Evan Luebbe

A Very Well Done and Well-Paced Event for WWE

The Elimination Chamber was a very well done and well–paced event for WWE. The women’s tag team championship match inside the Chamber had to create a little bit of impotence for Corey Graves since Mandy Rose’s team lost. The team that was expected to win did just that. I’m happy for Sasha and Bayley (even though I am not that entertained by Bayley), but no big surprises there.

On a side note, Naomi and Carmella have established themselves as the most entertaining tag team in the women’s division. I suspected that The Miz and Shane McMahon might have a short reign as tag team champions as I never imagined that Shane’s body would be able to hold up for a long time in the ring, but I suspected it might last at least until WrestleMania. But I guess it does make sense in hindsight since it is written in Shane’s contract that he is only required to wrestle twice a year and he has already fulfilled that. I have never seen Miz do a springboard move off the top rope. Congrats to him and Maryse on having a second baby.

I was very happy, and a little surprised, to see Finn Balor win the Intercontinental championship. It’s not surprising at all to see relations dwindle between Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush. I could see that one coming from a mile away. I hate to admit this, but Michael Cole and Corey Graves are right – Becky Lynch is starting to appear like the bad guy in her storyline, as she is starting to act a bit entitled just like the typical millennial. It’s a bit of a shame too because WWE could have really had something special in her and probably could have positioned her as the face of the women’s division. It seems that WWE is sacrificing Becky’s reputation (as well as Charlotte’s to a lesser degree) at all costs to protect Ronda Rousey’s persona as a babyface.

I also question the degree to which WWE is humanizing Braun Strowman. The whole reason he got over in the first place is because he was so much of a monster. Now WWE seems to be totally doing away with that, and as a result he won’t be nearly as over when he actually does become champion.

I have no idea what was up with Lacey Evans coming out for about 10 seconds – WWE is odd sometimes. I don’t imagine her character going over with the WWE universe. I could easily take her character and put it in a time machine, transport it back 50 years, and it would probably fit right in.

Everything impressed me about the main event, from Daniel Bryan’s promo right before the match to the way the match was paced. The only thing I’m a little disappointed in is that Kofi Kingston did not become champion. I don’t care when it is, he needs to become WWE champion before he retires, with or without The New Day. Vince McMahon always talks about how he likes to listen to his audience and give them what they want – well, they clearly want Kofi. He missed the boat in terms of capitalizing on Rusev Day and he needs to learn from that mistake.

The Biggest Aspect of Wrestling That Resonates With Me

It was impressive to see what Ricochet did in the main event of NXT to fight through his knee injury. This is probably the biggest aspect of wrestling that resonates with me: the ability of superstars to fight through injuries to the point where their bodies are doing things that not even their mind should allow. They push themselves to the point where their bodies don’t even seem to be responsible for these amazing feats, and not even their minds seem to be responsible. They are one line on pure heart. This inspires me to do my best every day to live like that as best I can.  I can’t wait for Elimination Chamber.

Categories NXT

A Flair or Steamboat Type of Performance

From SmackDown Live, the performance from Kofi Kingston was absolutely incredible. That reminded me of a Flair or Steamboat type of performance, or if you want to go back in more recent history, it reminded me of the performance from Seth Rollins just last year in a gauntlet match right around this time. Seth pinned Roman Reigns and John Cena that night. But going back to Kofi, he lasted for over an hour last night and that match is unprecedented in today’s terms. It’s impressive any night when you pin Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy, and Samoa Joe.

I want to also take a second to mention that backbreaker that AJ Styles delivered to Kofi out of that STO. It has to be the most vicious looking backbreaker I have ever seen. I really hope that Kofi Kingston gets an opportunity to become WWE champion before he retires, because he’s done everything else there is to do. I’m not sad at all for Mustafa Ali being taken out of the Elimination Chamber for two reasons:

  1. WWE will push him hard when he returns as he has proven to be a great performer, and
  2. Kofi’s performance on SmackDown Live was extremely well-received by fans.

The other guy who I hope eventually gets that opportunity is Cesaro, but that’s a different topic to be talked about at a different time. I am extremely sad for Mustafa Ali having to be pulled out of this weekend’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, but on the flip side I’m not that sad for him because this injury will probably begin a big feud for him upon his return with Randy Orton.

But back to my main point, Kofi Kingston is a massively underrated superstar and WWE should recognize and be fully appreciative to him for the talent they have right now. I appreciate great wrestling and the flow to it, and Kofi is a valuable commodity in that regard. I can’t wait to see what Kofi does at Elimination Chamber. We may also see the return of Bray Wyatt after nearly a year off TV. He’s been healthy for several months, but I assume WWE creative simply hasn’t had anything for him.

