Dropping Truth

Over the spring and summer of 2011 R-Truth turned heel. He was a revelation in the role. Gone was the smiling, dancing mid-card babyface, replaced by an engaging and amusing paranoid schizophrenic convinced that being made to pander to children for years had cost him his shot at the big time. He revelled in peppering his promos with strange phrases and audience interaction and adopted a more aggressive ring style (as all WWE heels do). He became a programming highlight and did some of the best work of his career.

What happened to that guy?

WWE fumbled things. Anything they've not got a plan in place for that becomes popular gets fumbled. That's what happens when a wrestling company has no long term plans (or goals) and a creative department who don't understand the wrestling business to a satisfactory degree.

The specifics with Truth are particularly disappointing. He headlined June's Capitol Punishment in a WWE championship match with John Cena and then did absolutely nothing of note until the autumn, despite being one of wrestling's biggest bad guys at the time.

In retrospect he probably got overshadowed by the CM Punk worked shoot promo and ensuing mega push. That shouldn't have been the case but WWE have demonstrated regularly that they're incapable of elevating two acts at the same time. R-Truth drew the short straw.

Autumn saw 'The Suntan Superman' enter into a worked shoot angle of his own. He formed a partnership with fellow loose-ender The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged Air Boom for the tag team titles at Night of Champions. Due to Miz attacking the referee of that match the pair were fired.

The next month’s Hell in a Cell show was main evented by John Cena v CM Punk v Alberto Del Rio in a triple threat Cell match and featured Awesome Truth slipping out from under the ring to attack all three combatants. Their actions were portrayed as unscripted. The show ended with Truth and Miz brawling with COO Triple H in the aisle as the entire roster crowded around. It was a bizarre approach for a WWE card in this day and age

It all seemed to be hinting at something huge. A bold new approach to the way WWE presented its storylines or a massive push for Truth and 'The Awesome One'. It wasn't either. The pair were reinstated on TV in a thoroughly generic manner and went on to defeat Tripper and CM Punk at Vengeance. It was then announced they were the opponents for SuperCena and The Rock at Survivor Series.

Sounds like a good spot? It was, but the twosome were treated like the expendable mid-card talent they were when bell time came in their Survivor Series bout. They were split on the following evening’s RAW and then drifted off into obscurity.

A few months later Truth had morphed back into a bland good guy. That he held the hand of Little Jimmy as he made his way to the ring was a nice holdover from his storyline the previous summer but it was also depressing that nothing else of the period remained. Truth playing the face again wasn't a problem in itself: he was and is good in the role. It was disappointing that nothing had come of some of wrestling's best antagonism of the year.

If you were being charitable you could point out that 2012 saw Truth form a popular team with Kofi Kingston and reign as a tag champ for over four months. The tag title reign is a fact but only came about because there were no alternative teams available. The popularity claim would be pure fantasy: nobody was clamouring to see Truth and Kingston teaming together.

 

Push this guy... and Little Jimmy too

Since he and 'The Wildcat' went their separate ways Truth has sunk to his lowest point since before his heel turn. He's had a string of meaningless TV and pay-per-view matches and was never in any danger of wrestling on the WrestleMania card. He didn't even appear in the Royal Rumble. That says it all.

R-Truth proved in 2011 that he could be a valuable part of the WWE product. As the company is desperate for reliable guys right now they should be making more use if him.

Another heel turn wouldn't work. Having initially been done so well two years ago a repeat performance would have very little impact. More to the point, Truth is one of only a handful of faces that can be regularly sacrificed to Wade Barrett and Antonio Cesaro. If there were a mid-card scene to speak of he could be put to good use there. But there's not, and creating one doesn't seem terribly high on WWE's list of priorities.

I think the best thing that could be done with R-Truth now is to have him reform Awesome Truth. The Miz will soon stop playing movie star and become a full-time wrestler again. There's nothing obvious for him to return to as a singles guy and we've established Truth's doing nothing interesting so pairing them up again would give both a purpose. They had good chemistry during their original run and as they’re both faces now it would be easy for them to put a fresh spin on their act.

