Evan Luebbe

MITB: Lesnar is Back!

Before I even discuss the pay-per-view, it needs to quickly be addressed how the Viking Raiders demonstrated some selfishness by relinquishing the NXT Tag Team Championships rather than putting over a deserving team like Street profits. I could be dead wrong about this, however, and they could have been instructed by management to relinquish the titles rather than defend them at Takeover on June 1. It will definitely help the careers of Ivar and Erik by avoiding a loss and adding to their mystique (not like Undertaker). They will surely be a dominant tag team for at least several years.

To begin the discussion of MITB, the men’s ladder match was probably the greatest we have ever seen, capped off by the beast. First of all, Finn Balor deserves some extended time off after taking a brutal beating last night. Secondly, it was a good idea to replace Braun Strowman with Sami Zayn, and a fantastic one to replace Zayn with Brock Lesnar, because no one was expecting it, with Lesnar being a part-timer and all. As we wrestling fans know, Lesnar will be at WWE Super Showdown on June 7 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and presumably cash in the Money in the Bank contract for a Universal Championship rematch against Seth Rollins.

There will undoubtedly be a lot of pushback on this decision by WWE (there already has been a whole lot) considering the point of the Money in the Bank ladder match is to create new stars who win over with the crowd, and Lesnar clearly doesn’t need it. However, no one can refute that he is money. The same people who complain about him never being present for TV are the people who rush to watch him when he does decide to show up. WWE does absolutely need to get Lesnar out of the title picture within the next year, because they have more than enough potential champions who are not being used as top draws, as evidenced by the incredible in-ring work which was on display at the pay-per-view.

Kofi Kinston retaining his WWE Championship against Kevin Owens was a smart decision, although that one could have gone either way and WWE would have had a good story to work with no matter what. Kofi still will probably not hold the title past SummerSlam.

It’s also no surprise that Seth Rollins retained his Universal Championship against AJ Styles in a match that absolutely delivered. The post-match handshake was somewhat disappointing as AJ did not turn heel, as many members of the WWE universe thought he might. Becky Lynch also lost one of her championships which was expected. Charlotte Flair isn’t the story though, Bayley is. Now that she is away from Sasha Banks, she finally has an opportunity to prove what she is capable of doing on her own and management will be able to adequately determine whether she possesses any real drawing power.

Congrats to Rey Mysterio on winning the United States Championship from Samoa Joe. The conflict between him and Joe may culminate in a handicap match at SummerSlam pitting Joe against Rey and Dominic, since Joe has been trying to give Dominic advice and be intimidating at the same time. Joe could always find a partner too. Fans have to admit that, despite the fact that Shane McMahon is old (49 to be exact), he still has the ability to give a surprisingly good match. With some older wrestlers, there is a lot of lag time between moves because they need to catch their breath (Undertaker is a prime example).

Side Note: Aiden English is doing very well on commentary for 205 Live. Tony Nese is a great champion too by the way, not as great as Buddy Murphy, but very good. He struggles a little bit on the mic, but 205 Live is mostly about in-ring work anyway.

It’s also very sad that Alexa Bliss was unable to go to the pay-per-view presumably due to her concussion issues. Corey Graves had to be upset by that, and so was I. It was a little surprising to see no Bray Wyatt at Money in the Bank, but Firefly Funhouse will shortly air on Raw.

Mick Foley’s announcement of a new title coming to WWE will also be anxiously anticipated. I almost forgot to mention that Roman Reigns beat Elias in a squash match (I nearly forgot because it wasn’t very interesting). Reigns should return to the title scene very soon. Maybe he shouldn’t challenge Kofi Kinston right away (maybe someone like Ali could challenge him, or someone else too since there are a plethora of guys on the roster who are both deserving and who could give a phenomenal (no disrespect to AJ Styles) match. However, it seems as though WWE is trying desperately to postpone Reigns’ inevitable return to the title scene. WWE has some great behind-the-scenes photos for this event.

Here is the card for WWE Super Showdown as of now:

  • Triple H vs. Randy Orton
  • Undertaker vs. Goldberg (snooze, two old guys)
  • 50 Man Battle Royal
  • Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley
  • Finn Balor (Demon) vs. Andrade for Balor’s Intercontinental Championship
  • Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon
  • Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler for Kofi’s WWE Championship

This last match is the only one that appears particularly interesting. At these Saudi Arabia shows, matches are not well thought out and it seemed to be scrapped together in order for WWE to gain international exposure.