Storyline Setups & Kayfabe Definition

No need to worry, this is all a storyline to set up a triple threat match at WrestleMania with Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair. It is a little bit surprising, however, in terms of how WWE decided to go about it, with Becky Lynch apologizing to Stephanie and Triple H and Vince McMahon immediately electing to not accept her apology and replacing her with Charlotte Flair. It seems that Charlotte is now playing in a similar role to the one Randy Orton played at the end of 2013 up to WrestleMania in 2014, where she is the corporate chosen one. Not to worry though, this is all just a show, after all kayfabe is dead. The new generation of wrestling fans probably does not even know what that means. The only reason I know, being 22 and all, is because I have studied up on my wrestling history. But Becky Lynch will in fact be a part of this match.

Kayfabe Definition: In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as “real” or “true,” specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not of a staged or predetermined nature of any kind.

I also thought EC3 looked really good again this week, despite the fact that he lost. It’s good to see him doing well this goes around as a WWE superstar after his first round with the company down in NXT didn’t go so well. He significantly improved in the ring after spending a few years in TNA. I also absolutely need to mention The Revival becoming new Raw tag team champions. Corey Graves is absolutely right, it is about time. These guys are superb technicians in the ring. If you have ever seen them wrestle in NXT, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t get me wrong, I love Roode and Gable, but Roode is approaching the end of his career and Gable is capable of so much more as a single competitor after being a two-time tag team champion. The fact that The Revival is being pushed after I don’t even know how long of doing little to nothing is a sign that WWE is taking notice of the new promotion AEW spearheaded by Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks as well as the Khan family.

They are beginning to realize that superstars such as The Revival and Finn Balor may jump ship if they are self-aware enough to realize that they are not being pushed the way they probably would be with another promotion, and they are doing everything they can to keep the guys they currently have since WWE is self-aware enough to recognize the presence of a potential competitor. I’m not saying by any means that AEW will turn into WCW, but it’s worth keeping an eye on since they are targeting WWE superstars whose contracts are expiring.

Categories RAW

“That’s All I’ve Got to Say About That”

Two things really stood out to me from SmackDown Live. First of all, Triple H did an unbelievable job of significantly twisting the narrative of Becky Lynch’s Royal Rumble victory by claiming that she was afraid of what Ronda Rousey would do to her at WrestleMania. This makes total sense that WWE would elect to portray the story in this way because this is exactly the way Vince McMahon views the Millennial generation, as he told Steve Austin in 2014 on the Stone Cold podcast. He views Millennials as being too afraid of failure to reach up and grab the “brass ring,” and Triple H is doing a fantastic job of making Vince’s viewpoint come to life. The second thing has to do with Daniel Bryan and his intellectual peer Rowan. The new Daniel Bryan is excellent on the mic. Much of his message is fact, but he can be a jerk at times about the way he presents it. I also finally think I figured out why WWE decided to pair the planet’s champion with Rowan. I kind of forgot that, about four years ago, Bryan was a member of the Wyatt Family for a short time, and Rowan was in the Family. I am also very excited for WWE’s move of SmackDown Live to Fox in October of this year. This will be great for the growth of the company, as Fox Sports is rapidly gaining more and more traction as a credible sports network.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about Daniel Bryan’s promo from a couple weeks ago. He was discussing generational politics, and he’s right about a lot of it. He claimed that the baby boomers suck away the earth’s resources while giving nothing back. It was an excellent promo. I’m not going to get into politics (even though I do have my opinions), because that is not the primary goal of this blog. If it was, I would have gone the political route right from the beginning. I really don’t like to get into politics that much because it’s a muddy pool to swim in, so to quote Forrest Gump, “That’s all I’ve got to say about that.”

Establishing Himself as a Submission Specialist

For NXT, there’s only two things to talk about. Wow! Drew Gulak could start seeing a lot more airtime if he keeps performing like he displayed this week on NXT TV. He’s really establishing himself as a submission specialist, kind of a Daniel Bryan type. Matt Riddle’s pretty good himself too. I feel the need to also say on at least one occasion how commendable Mauro Ranallo’s performance is on a weekly basis on commentary. He may be on NXT, but he is far and away the best announcer in all of WWE. No one is as animated as he is. He’s probably great calling Bellator too.

Categories NXT

Brock Lesnar: Continued Thinking on his Possible Departure from WWE

I want to talk a little about Brock Lesnar before he either winds up leaving the company for UFC or retiring. A lot of people hate on Lesnar for being a lazy part-timer or for leveraging his relationship with Dana White and the UFC to get more money out of WWE. But let’s be honest, if any of us were in the same position, we would probably do something very similar. Brock is just using his God-given physical abilities to further himself in life. He is also then using the resources he possesses, his relationship with the UFC in this case, to make a better living for himself. No one can really justifiably get angry with him for that – he is just playing the hand that he was dealt with. People are just angry with him because the hand that he happened to be dealt with was a good one. Not even he knows why he was born into such favorable circumstances. I view it as being unjustified for people to get angry with him because of that.

People also get on Brock Lesnar for not being a people person and not dealing with them because he doesn’t necessarily have to, but I totally get it because I’m not a people person either. I’ll still easily talk to people if I need to, but it’s not my favorite thing to do. I could easily live on a farm with just animals. I’m not a massive fan or detractor of Brock Lesnar, but I do feel the constant criticism of him is bit much.

