was the original major I chose for college before I switched to Sports Marketing). Dolph is easy to analyze from this perspective, and my theory is because he has an interest in stand-up comedy and many comedians are very deep and introspective people. If you don’t believe me, just do a YouTube search on Jim Carrey.

It probably will not happen, but it would be a massive surprise and shortly give SmackDown a huge jump in ratings if Brock Lesnar were to show up unannounced on SD Live one of these weeks for the first time in many years to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. In my mind, this would greatly benefit WWE both from a television perspective and a business perspective.

Alexa Bliss and Bayley both emanated a palpable feeling that they were both speaking from the heart (see, Bayley can do it with a little help and guidance), and Alexa obviously used her character’s signature negative and manipulative slant to justify the fact that she uses relationships with others to get ahead in life. The trademark of her character is being an energy vampire who preys on sucking the life force out of other people to serve her own inner intentions.

I have heard nothing but great things about Lexi Kaufman as a human being, but Alexa Bliss embodies these qualities perfectly. These ideas are based on the book Reality Transurfing by the Russian quantum physicist Vadim Zeland. Another story currently going on in WWE that has to do with the ideas expressed in this book is the story with Bray Wyatt, who is using the methods of a destructive fear-based pendulum to further his own career. I won’t go into further detail about these concepts because they are a bit confusing. You can read the book if you want like.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have a great dynamic on-screen and friendship off-screen. They clearly need each other, and neither one would be with WWE without the other. Kevin Owens piggybacked off Zayn to get started in NXT because Zayn was signed first, so he got an earlier jump. Kevin Owens, however, was promoted to the main roster first and Zayn piggybacked off him when he got promoted. Both of these men have gotten mutual benefit out of this relationship both personally and professionally. The careers of these two men will clearly forever be intertwined, and the WWE universe is invested in their relationship and cannot wait to see how it plays out over time.

There is no way I can be the only one who feels that it would be extremely profitable for WWE to capitalize on the engagement between Andrade and Charlotte Flair by making them a power couple similar to what WWE did in the late 90s with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H.

One person WWE would unfortunately need to get rid of to make this work is Zelina Vega. Maybe Andrade could start an on-screen affair with Flair. WWE would not need to release Vega but simply affiliate her with a different storyline.

Side Note: The 24/7 Title is a bit unnecessary (as I have stated before, a TV Title might be more appropriate that is defended each week on TV, either Raw or SmackDown, but never on pay-per-views), but R-Truth provides great comic relief during shows. He lost his title to Drake Maverik, Oh Jeez!

And I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m looking more forward to Roman Reigns – Drew McIntyre than Reigns – Shane.

Build to Stomping Grounds Sunday

Vince McMahon, Triple H, Stephanie, Shane, the creative team, as well as for whoever else is in charge of storyline creation in WWE needs to make a Seth Rollins – Daniel Bryan feud come to fruition before one of them is out of his prime. This would be a massive moneymaker for WWE and would also draw a lot of interest in the product, similar to the potential AJ Styles – Finn Balor story mentioned in my Superstar Sagas post.

This time, it was fully expected for Rollins to win, given that he is the current Universal Champion and he and Bryan are currently on separate brands (and Bryan is a current SmackDown Tag Team Champion). Baron Corbin will be included in this section too because he did, come out and attack Rollins after the match to build for the go-home episode of Raw heading into Stomping Grounds. He is doing a beautiful job portraying a heel who is completely focused on the low vibrational frequency of his ego. It is absolutely genius for WWE to announce his resume every time he comes out to grace us with his presence.

Congratulations are in order for Ricochet, who will be getting his first championship opportunity against Samoa Joe basically four months after his debut on the main roster. It makes perfect sense to give him a major push because there is virtually nothing he cannot do in the ring. He will wind up having a great career due to these abilities despite the fact that he is a little smaller than the typical top-level superstar that Vince McMahon typically goes for, very similar to Finn Balor. Finn, however, resonates with audiences a little more whereas they are simply in awe of Ricochet.

Cesaro’s ridiculous strength was also on display on Raw, as he manhandled Braun Strowman not once but twice. I mean you would expect that from Bobby Lashley because he is a freak (no offense to Lars Sullivan), but Cesaro doesn’t even have the look of a guy who might possess that type of strength. Speaking of him, he should definitely have a match at Stomping Grounds.

Side Note: Thank you Paul Heyman for intelligently referencing the Los Angeles Lakers just two days after trading for AD (Anthony Davis). Also, my condolences go out to Elias after suffering the barrage of punishment to start off Monday Night Raw (sarcasm, hehe).

Categories RAW

The AJ Styles – Finn Balor Story

This possibility seems further away with each passing week because neither superstar is young in his career (Styles is nearing the end of his career) and they’re still on separate brands three years into the current brand split. It would be a shame, however, if WWE didn’t capitalize on the rich history between AJ and Finn, with both being leaders of the famous Bullet Club at different times in Japan (which WWE oddly doesn’t acknowledge).

The only time they’ve ever met in WWE history was in October 2017 at the TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs event in an impromptu match after Bray Wyatt, who Balor was supposed to face, came down with a case of the mumps. The match between Balor and Styles was extremely well-received by fans (including myself), signifying that delving deeper into a storyline between these guys would draw much intrigue and money to the company.

It doesn’t even necessarily matter if a rivalry between the superstars individually develops or, if the superstars perhaps were to form a group with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows as heels or babyfaces. Maybe faces would be a better option right now to give fans something different to sink their teeth into because The Undisputed Era is currently a heel faction and is still under the WWE umbrella despite NXT being a completely separate brand.

