It’s Sunday. Which means it’s time for “The WWE-EK” or otherwise a recap or the goings on in WWE and possible beyond.
To be honest, I have not paid much attention to Impact Wrestling or Global Force Wrestling. To be really honest, at times I forget they even EXIST. Sorry if this sounds harsh and possibly going to offend someone up in our corporate headquarters or someone else’s corporate headquarters, but this is the truth.
TNA/Impact’s product is really hurting. I hope Jeff Jarrett and his GFW brand absorbs what is left of the roster before WWE just takes up the rest of their roster. Austin Aries, confirmed, now with NXT. AJ Styles, right to the main roster.
There was a time I was hooked by TNA. When they were on Fox Sports I was watching religiously. The program was fantastic, it drew me. Suddenly, they tanked faster than when WCW did their “reboot” program and started mis-mashing their tag teams and stables. Faces were heels, heels were faces, faces weren’t sure if they were supposed to stay heel or not. True story. I remember being at my friend’s apartment, crowding around his TV watching a TNA pay-per-view, when at the end of the show, Kurt Angle showed up and we JUMPED. It was huge. It was exciting. Now… it is exciting when one of their people jumps ship to WWE and winds up on the main roster or on NXT.
NXT is another story. The NXT product is uber-incredible right now. Not only the talent, but the programming is spot-on. The shows have more wrestling, more character development (which is a term I would have never used in wrestling) for fans to get to know the new era wrestlers, and better commentary. No angle pushing, just straight-up who is next in line and how will said person get over with the crowd. NXT is about making yourself famous, and how you do it. Look at the Vaudevillians, look at Enzo and Cassidy, Dash and Dawson. Whether originally singles or natural teams, these three are perfect examples of tag team wrestling. Not too long ago on WWE television, we had a lot of great tag team wrestling, which became hotly anticipated on RAW. Yes, I said “hotly” because it was hot. Get it?
The one drawback, and yes I have to talk drawbacks, because it is very important to notice what is happening. The NXT roster is filling up with mega-stars like Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, and the current offerings. There are only so many who can get called up to the main roster and achieve success. Neville and Breeze are two guys suffering from this. Breeze had a push for all of three weeks. Neville is still hot, but where is he going to go, other than the top rope? Until someone like Seth Rollins is WWE Champion again, we are not going to see the people we want in the main event.
WWE has a problem. The roster is very overcrowded, and too much time is being given to Brock Lesnar and Triple H. One might think me to be nuts, considering Brock does not show up on RAW half the time and Triple H winning the WWE Championship just happened. but hear me out. The RAW program, the #1 show, is mostly storyline driven. If Triple H, Roman Reigns, and Brock Lesnar are always the focus, then the time given to other talent loses quality. Let’s look at the upper-crust of the mid-tier:
Wade Barrett
Sheamus
Cesaro
Dolph Ziggler
Rusev
Alberto del Rio
Kalisto
Dean Ambrose
The Big Show
The Wyatt Family
AJ Styles
Chris Jericho
Kevin Owens
The Miz
Ryback
Titus O’Neal
This is a long list. What is very important, is noting a chunk of these guys are injured. Jericho will hang around for a few months and vanish. The Social Outcasts need air time because they are a new stable. Mark Henry needs to show up once in a while. Sin Cara needs time to botch. Divas get air time. Where can all these guys go? They can put on fantastic matches, but they will always be the runner-ups until the big matches like Money in the Bank come into play.
It is WrestleMania season, and maybe WWE needs to dedicate a bit more energy into how these top talents will benefit from good scripting and less on posting “The Top 25 Instagrams” of the week, which are mostly Diva T&A shots, one of the Rock, one of Triple H, someone in the hospital, and someone with celebrities.
I remain hopeful WWE will stay on track, but I just cannot help but fight off the nagging feeling something may go awry.
