WWE Night of Champions 2015 preview

Do you like title defences? If so you'll love Night of Champions. It's the WWE B level pay-per-view where every championship is defended in a match, which somehow sets it apart from all those other WWE pay-per-views where all titles are defended. Plus there are bonus matches that don't even involve titles at all! WWE is truly spoiling us.

With every title being defended double champion Seth Rollins will make two appearances at this event. He'll defend the WWE championship against Sting and the United States championship against John Cena. The US title match is expected to go on last. Considering the respective ability of Sting and Cena I think that's the right call. 'Big Match John' is clearly more capable of delivering a satisfying main while having Rollins face 'The Icon' first will ensure he's fresher, all the better to carry the ageing former WCW headliner to something passable.

I'm fully expecting Cena to regain the US belt. Keeping Rollins a double champ doesn't seem feasible long term and it's tough to envisage Sting wandering out on RAW with the world gold. It's by no means impossible, there's ample time for Rollins to drop the belt to someone and give them a short reign before he regains it and drops it to Reigns. That someone could easily be Sting. Rollins versus Reigns is the obvious big match for WWE to be building to but there's time for them to surprise us before they get there, basically.

There's a way for all three guys to come out of this show looking good. If Sting v Rollins took the semi-main spot then Rollins could cheat to win a fifteen minute match and sell exhaustion as his US defence kicks off. This would keep heat on 'The Future' for cheating in another title defence, protect Sting by not having him lose clean, and make Cena look strong for giving the heel his comeuppance, with Rollins being protected in his second match because he's wrestled back to back defences. Instead of this I suspect Rollins and 'The Stinger' will open the show and that WWE will go with the same story suggested above, though it won't work anywhere near as well with Rollins having a few hours to recuperate between bouts. 

The other gents' single strap will be defended by Ryback against Kevin Owens. It's a match that has the potential to be hossy excellence. It's quality will ultimately be determined by whether or not Ryback's on form. As a character he's always gold, face or heel, but his ring work can vary. Owens will definitely carry his end of things. Expect his usual big match arsenal of fishermanbusters and double jump moonsaults. I'll be surprised if 'The Big Guy' doesn't get to kick out of at least one of Owens' power bomb variants too.

I'm torn on a winner for this match. Ryback is still very much one of the company's projects, a lad they're determined to get over. It's the reason he got the IC strap in the first place. But Owens very clearly has top line potential himself and is a better worker with (seemingly) a more passionate following than big Ry'.

I'm leaning towards an Owens win. I've been predicting Ryback wins since he won the belt on the basis of it not feeling like time for a change. Now it's beginning to. If WWE are serious about wanting their championships to mean more (and the booking of the US title since WrestleMania indicates that they do) then Owens would be a good man to put it on. Of course, successfully defending against Owens could really help to legitimise Ryback's title reign. So there's that.

Over in the tag division New Day will defend the titles against the Dudley Boyz. Given the New Day's table-themed protest against the Dudleys immediately after their return and the lack of gimmick matches on this show it's surprising that this isn't a tables match. I suppose that could change before the event or even on the night. If it does I expect Bubba and Devon will leave as ten time (WWE) doubles champs. If it doesn't then I could see New Day winning in order to set up a rematch for the MSG special or Hell in a Cell in October.

The match will be great. Because New Day. In fact it'll be great because of the Dudleys too. They've been great since their return to the company last month. Bubba has proven he was entirely wasted as Bully Ray in TNA. Not that that's news to anyone.

The evening's other tag match will be a six man. Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, the two man Shield, will once again pair up to tangle with the Wyatt Family. It's the stables rivalry that will never end, which, in a way, is part of why it's so special. The guys involved can always slip into a programme based on their allegiances to these groups. It's the sort of thing that works so well in wrestling.

The Wyatts will be represented by Bray, Luke Harper and new boy Braun Strowman. A mystery partner has been teased for Ambrose and Reigns. The list of potential partners seems pretty short. Randy Orton was attacked by Bray and co on the 7 September RAW and was shown talking to Reigns and Ambrose later in the evening so he'd be a logical choice. Erick Rowan had reunited with Luke Harper before he suffered an injury in June but it's possible he could return to oppose them citing jealousy over Braun Strowman bring brought in. That sounds an underwhelming and slightly silly reason for a face turn but WWE have offered far less in the past. Personally I'd like to see Cesaro as the mystery partner. It wouldn't make much sense but he's not booked and he can wrestle his socks off (possibly literally).