Stick them in a feud with the Rhodes Scholars for two months, have them win the programme, and it's just about conceivable that they could be used as challengers to The Shield over the summer. Like the idea it not it's a better use for two name talents than having them tread water.

That RAW Recap 16.01.12

As RAW aired several days ago I feel that posting a standard recap is fairly pointless. Anybody reading this is likely to have watched the show by now, either live as it happened or on a recording since. I will forego posting a write-up of the show and instead try something different: collating the comments I put onto Twitter as I watched the show. There will be little insight and a lot of things that probably won’t make sense unless you’re watching the show (or remember it really well). Try thinking of this as a companion piece to the show. That may make it a slightly more tolerable read...

Opening segment, featuring Mick Foley, Dolph Ziggler, CM Punk and John Laurinaitis

Tweet 1: Ooooooohhh... SHUCKY DUCKY QUACK QUACK!! It's time for me to watch RAW!

Tweet 2: Foley tries too hard these days.

Tweet 3: Foley wants into the Rumble. Fine. Great. Next segment...

Tweet 4: Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho, let's hold that thought. IT'S DOLPH ZIGGLER. #heelsdoitbetter

Tweet 5: I'm watching in HD for the first time. Ziggler's eyes are incredibly blue. #nohomo

Tweet 6: Ziggler is one of WWE's best promo guys. The opening segment of RAW proves it.

Tweet 7: I love Laurinaitis correcting Punk. #EXECUTIVEvicepresident

Tweet 8: Vickie Guerrero STILL laughs like Rita Repulsa from Power Rangers.

Air Boom v Epico and Primo

Tweet 9: The Air Boom v Epico and Primo title change looked VERY sloppy. Poor effort from all four.

Talking and video packages

Tweet 10: That was a solid six seconds of Laurinaitis texting there. Doesn't get much better than that.

Tweet 11: Jerry Lawler looks old. And he needs to dress his age.

Tweet 12: Seriously, Lawler, drop the diamante.

Tweet 13: Recap of the Ryder and Eve love story? Weird.

Jack Swagger v Zack Ryder

Tweet 14: If I was booking WWE Swagger would be split from Vickie and have a comedy entourage. I like serious wrestlers with comedy sidekicks.

Tweet 15: There's some questionable selling going on from Zack Ryder.

Tweet 16: Do you think Vince promised Ryder he'll put the belt back on him "soon"? I bet he did. Didn't work out well for the Honky Tonk Man did it...

Tweet 17: Is Eve Torres made of wood?

Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox v Brie Bella and Nikki Bella, with Perez Hilton as the special guest ring announcer

Tweet 18: Perez Hilton. What a fugly man.

Tweet 19: This should be the Brock Lesnar return segment. I'd pay good money to watch Lesnar maul this clown.

Tweet 20: Imagine the scene: Perez Hilton celebrates with KK and Alicia. Suddenly Lesnar's music hits and he comes to the ring to destroy EVERYONE.

A random recap of the 1992 Royal Rumble was shown

Tweet 21: Flair winning the '92 Rumble is one of wrestling's greatest moments. #woooooooo

R-Truth, Wade Barrett, Miz and Sheamus segment-match

Tweet 22: #LittleJimmy

Tweet 23: BARRETT RING COAT ALERT!!

Tweet 24: Barrett using "git" on US TV is gold.

Tweet 25: Gold, Jerry. Gold.

Tweet 26: "Don't what me. Okay what me."

Tweet 27: "I don't even know if that's PG."

Tweet 28: Sheamus making the save is random.

Tweet 29: Teddy Long. No dancing though... #badtimes

Tweet 30: Charles Robinson at ringside there. I remember when WCW gave him a huge push as a Flair-a-like.

