Well, WWE programming has been interesting lately, hasn’t it?
Having been forced to acknowledge the real-life engagement of Rusev and Lana, WWE could have scrambled to compile some crazy storyline for television. Instead, we got something better. A simple, up-front, drama-ending promo by Summer Rae to “break-up” with Rusev, keeping him as a heel, while Dolph Ziggler took to the internet to simply say “it didn’t work out.”
Simple. Which in this case was the right move. Fans aren’t stupid anymore. TMZ isn’t even a dirtsheet and they got the drop on WWE (seems to be a common thread these days) with breaking news. WWE had to acknowledge it online before RAW went on the air. As I said, fans aren’t dumb. Once it’s out, it’s out. To drag out a storyline which no longer has any legitimacy would have been pointless. Kudos to WWE for making the right call.
Call me crazy, but I enjoyed the match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman on RAW. Two big guys who dish out a lot of punishment and still remain on two feet. What I did not enjoy was listening to Roman Reigns botch his promo not once, but twice. He did not blunder lines, but committed two severe mic offenses. First, when the crowd says “What!?” when a wrestler pauses. They do it to everyone. Been doing it for years. Reigns tried to defend and deflect it. Bad move. Very bad move. That is a heel thing to do, you never go against the crowd. Secondly, the crowd chanting “boring” and Reigns defended himself again by telling the crowd “this isn’t boring… this is REAL!”
Sigh. Reigns. You tried playing up the crowd, and failed. Much like Ryback, better in the ring than on the mic. I know many will disagree, but Reigns and Ryback have these in common. Weak on the mic, but strong in the ring. Insert “must make ______ look strong” joke here. They both get the crowd pumped with their matches. They have big moves which the crowd, for whatever reason loves to see. To be honest, I dig Ryback. I do. When he warms up for the Meathook I even get pumped. Something about it. He needs a new finisher though. With Samoa Joe in NXT dropping everyone with Muscle Busters.
I have to hand it to SmackDown, the show has certainly upped the entertainment value, and seemed to be a solid program for all roster members sans main eventers.
Dolph Ziggler put on a great show on Monday night, question is, now what? The Shawn Michaels of our era is stagnating in mid card hell, and that is the wrong place for him. I want Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins. First a straight one-on-one, then we go to a Best 2-out-of-3 Falls. Finally cap it off with a Ladder Match. The things that would happen would be incredible.
Next week we are promised the go home show, featuring The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. Let’s see how well WWE delivers this.