Vince McMahon would probably need to do a brand unification if that were to ever happen because they are currently on different brands. This does not matter that much anyway, because at this point, the Wild Card Rule seems a bit pointless. I just thought I’d throw the idea out there because SummerSlam is quickly approaching, and this would be a huge money match. I’m also fully aware that I am not the first person to suggest this idea. This would give WWE a new direction and a brand-new feel that would always be welcome in a business that prides itself on constant evolution (just ask Triple H since he was a part of the group Evolution).

Vince McMahon and WWE clearly love AJ Styles and his in-ring abilities, and while Finn Balor does not have the look or the size of a typical WWE superstar, he has an it-factor that clearly resonates with crowds.

Alexa and Nikki

One element I would like to address is the rivalry that is growing between Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. This is one of the best storylines going right now in WWE, but it’s taking a while to build which is necessary in order to get people to actually care about it. The momentum of the story may very well carry right into SummerSlam, culminating with a match between the two women.

This particular storyline is being done so effectively because WWE is exercising a great deal of patience and not rushing any element of the story. The company is giving fans an adequate amount of time to become familiar with Nikki Cross after being promoted to the main roster from NXT. This is the first storyline she has been involved in that has given the WWE universe the opportunity to get to know her character as it develops. It also significantly helps that Alexa has been involved in a story somewhat similar to this with Nia Jax.

Busy Week!

John Cena’s recent comments about WWE not necessarily replacing him as the face of the WWE with one particular superstar, but instead using multiple different stars to fill the void created by his departure in order to satisfy the multitude of demographics within WWE’s global audience are very telling. The latest example of that was on display on Raw this week with Roman Reigns not being featured as an integral part of the show.

WWE appears to be entering a new era in which the company is not reliant on one particular star, but instead relying on more of a cooperative group effort from everyone. This truly seems to be an exciting time for the company, and they will constantly be motivated because of the emergence of AEW.

A significant amount of progress is being made by Baron Corbin each week in the heel department. He is starting to fill the void that The Miz left as the man in WWE who is universally disliked by the audience, which is an extremely important role to fill. The entire WWE audience can invest their collective energy into the same emotion they are feeling towards a particular person, Corbin in this case. This is truly one of the primary reasons I personally believe WWE has such a magnetic quality. It’s like Sami Zayn says – people feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves.

The women’s division has been losing steam in the last eight weeks or so. There seems to be way too much of a concentration on three or four of the women – and the rest is just being discounted. Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Bayley (And to a lesser extent Nikki Cross and Lacey Evans), seem to be the small group of women right now getting much of any attention and the rest are being discounted. This needs to be fixed quickly, otherwise some of these women may ask for their release from WWE, and no one could blame them because it would be justified. Many superstars are already asking for their release – it doesn’t need to get any worse.

The tag team division is a complete joke – almost to the point where it is unwatchable, and Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins are not doing WWE any favors to change that perception from fans.

The only watchable teams are The New Day and The Usos. On a more upbeat note, Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Funhouse is starting to pick up more steam. Maybe creative is allowing Wyatt to give a little more input and exercise more freedom in what he presents to the audience on a weekly basis because his creativity level is very high.

Categories RAW

HIAC Would Be Nice

A Hell in a Cell match between Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler for the WWE championship would be a nice change of pace for two reasons. The first is simply that a Steel Cage match took place at Money in the Bank last month between Shane McMahon and The Miz, so it would just be nice for the WWE universe to see some variety being used.

The second reason this would be nice is that it would add more of a surprise factor. For the past 10 years, WWE has made it so that Hell in a Cell matches have only taken place at the HIAC pay-per-view. It worked well from the genesis of this structure in 2002 until 2009 when important rivalries between superstars always seemed to culminate inside Hell in a Cell as opposed to having them only take place once a year.

The exact same thing seems to be going on between Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross as the storyline that transpired about two years ago between Alexa and Nia Jax (speaking of her, let’s all wish her the absolute best in her recovery from injury).

WWE seems to be recycling old storylines rather than choosing a new one in this scenario. Shane McMahon is also being featured far too much as a centerpiece of WWE programming, as much if not more than Roman Reigns, who did not even appear on SmackDown. Shane simply does not possess the magnetic quality which his father obviously had. This seems to be hurting the company because they have a plethora of superstars on the roster who are far more talented than Shane at this point and deserve an opportunity to show what they can do.

Side Note: I stand corrected about the tag team division. Daniel Bryan and Rowan, as well as Heavy Machinery, are very entertaining. I have absolutely no idea what that dance Otis does is supposed to be, but it adds a tremendous amount of comic relief.

Ali’s Comments

Ali made some public comments last week pertaining to 205 Live and the general lack of respect it gets from WWE management, which is a damn shame because there are some incredibly talented performers. Ali referred to 205 Live as the “redheaded stepchild” of WWE, citing that the performers on the brand work incredibly hard and are extremely precise with their every movement in the ring, but are never appreciated as much for their efforts for whatever reason, and he’s not wrong at all.

This was a little bit of a down episode of NXT this week, but that can be excused as the first couple of episodes right after a Takeover event are always a little bit quiet.

One thing that is exciting, however, is that Matt Riddle is reportedly set for a very sizable push in the coming months (most likely because of his MMA background, because WWE tends to gravitate towards superstars with MMA backgrounds). It would be silly to argue whether he deserves it, because he obviously does. He is very good in the ring and he has a certain level of magnetism about his personality that cannot be taught and is exactly what WWE wants.

Categories NXT
Menu
Disclosure: This site is not affiliated with WWE – just a diehard fan writing commentary on events.
 
Copyright 2021 Evan Luebbe. All rights reserved.