I suspect we'll get 'The Viper' as the third man though. Although he's boring a lot of the time he'd be perfectly watchable here. Sharing the ring with five other men would limit his screen time and allow him to hit his key spots without doing much else. That's pretty much ideal for him.

The current incarnation of the feud (which started back at Money in the Bank in June) is tied at one win each. 'The Eater of Worlds' defeated Reigns at Battleground. Reigns and Ambrose picked up a tag win over Wyatt and Harper at SummerSlam. Assuming this is the final match in the series I'm predicting a Reigns, Ambrose and mystery partner victory here. Reigns needs to be kept strong for the WWE title win he's getting sooner or later. That said I'd love to see the Wyatt Family win after interference from a returning Rowan or, better yet, a debuting Sister Abigail.

Also announced for the show are Dolph Ziggler v Rusev and Adrian Neville and the Lucha Dragons v The Cosmic Wasteland. I've got little to say regarding Ziggler, Rusev, Lana and Summer Rae. The story seems to be deliberately emulating a trashy soap plot. This is fine and something wrestling can parody very well. Sadly nobody involved is going as crazy with their material as they need to to make it work. I'll hope Lana swerve turns on 'The Show Off' to reunite with Rusev.

The six man match will be on the pre-show. I don't usually cover those but I love this Cosmic Wasteland thing so much that I just wanted an excuse to mention it. Stardust has been a highlight of WWE since his issue with Stephen Amell became A Thing and casting The Ascension as his henchmen was a stroke genius. They look good together, it gives a previously aimless team something to do, and it helps 'The Prince of Dark Matter' seem that bit more of a threat. No logical analysing here, I want them to win.

Finally there's Nikki Bella's Divas title match with Charlotte. This match originally took place on the September 14 episode of RAW with the story on that night being that Charlotte wanted to win not just to become the Divas champion but to stop Nikki becoming the longest reigning champ in history. We got a Dusty finish. Charlotte was announced as the victor and new champ, Ric Flair nigh on teleported down to ringside to get in some celebrating with his daughter, then it was revealed that Charlotte had pinned Brie. The match was restarted and Nikki got in a pin to retain her title and shatter a record.

The reasoning behind this sequence was beyond reproach. Nikki cheating to win in the manner she did is a long established character trait. Stealing the title from Charlotte's grasp is the perfect way to get heat on a heel. The trouble is that so much leading up to the match had been haphazard. Nikki had flitted back and forth between face and heel. The Divas Revolution story, while entertaining and definitely movement in the right direction, had not produced that many truly memorable or meaningful matches.

The good news is that the NOC rematch has been announced with stipulations that favour a fair fight. Nikki can lose by DQ, ruling out any heelish shenanigans. Things are set up for a Charlotte victory and Sasha Banks has been surreptitiously readied as her first challenger with clean TV wins over former champion Paige and a subtle restructuring of BAD to make it clear that 'The Boss' is... well, the boss. Nikki is unlikely to regain the title after losing it to Charlotte but she can float around near the top of the division as a perennial challenger, her longest reign ever giving her something to crow about and helping portray her as a legitimate contender.

If Charlotte doesn't win at Night of Champions WWE will have to go back to square one with their Divas division. I don't think they want to. I'm confident enough people backstage understand that Sunday needs to be Charlotte's night.

***

Predictions summary:

John Cena to defeat Seth Rollins to win the United States championship
Seth Rollins to defeat Sting to retain the WWE championship
Kevin Owens to defeat Ryback for the Intercontinental championship
Charlotte to defeat Nikki Bella to win the Divas championship
Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and their mystery partner to defeat The Wyatt Family
New Day to defeat the Dudley Boyz to retain the tag team championship
Rusev to defeat Dolph Ziggler
The Cosmic Wasteland to defeat Adrian Neville and the Lucha Dragons

WWE SummerSlam 2015 preview

Probably the most interesting thing to note about this year's SummerSlam is that it's the first time in what feels like years that there's been a WWE pay-per-view involving what feels like a substantial mid-card. It's become the norm to toss non-main event names into matches for the Intercontinental and US championships or pit them against established top boys like John Cena and Randy Orton in a token effort at getting them over. It's an approach that has yielded success occasionally (Cena v Owens) but has failed more often than not (Cena v Rusev, Cena v Wyatt).

