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.