WrestleMania Build-Ups & Curt Hawkins May Finally End His Losing Streak

Becky Lynch did a good job opening up Raw with a confrontation with Stephanie McMahon. The storyline with her heading into WrestleMania is very reminiscent of Seth Rollins’ storyline heading into WrestleMania 33 versus Triple H, as he also had a knee injury and doctors wouldn’t clear him (an unsanctioned match ended up transpiring). Her WrestleMania opponent Ronda Rousey continues to receive a Reigns-like response from the crowd (this is probably at least partially due to the fact that she may be leaving WWE after WrestleMania). This would be a massive blow to the company if they were to lose Dean Ambrose and Rousey.

Curt Hawkins also may finally end his losing streak after all since he is teaming again with Zack Ryder. Now, this is the one piece of criticism that I have for this week: I hate to admit it, but Drew McIntyre may indeed be right when it comes to Kurt Angle. We probably should have seen the last of him at WrestleMania 33 when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. That’s tough for me to admit because I am a huge fan of his. Kurt is my favorite superstar of the Attitude Era. But lots of wrestlers have this issue of not knowing when it’s a good time to walk away. Take The Undertaker for example: he has had three great opportunities to walk away.

  1. WrestleMania 28 (which I was at) – He could have retired at 20 – 0
  2. WrestleMania 30 – He could have retired after the streak was ended
  3. WrestleMania 33 – After putting Roman Reigns over, this would have been a perfect time to retire after losing his second WrestleMania match

Side Note: I was thrilled to see Lio Rush get a match on Monday Night Raw against none other than Finn Balor. It’s good to see him finally getting some exposure in front of a very large audience. Roman Reigns also may be very close to returning. This comes as no surprise to me as I had absolute faith that Roman would return sooner rather than later ever since he announced his diagnosis in October. Mojo Rawley has also cut some interesting promos of late talking to himself in a mirror.

Categories RAW

Watch for the New AEW (All Elite Wrestling) Organization

Keep your attention on the new AEW (All Elite Wrestling) organization. They are reportedly seeking a TV deal with either TNT or TBS and they are reportedly targeting WWE talent whose contracts are expiring soon. They have also recruited Chris Jericho and former WWE announcer “good ol’ JR” Jim Ross to perform significant roles for them in the coming months, so neither man will be able to devote much time to endeavors relating to WWE. It’s just something to keep an eye on. I am not worried about this new organization threatening the future of WWE (I am confident that the genius known as Vince McMahon is more than capable of coming up with a solution for this problem), but it will be interesting to see how it all plays out because they are targeting WWE talent. It is also rumored that Vince McMahon could be stepping away from his role as the chairman of WWE and handing the reins over to Triple H so that he can devote more time and energy towards making sure that the second launching of the XFL is successful.

As I have mentioned once previously, I think the inception of AEW (All Elite Wrestling) will be excellent for WWE in the long run. Competition can bring out the best in companies and proven complacency, and I think it will do just that for WWE. It has already done a little bit of that. The recent pushes of superstars such as The Revival and Finn Balor are evidence of that. This new company could turn into this generation’s version of WCW.

Proposal: Now, rather than taking the Avenue of complete competition as WWE did with WCW, here is what I am proposing: I feel WWE should also look to maybe do some cooperation with AEW and possibly even share some talent across the two promotions. I think it would make the wrestling industry as a whole more interesting. I’m not talking about a full-blown merger here, but I do think the two companies should explore the possibility of cooperating to make the experience of Wrestling as a whole more entertaining for fans.

Strong Promos & New Levels of Superstardom

On Raw, Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey cut pretty good promos about how they were going to tear each other apart at WrestleMania (obviously the crowd responded way better to Becky). Dean Ambrose took a totally clean loss to Seth Rollins, signifying that Seth has officially risen to a level of superstardom that is completely above Dean Ambrose. That’s not a knock on Dean Ambrose, I’m just saying. I am actually a huge fan of Dean Ambrose, considering that I’m from Cincinnati.

I read something recently suggesting that Dean’s character become like this generation’s version of Brian Pillman, where the WWE gives him more creative freedom and flexibility on the mic since that is clearly where he does his best work. I have also heard that Dean may have a WrestleMania feud with EC3, but EC3 may have a match before that with Bobby Lashley since they both love to pose so much. I wasn’t sure how well EC3 would get along during his second stint with WWE, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Seth Rollins also took six F5’s from Brock Lesnar or an F30.

Side Note: Congrats to Roman Reigns on his role in the movie Hobbs & Shaw with The Rock. I know that Roman isn’t wrestling right now, but I haven’t forgotten about him. I think about him at least once a day and I get a little bit inspired every time I do. I also love how Corey Graves called himself the Tony Romo of WWE. I for one can’t get enough of Corey Graves as a commentator for WWE. That comment is so appropriate because Tony Romo is really starting to find his footing as a broadcaster for the NFL.

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