I picked Cena as an example there deliberately. Despite being the biggest star on the roster it's actually Cena that's been at the heart of this mid-card resurgence. The Owens versus Cesaro rivalry has spun off from the Owens versus Cena rivalry. During that Owens was able to defeat Cena once, in a non-title match. He lost subsequent matches in which the US championship was up for grabs. Meanwhile Cena also made spirited defences against 'The Swiss Superman', with Owens interfering in many of them as he became increasingly frustrated at his own inability to beat Cena for the gold. He didn't want to see Cesaro accomplish something he was unable to.

We could also attribute the Rusev and Ziggler feud to Cena too, although his involvement there is less direct. He was the man who not only took the United States championship from Rusev but also handed him his first loss. This embarrassed 'The Super Athlete', causing him to flip out at his manager and girlfriend Lana¹. She left him and became empowered by her newfound single status because that's what happens in the good ol' US of A. There is no oppression for women, only empowerment. Anyway, while Lana was getting said empowerment (by hooking up with a new hot guy, obvs) Rusev suffered further televised losses, highlighting how important Lana had been to his career prior to their split.

Deciding to show that he was totes over Lana, Rusev hooked up with Summer Rae and encouraged her to dress like Lana. Because he'd been cast as a psychology ex-boyfriend and that's totally what psycho ex-boyfriends do. Summer also proved willing to act more submissive to Rusev, a reversal of the Lana-Rusev relationship in which it was Lana who was the dominant force. All of which could have become a very interesting story exploring the nature of relationships, moving on, and getting hung up on exes. But it didn't. Not because wrestling is ill-equipped for this sort of thing (I actually think this type of story is something wrestling can excel at) but because it wasn't given enough thought towards the start and was later hampered by Dolph Ziggler, Lana's new beau, disappearing after a beating from big Ru².

Cena himself will be both defending his United States championship and challenging for the WWE world championship. He'll be in a title versus title match against Seth Rollins. The idea here is absolutely sound. Since becoming a four time US champ at WrestleMania Cena has, amazingly, made the title mean something with exciting weekly title defences against some of the best wrestlers on the roster. Meanwhile Rollins has been a cowardly world champion, relying on interference, favourable rules and other assorted cheating to keep hold of the belt.

The story essentially sees a worthy champion who takes pride in defending and retaining his prize the right way facing off with a champion who cares only about protecting his status. It's an interesting look at what it actually means to be a champion in wrestling, and is noteworthy because it is emphatically not the sort of thing WWE usually does. Despite the high chance of the match having a screwy finish (to avoid titles changing hands) I'm looking forward to this match, because another way of looking at the match is to see it as the natural culmination of Cena's streak of matches against The New School: he's facing the original NXT champion, Triple H's on-screen golden boy, Seth Rollins. It's basically the ultimate US Open Challenge without actually being part of that series.

Away from Cena-spurred plots there's been the issues between Stardust and Green Arrow star Stephen Amell. Stardust, believing himself to be a real life super villain, took exception to Amell being in attendance at an episode of RAW and attacked him. Amell leapt the barrier and fought back (which security allowed because WWE are marks for outside talent). 'Don't Call Him Adrian' Neville then got involved, because he wears a cape and performs a move called the Red Arrow, making him a natural Amell ally in Stardust's mind. Then King Bad News Wade Barrett I got involved too, because tag matches, playa³!

Summarised here it sounds entirely daft. It has been, but to be fair that's the point of it. Stardust is a deranged character and that's what's driven the story. It works and it's a nice change of pace from the stuff that usually makes it onto RAW.

The Sheamus versus Randy Orton rivalry has continued from last month. I failed to care about it then and I still feel the same way now. 'The Viper's' character is deathly dull right now and the most interesting thing about 'The Celtic Warrior' is that he has a Money in the Bank briefcase to cash in. I don't necessarily think it will happen on this show but if it did it would be the most interesting thing Sheamus did all evening.