Tweet 31: Truth won the over the top rope challenge so he's DEFINITELY going to do well in the Rumble.

Tweet 32: Sheamus has Truth's number apparently. Didn't Truth just eliminate him?

Jack Swagger v John Cena

Tweet 33: So there's no logical reason at all for Swagger being the designated jobber for Cena? Great. Fine. Bury new champions. See if I care.

Tweet 34: Swagger holding up the belt and shouting "What's my name?" is a meme waiting to happen.

Tweet 35: If Cena were to turn heel and work matches like this he would be one of wrestling's greatest acts.

Tweet 36: Modern Kane promos are a LOLfest. He can activate his magical fire powers from backstage nowadays. #evolution

Brodus Clay v JTG

Tweet 37: #FUNKASAURUS

Tweet 38: SOMEBODY CALL MY MAMA!! #ohyoudidntseethatcoming

Tweet 39: Brodus muttered "Seewha' cha" as he hit the match winning splash, @HeelBurton.

Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho and CM Punk v Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry and, for some reason, David Otunga

Tweet 40: AJ jobbed to Big Show. WE GET IT.

Tweet 41: "Cruel, inhospitable freak." #BigShow

Tweet 42: 1000 per cent fake. #AmDragmaths

Tweet 43 (a reply): @HeelBurton He danced like a dinosaur this week.

Tweet 44: Daniel Bryan as a heelworld champion is great. I hope we get "I have till five" soon.

Tweet 45: Apparently I can no longer press the space button all the time.

Tweet 46: I like Ziggler's zebra tights. #nohomo

Tweet 47: Jericho tagging out and walking off is ridiculous. But in a good way.

Tweet 48: Mick Foley randomly adds himself to the match and the ECW main event feel is complete.

Tweet 49: FAMEASSER! #BadAssBillyZiggler

Tweet 50: That's right, put Foley over Otunga. He's the future of the business.

Tweet 51: #MrSocko

CM Punk’s post match shoot segment

Tweet 52: I think Laurinaitis just mouthed the F word at Punk.

Tweet 53: John Laurinaitis is a victim of bullying in the workplace. I feel sorry for him.

Tweet 54: "Every week I put on the most entertaining show for the WWE Universe and I'm not appreciated for it!" #MrExcitement

Tweet 55: Laurinaitis versus Foley feud? One word: MONEY.

That’s what went through my mind as I watched the show. My personal highlights were Ziggler’s mic work at the beginning of the show (he’s come a long way in that area over the last year and is now one of the company’s best talkers), R-Truth’s entire segment (particularly the photoshopped pictures of himself at Disneyland and his PG joke), and the main event. Foley putting over the Royal Rumble as something of importance was nice to see as well. That approach is what will encourage people to watch.

Brodus Clay was entertaining, as he was on RAW and SmackDown last week, and Daniel Bryan was very over as a heel. I liked the use of Jericho and the way he worked the crowd only to leave seconds after tagging into the match too. I don’t know where that’s heading but ‘Y2J’s’ been very entertaining in the last three weeks without saying a word.

I’ve quite enjoyed this approach to RAW coverage. I suspect it’s not the last time you’ll see it. Feedback is welcome and actively encouraged, to my Twitter account (@ThatDaveGuy) for preference. Bottom line: good show with some good building going on. The Rumble’s shaping up nicely.

Seeing Doubles

For years WWE’s tag team division (and I use that word very loosely) has been unflinchingly dreadful. For much of the last few years the doubles gold has been used as a way of giving two singles guys something to do rather than as a way of introducing and elevating younger talent or two singles guys who clearly aren’t going to make the promotion any money by themselves.

In the last two months the tag ranks have received a boost, and it coincides with ‘The Game’s’ new on-screen role. With Triple H a noted advocate of tag team wrestling this is unlikely to be a coincidence. He may not have really replaced Vince McMahon behind the scenes but Triple H is clearly getting some input into what makes it to our screens.