Many stars from the past are also used because they are demanded by the people who run the show in Saudi Arabia. Andrade and Finn Balor are the only ones that garner any interest from me because these two actually have a little bit of history. Andrade beat Balor in a non-title match on the first night of the Superstar Shakeup before Balor moved to SmackDown and it appeared that Andrade was moving to Raw (which has since been reversed to keep him on the same brand as his fiancée Charlotte Flair.

WWE usually tries to keep couples on the same brand during each Superstar ShakeUp. There is also a very foreseeable scenario where Brock Lesnar cashes in his Money in the Bank contract on Seth Rollins for a Universal Championship rematch. I won’t be able to cover this event because it will be taking place while I am on vacation in Sedona Arizona.

2019 Money in the Bank Predictions

Kevin Owens and Kofi Kingston gave a very passionate build-up to their match at Money in the Bank for the WWE Championship. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on when discussing the possibility of Sami Zayn somehow getting involved in the match to help his best friend win the WWE Championship. I can’t predict if WWE will elect to do this are not.

  • It’s a feasible scenario that Owens could walk out of Money in the Bank as WWE Champion and Zayn could walk out as Mr. Money in the Bank (talk about some interesting TV that would possibly improve ratings).
  • That would be interesting for sure, however my pick to win the match is still Drew McIntyre.
  • My pick to win the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match is Ember Moon.
  • Often in the past, the winners of the Money in the Bank ladder matches have been relatively quiet in the weeks leading up to the match, and these two have exhibited that quality.
  • I fully assume that Vince McMahon likes to maintain an element of surprise when it comes to the winners.

Another potential alliance coming out of Money in the Bank that has money written all over it is Charlotte Flair as SmackDown Women’s Champion and Andrade as Mr. Money in the Bank. It also adds a completely new dynamic that these two are a couple in real life and they are engaged to be married. These two could become a true power couple in WWE, very similar to what Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were 20 years ago (it’s hard to believe it was that long ago). Charlotte may not be a McMahon, but the Flair name is still wrestling royalty. Vince McMahon also sees Andrade in a very favorable light, and how could he not with what he can do in the ring.

It is also reported, to the surprise of not very many, that Sheamus may look to end his in-ring career sooner rather than later. All one has to do to avoid being surprised by this is to look at his injury history. I am fully assuming that the decision would be to preserve his quality of life, with an ongoing spinal stenosis issue. To further add bodily insult to injury, he suffered a concussion at WrestleMania.

Congratulations Sami

Monday Night Raw was live from the O2 Arena in London last night. It’s easy to get used to the Wild Card Rule because all it was (in reality) was the unofficial announcement of the brand split. With that out of the way, we can get to the most important part of the night: Sami Zayn earning Braun Strowman’s spot in the men’s Money in the Bank letter match.

Sami more than deserves it considering how great his work has been in the last month or so since returning from injury. It also makes sense for Braun Strowman because it has been publicized, in the fairly recent past, how Vince McMahon views him as more of a mascot for the company as opposed to a legitimate threat. This is history repeating itself because Vince viewed Big Show in a similar light. Going back to Zayn, it would be far from surprising to see him win the contract and be used in some interesting feuds in the coming months.

With Dominick being so heavily involved in the feud between Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio, one has to question the possibility of him bypassing NXT and going straight to the main roster (as evidenced by the fact that Joe said on Raw that someone needs to teach Dominick how to be a man and he’s the one to do it).

Bray Wyatt seems to be much more optimistic about his new gimmick than I am as I still contend WWE needs to capitalize on this gimmick rather quickly by having him win a title. A gimmick such as this may go stale sooner rather than later cited by the fact that Vince McMahon has struggled to properly book gimmicks like this in the past (remember Mordecai?). An appearance in the Money in the Bank ladder match may not be out of the question.

I think I, along with the rest of the WWE universe, forgot exactly how good Cesaro is in the ring. It’s simply unheard of for someone as big as he is to be that well-versed in Lucha libre. Before he retires, he is deserving of a major push and a world championship title. Vince McMahon cannot overlook someone like him who has given his heart and soul to the business.

A Roman Reigns- Shane McMahon rivalry down the line appears to be where we’re headed, and it feels redundant. It feels like WWE is trying to re-create the magic that Vince McMahon was able to produce with various top superstars in the Attitude Era as opposed to attempting to create something brand-new. The creative team seems to be struggling for ideas just a bit.

I’m still praying WWE builds up Mojo Rawley a little in preparation for a potential Gronk debut and subsequent Tag Team Championship victory. This would be a huge contribution towards the effort to improve TV ratings.