Rounding out the non-tag mid-card action is a triple threat for the Intercontinental championship. Originally scheduled for last month's Battleground it had to be postponed because Ryback suffered some sort of super-gross hernia. That show gave us a brief altercation between Miz and Big Show, his scheduled opponents, that hinted at 'The World's Largest Athlete' turning face (again) with the match itself being postponed because it was too valuable to simply not do⁴. Ultimately Big Show would remain a heel, surprising the many of us who have become accustomed to frequent Show swerve turns.

In all honesty I quite like this triple threat. I don't mind Ryback and I can appreciate The Miz for the effective heel he is. Big Show isn't especially welcome but if he has to be on a card this is the sort of level he should be at. It's the kind of match that establishes 'The Big Guy' as a legitimate champ, beating two upper mid-card lads at once. It doesn't hurt the IC title either, and that's not something we've been getting to say much over the last several years.

Outside of the main event the rest of the card is comprised of tag matches. The natural culmination of the rejuvenated Divas division, a nine woman, three-way trios match, has been booked already. I understand why this was done: it gets everyone on the show. The trouble is that it's a match that fees like it should end the current era of the Divas division. As the current era only started on July 13 this feels premature.

Meanwhile the tag belts will be defended in a four-way match even more blatantly slung together to get more lads onto the card to kill time. If it gets long enough it should be fun but it will be too busy and spot-heavy to become something meaningful.

Which is something that can't be said for the Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose versus Wyatt Family match. This is a rivalry that started with Bray randomly attacking Roman and cutting enigmatic promos that seemed to hint at the involvement of the latter's kid. Family-stuff aside this shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone: all Bray Wyatt feuds begin with him attacking someone for literally no reason at all.

The end of their singles match at Battleground saw Luke Harper run-in and throw Reigns into a ring post, allowing 'The Eater of Worlds' to win. This signalled the reunion of the Wyatt Family, a faction which makes the already enjoyable Harper and Wyatt so much better. Wyatt is more eerie when he has vacant followers at his beck and call, while Harper benefits from being associated with someone who can provide him with things to do.

Reigns brought in backup against the Family in the form of his buddy and old Shield teammate Dean Ambrose. The original plan was apparently for Sting to join up with Ambrose and Reigns but when Erick Rowan was unable to rejoin the Wyatt flock (because he's not healed up from an injury yet) that was nixed. Frankly it feels like a bullet was dodged there. 'The Stinger' would almost certainly have looked out of place alongside Reigns and Ambrose and I can't imagine a match involving him in the Seth Rollins spot could have done justice to the enjoyable Shield-Wyatts showdowns we had in 2014.

Which just leaves the main event: Brock Lesnar versus The Undertaker. There's so much history to this that I doubt I can do it justice in a couple of paragraphs but I'll give it a go...

WrestleMania XXX saw Lesnar hand 'Taker his first ever defeat at in the series' history. This was a significant deal because 'The Dead Man' had appeared at twenty-one previous 'Mania's and it was the sort of record that nobody in wrestling ever gets close to. It's something that not even the greatest of bookers could have planned.

This victory shocked pretty much everyone and set Lesnar up as an unstoppable beast, to the point where his advocate Paul Heyman actually began referring to him as 'The Beast Incarnate'. Lesnar went on a tear, trouncing John Cena in a staggeringly one-sided match for the WWE championship at SummerSlam 2014 and holding the gold until WrestleMania 31 eight months later. Though he lost the title at 'Mania he was not pinned or submitted: Seth Rollins cashed in his magical get-a-title-match-whenever-you-like contract and pinned Lesnar's opponent, Roman Reigns, to become the champ.

Naturally this annoyed 'The Beast' and he went nuts the next night on RAW. This caused on-screen bosses The Authority to suspend indefinitely. Surprisingly that suspension didn't actually last too long and Lesnar was brought back for his contractually obligated rematch with Rollins at Battleground. There 'The Pain' seemed to be on course to win the title back... until the lights cut out and came back on to reveal The Undertaker.

'The Phenom' made short work of Lesnar at Battleground, giving him a choke slam, a pair of Tombstone piledrivers and a kick in the privates. Things would be different the next evening on RAW: Lesnar was prepared and they had an intense brawl that saw a large portion of the roster hit the ring to join security in holding the two powerhouses apart. Since then Undertaker has (glossed over his return earlier in the year to defeat Wyatt at WrestleMania and) revealed that the reason he attacked Lesnar was that he was tired of Heyman going on and on and on and on and on and on about The Streak being taken from him. On the one hand you can empathise with 'Taker on that: it was humiliating. But on the other Heyman was obviously going to talk it up because it will go down as one of the biggest moment's of his client's career.

