Well, even though the Rose Bowl is on, I have to watch RAW to see how they build for the Royal Rumble as I am curious to see if things get any better for the flagship show.
Needless to say, there are some pretty awful spots on RAW right now and it has to have rattled some cages (no pun intended, Y2J) to see that SmackDown defeated them in the ratings this week.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are some good things going right now.
Kevin Owens and Jericho are gold together, no doubt. That being said, I can't be the only one that feels like KO should be holding the Intercontinental belt and not the Universal Championship.
Let me be clear here, Owens IS good enough to be the Universal Champ ... but the bookers sure don't seem to feel that way.
Could they possibly go out of their way to make him look weaker?
When is the last time he pinned a rival, clean 1-2-3 in the middle of the ring?
He either wins by cheating, DQ or ... more and more often, GETTING PINNED by his opponent.
Would it kill them to give him a win over Rollins or Reigns without interference?
There is seemingly no chance he retains at the Rumble with Jericho being caged up. The only way I can see him holding onto the strap would be to get himself DQ'd, counted out or someone new (Samoa Joe?) comes in and helps him win.
It's a shame that they have devalued him to the point that I do not feel like he can win without assistance.
Moving on.
Roman Reigns will likely win the title at the Rumble and, unless he cheats and turns heel, the building may riot.
I have never seen someone get such a push while the entire audience revolts against him. The guy just does not have the "it" factor to be John Cena, which they clearly want him to be.
He has some spots you can use him in and get better reactions, but certainly not the way they are doing it.
Seth Rollins is one of the best in-ring performers of our generation and, in the midst of everything else going on, he is being completely wasted.
Seriously? The best feud you can think of for Seth at WrestleMania is HHH?
How can you justify keeping this guy out of the title hunt?
Reigns needs to be pushed back down the ladder a bit, maybe even pairing him up with someone with a bit more charisma, and getting him in the mid-title levels.
I get what they're doing with Sami Zayn and Strouman ... but c'mon. Sami is awesome, yes. I loved him before NxT and everyone loved him as the "guy that wouldn't quit" during his run while in NxT, but he's not Daniel Bryan. Stop trying to turn him into that guy.
Strouman is a monster. He is your typical Vince guy, but not a Vince Champion. Braun is the prototypical big muscular heel that the face champ can beat all of the odds by pinning at some point.
Who on this roster can make the above happen without people thinking it's a sham? I'll get there in a minute.
Speaking of talent being wasted, and no offense to the tag belts, but Cesaro needs to be in the main event scene sooner rather than later. That guy has everything you could want out of a heavyweight champion.
Will they be breaking up the New Day soon? They have kind of run their course, right? Should Woods (if eligible) head to 205 live? Should Big E be moved into the mid-title singles slot? I am not sure how much longer they can come out and keep the same old act and remain in their spot.
Please, WWE, trade "The Club" to Smackdown. You've made fools of them long enough on Monday nights.
The Charolette v Bayley feud has gotten off to a very lackluster start, and that's hard for me to accept as I am a huge Bayley fan. There just seems to be a spark that is missing here that we got with Sasha in this spot. The charisma of Bayley and the attitude from Flair do not seem to be coming across as well as it did in the smaller NxT venues.
Also, speaking of the women's division, where does Sasha go now? They can't really run too long with this feud against Jax. Sasha was getting injured by the abuse from Charolette, so I can't imagine what her body will have to endure matching up with Nia!
I won't even really mention Brock or Goldberg because, lets be honest, they are on TV almost as much as I am.
So what can they do here to spice up the show? Barring a trade, there is only really one answer, and that's raid the NxT roster.
I would rather see The Revival head to Smackdown to be the heel team to challenge American Alpha for their titles, but I could see them making their way to RAW instead to help solidify the tag team division on the red brand.
To me, there's really only one person that has the "it" factor that you could bring in to be the fact of the franchise: Shinsuke Nakamura.
RAW needs someone that can come in and give them that huge fan favorite that they've been dying for, and Nakamura is that guy.
With the success that he had while in Japan and the run in NxT, he has proven to everyone that he is not afraid of the limelight and thrives in matches against multiple styles of opponents.
If RAW wants to back to the top of the "ratings war" and solidify their slot as the flagship show, the King of Strong Style is the guy that can get them there.
No comments:
Post a Comment