Categories RAW

Promoting WWE on the Outside

It’s a smart business decision for WWE to have Paige appear on the show Fair Game with Kristine Leahy on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) to introduce Fox fans to WWE superstars before SmackDown’s big move to Fox in October.

I am still waiting on a WWE superstar to appear on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, who is one of my own personal favorites because he is so authentic and that is what WWE specializes in. He will be able to connect with superstars in a profoundly human way. Someone like Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns who are extremely literate about sports should debut, as Colin will grill anyone who doesn’t know their stuff.

Final Countdown to MITB

All I have to say about Becky Two Belts is she’s going to get an excellent night of sleep on Sunday night. She will most likely lose one of her titles and keep the other. My bet is that she will lose the SmackDown Women’s Championship to Charlotte Flair (and she will become a nine-time Women’s Champion) and retain the Raw Women’s Championship against Lacey Evans. Evans simply isn’t ready and is too inexperienced to become a champion so early in her career.

With Flair on the other hand, there is never a bad time to make her champion. It will also make the storyline with Becky Lynch more interesting if her edgy and somewhat cocky mentality gets the best of her and costs her one of her titles.

This will be a major test for Elias this weekend at Money in the Bank when he goes one on one with Roman Reigns. Elias has only been tested to this degree once in his career. It was a pay-per-view and that was at Money in the Bank last year when he had a match with Seth Rollins (Rollins won and was able to hold onto his intercontinental Championship, but Elias showed that he could hold his own in the ring with one of the best in the world). Vince McMahon will be able to find out this weekend if he is indeed the real deal.

Percy Watson Acting

This was a light week for NXT, but a couple of notable things still happened. The Street Profits will get an NXT Tag Team Championship match after an amount of time that was more than sufficient. In all honesty, they probably have a very good chance to win to allow the Viking Raiders to devote their full tension towards ensuring their success on the main roster. And it is shocking that Percy Watson has elected to leave the NXT commentary table and bet on himself by starting a brand-new endeavor in the acting industry. Even now I am sad to see him go, I wish him all the best.

Categories NXT

What about Rey Mysterio’s son Dominick?

Rey Mysterio’s son Dominick, who is a trained wrestler, seems to have signed a contract with WWE. This is very exciting as it ensures that Rey’s lineage will continue to live on for quite some time considering how young Dominick is. He might be best suited starting out in NXT and getting fans acclimated to his style. We all had to realize, on some level, that he was not being used in the rivalry between his father and Samoa Joe for nothing.

It was reported this week that Daniel Bryan may have suffered from a concussion at WrestleMania, and this is very disconcerting news considering his history with head injuries which is well documented. It is also assumed that WWE will not hesitate to pull the plug on Bryan’s in-ring career if he suffers from a significant amount of these injuries. This is most likely the reason why WWE would not say anything regarding his injury because it was probably in the back of Vince McMahon’s mind that Bryan may have to take a hiatus to recuperate. Fortunately, it can’t be too serious because he is back pretty quickly and will presumably defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championships along with Rowan at Money in the Bank. Daniel Bryan’s health, however, never strays too far from my mind and he is always in my prayers.

Vince McMahon should also consider a Roman Reigns heel turn to boost TV ratings because the Wild Card Rule, while it may help, won’t do it alone. Vince has been extremely bullheaded about this since the start of Reigns’ singles push in June 2014. It might do something for Reigns similar to what it did for Stone Cold Steve Austin in ’96. Let’s face it – it probably would not work that well, but it will give fans a fresh take on his character. It would be a little bit shocking to see this after his recent triumph in his battle with leukemia, and this shock may be a good thing as it would spark a huge amount of interest in the product. It may get a similar reaction to Dean Ambrose’ heel turn on Seth Rollins on the same night as Reigns’ announcement of his illness returning. The work he did towards the beginning of his career as a heel (before the formation of The Shield) was surprisingly good stuff, and WWE should experiment a little more with that and see how far it can take them because the TV ratings cannot get that much worse, can they?

Wild Card Rule

WWE desperately needs to combat the consistent drop in TV ratings it is been experiencing for the past couple of years. A complete reboot of the show’s format may not be a terrible idea, which may mean not featuring the McMahon family as much. Can the McMahon family look at options, new formats and more to give the universe the boost it needs to continue thriving? It’s not about control or who manages everything or who gets the most air time, it could simply be putting people, resources and storylines in place to optimize the business.