The two men who have benefitted most from this renewed focus are Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne. I was sceptical when they were first put together as a team: it seemed WWE had thrown two guys together as a unit based on their size and smiley babyface personalities solely to take the belts from David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty (whom they were clearly unhappy with). The company’s record with tag teams indicated that Kingston and Bourne would win a non-title match over the champions and then capture the belts in a rematch and go on to have a meaningless reign until another new tandem was booked to defeat them a few months later.

Half of that did happen. Kingston and Bourne beat Otunga and McGillicutty in a non-title match and followed up with a title victory in a rematch a week later. Thankfully the pattern broke after that as the new champs have continued their winning ways... and have actually been defending the titles. Instead of disappearing off our screens Kingston and Bourne have had an increased presence on RAW and become regulars on SmackDown. They even received attention from WWE’s website in the form of a poll allowing fans to decide on their new team name. That the voters went with the disappointing Air Boom as opposed to Flight Club or The Legion of Boom is irrelevant (although those names are both clearly far better), what’s important is that fans were given the opportunity to show support for Bourne and Kingston and took it. Yes, WWE actually listened to the audience for once!

It looks as though the plan is to give guys on the undercard a chance to make an impression on audiences by pairing them up as tag teams. The Usos are still hanging in there on SmackDown while Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks recently announced they will become a regular combo on RAW (though I imagine they’ll be getting most of their air time on Superstars). While they seem to be heading more towards a feud right now it’s possible that Jinder Mahal and The Great Khali will reunite as a team in the near future and we could even see Swagger and Ziggler being used as a team soon too.

Meanwhile Otunga and McGillicutty, the former tag team champions, are involved in a feud with Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler over their alleged lack of personality. Bringing attention to the fact that neither man is especially charismatic and pitting them against a 61-year-old may not seem like the best way to get the team over, but it’s giving them something to do and ensures they’re on TV every week. Had they lost the tag team championship a few months earlier they probably would have disappeared from television all together. Now they’ve at least been granted a follow-up storyline.

Although Air Boom have benefitted the most from the rejuvenation attempt the stars of the divison over the last few weeks have undoubtedly been R-Truth and The Miz. Since losing the WWE championship to John Cena in May The Miz has been given little to do besides a brief feud with former apprentice Alex Riley. R-Truth’s had even less to work with. He was built up as a challenger for John Cena at Capitol Punishment in June and has done nothing since losing unceremoniously to ‘The Champ’. Both are talented all-rounders capable of wrestling at a main event level for WWE (Miz in particular). It’s great that WWE recognised it had had them treading water for too long and put them together as a unit. The Awesome Truth (as they’re calling themselves) have a unique entrance that sets them apart as an act and guarantees them heel heat too. They’ve been a highlight not just of the tag scene but RAW in general since they announced their partnership so hopefully they will be kept together for a few months when they make their inevitable return to TV.

The company has lots of options for the future of its tag team division. Hawkins and Reks and the Usos may not mean much to anyone now but if they use the air time they’re given either team (or both teams) could work their way into a meaningful spot. There are guys like Tyson Kidd, Trent Barreta, Heath Slater, Mason Ryan, Drew McIntyre, Yoshi Tatsu, Broadus Clay, Santino Marella, and Zack Ryder not doing much on the main roster too, all of whom could make a worthwhile contribution to the tag scene.

It’s a good way of using developmental wrestlers too. Seth Rollins and Richie Steamboat have worked as a team in FCW in the past and new signing Antonio Cesaro, better known as Claudio Castagnoli, would be a natural fit on RAW pr SmackDown alongside long time partner Chris Hero (if he ever signs a contract that is). WWE are said to have their eyes on TNA’s Beer Money Inc. too and if that’s the case then they’re clearly serious about reenergising the doubles division. If it means more on-screen pairings such as Air Boom and The Awesome Truth it’s hard to argue against it.