In reality, the reason Vince McMahon came up with the wild card rule is to attempt to provide a solution to the low TV ratings in the recent past. SmackDown has experienced a 13% drop in viewership over the past year and Raw has experienced a very similar drop, which is pretty significant over just one year’s time.

Nonetheless, it was still great to see the top three superstars from SmackDown Live on Monday, particularly since I was in attendance. A Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan rematch was a great idea that was initially assumed to transpire at Money in the Bank. It seemed a little unnecessary to have a title match on Raw, but no one should be complaining.

Also, despite the fact that it has not been announced, a rematch between Shane McMahon and The Miz appears to be inevitable. I can’t be certain as to why Roman Reigns appeared on Raw because he did not necessarily help to further any storylines, but I could never complain about seeing him. It is perfectly understandable for WWE to want to try to fight through this period of very low TV ratings with its biggest star spearheading the Army, but WWE needs to be very strategic in the amount that Reigns is exposed to audiences because overexposure could lead to boos once again.

What fans are really demanding is innovative storytelling in order to build new and compelling stars, which is exactly what occurred during The Attitude Era to build up people such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H and The Rock.

Sami Zayn and Braun Strowman gave us a funny segment in which Strowman threw Zayn into a dumpster. Samoa Joe also displayed his ridiculous promo skills by intimidating Rey Mysterio’s son Dominik. We will have to wait and see if Mojo Rawley’s segment turns into anything more.

It was good to see Ricochet pick up a victory against Robert Roode. Now the two are even, and a third match is sure to take place at Money in the Bank. It’s somewhat surprising WWE did not elect to change Roode’s entrance music, as Vince contemplated changing it down the road when Roode first came to the main roster because he didn’t think a heel could get over with such a catchy entrance track.

The Viking Raiders appear to have earned their way into a match for the Raw Tag Team Championships by defeating the champions Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. They look poised to dominate the tag team division for quite some time, despite the fact that WWE can’t seem to figure out that their name was really good as War Raiders. WWE seems to spend too much time contemplating superstars’ names and perhaps unnecessarily shortening them.

Categories RAW

Wild Card Continues

Kofi Kingston has to be awfully tired after defending his title again tonight. That guy must have a ridiculous amount of endurance because last night’s match was probably better than Monday, which was incredibly good. It’s great to see some fresh faces in the WWE Championship scene, notably Sami Zayn.

Sami appears to be quickly coming into his own and rising to major superstardom, both with the push he is receiving and the authenticity with which he is delivering his promos combined with the fantastic matches he puts on. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him hit three Blue Thunder Bomb’s in the same match.

Another great thing to see is new SmackDown Tag Team Champions in Daniel Bryan and Rowan. Let’s be honest, The Usos were probably featured on the show simply in attempt to combat the weak SmackDown Tag Team division because it does not have very many teams. WWE also seems to be trying to turn Shane McMahon into a carbon copy of his father. The creative team should potentially look to come up with a more creative idea rather than simply recycling what has worked in the past.

It will be beneficial for WWE to only use the Wild Card Rule every once in a while, otherwise superstars may get burned out physically. This is a tiring load for them to carry. It also would not feel like a very big deal if it’s done all the time. It can be used every few weeks but definitely not every week.

Vince Ceding Control

It may not be a bad idea for Vince McMahon to give consideration to the idea of giving Triple H more control of the main roster in response to the recent drop, and I mean over the last couple of years rather than just a week or two. Look at what he has done with NXT over the last few years because it is thriving (It just aired its 500th episode a few weeks ago). WWE is likely in need of a complete overhaul when it comes to creative formatting rather than a few minor tweaks, and Triple H may be the man to enact these changes.

NXT TV had another unbelievable main event this week featuring Adam Cole and Matt Riddle. The end of The Undisputed Era appears inevitable with tension between its members at an all-time high, specifically Cole and Roderick Strong. Matt Riddle’s stock is quickly rising. WWE should look to capitalize on this, perhaps by putting him in a big match at WrestleMania next year. An interesting match for him would be against Brock Lesnar, considering they are both former UFC fighters. Riddle could retire Lesnar to get his career on the main roster off to a start, which would solidify him as a main eventer right from the start.

Congrats to Raul Mendoza, but the real story is that Riddick Moss has finally found a character that works for him. If he stays the course with this character, great things are sure to come for him.

Side Note: It’s amazing that WWE was able to re-sign Mauro Ranallo, who may be one of the greatest play-by-play announcers out there today. The energy he brings to any NXT event is unparalleled. This will surely be a huge signing for WWE from a business perspective, specifically NXT.

Categories NXT
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