Basically this is being built as a big deal of a rematch. It absolutely is but there are slight problems with the premise. Firstly, the conflict between the two centres around Undertaker's Streak, so having them face off at event that isn't WrestleMania feels peculiar. Secondly, it feels strange for 'Taker to be positioned as the heel. And he is being positioned as the heel, whether people are going to react to him as one or not. He's kicked Brock low twice. It's nice in that it plays up Undertaker's I-will-gain-vengeance-at-any-cost mentality but at this point in his career (very likely less than a year away from retiring after playing the same character for two and a half decades) it feels like Undie should be a babyface.

Which isn't to say the match won't be good. It will be. Undertaker suffered a concussion in their WM30 showdown and he'll want to prove all the doubters that say he can't have a cracking match anymore wrong. When they feuded in 2003 (admittedly twelve years and many injures ago) Lesnar and 'Taker had wild chemistry. There's no reason to think they don't still have it. They just need to avoid head trauma to get through this.

All of which brings me to predictions. Rollins v Cena seems like a shmoz waiting to happen. Ryback retaining seems like a safe assumption seeing as it's his first title reign in WWE and he's not really gotten to do much yet, while the time feels right for a title change with the tag straps. I'd like to say the Lucha Dragons will win but I think New Day could regain to set up a proper title chase for Sin Cara and Kalisto (which they totally deserve). In the same vein I think Paige, Becky and Charlotte could win their Divas triple threat to set them up as the top contenders for Nikki's championship.

I'll be surprised if the celebrity special tag bout doesn't end with Stephen Amell proving he can defeat fully trained and experienced professional wrestlers, because WWE, as stated above, love to make outside stars look strong (although admittedly this wouldn't be the worst decision in the world). I expect the other big tag match to be won by Reigns and Ambrose. A swerve turn by Ambrose seems likely at some point because it's the sort of feud that could stretch for a while and see Reigns through to December or January, when he can start focusing on winning the WWE title again. SummerSlam seems the wrong time for it though: if it happened the NYC crowd would favour Ambrose, making Reigns look like a heel and a chump. I can't believe WWE would want to put their next golden boy, who they've been handling with kid gloves, in that situation.

Orton v Sheamus, Cesaro v Owens and Ziggler v Rusev could each go either way. I'll pick Sheamus, because it's his turn, Owens, because the company has seemed higher on him lately than tey have Cesaro (and they can book him to cheat), and Ziggler because Lana shenanigans are Rusev's Achilles heel.

The main event is tough. I could see each guy going over. Undertaker "needs" his win back and further rebuilding for his last hurrah next year (assuming it's coming). Lesnar needs to remain the dominating, unstoppable force he's been for much of the past few years. The Streak ending stalled Undertaker and caused the final years of his career to lose steam, because without The Streak he's pretty much just an old lad with a phantastical gimmick who may or may not deliver once the bell ring. Having the suspense his Streak provided really helped him. It's not on the same scale but Lesnar's continued dominance helps him in a similar fashion. It's for that reason that I hope 'The Beast' wins, just as I hoped he'd lose on the night he became 'The Conqueror of The Streak'.

***

Predictions summary:

Brock Lesnar to defeat The Undertaker
John Cena v Seth Rollins to end in a draw
Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns to defeat The Wyatt Family
Paige, Becky Lynch and Charlotte to defeat BAD and Team Bella
Kevin Owens to defeat Cesaro
Adrian Neville and Stephen Amell to defeat Stardust and King Barrett
Ryback to retain the Intercontinental championship against The Miz and Big Show
New Day to win the tag team championship
Dolph Ziggler to defeat Rusev
Sheamus to defeat Randy Orton

***

¹ Here I just want to pause and comment on the nature of the Rusev-Lana relationship. Between Rusev's debut and WrestleMania 31 the pair seemed to be nothing more than colleagues. Once Rusev went crazy and blamed Lana for his loss to Big Match Jern in an I Quit match this was retconned and we were informed that they'd basically been knocking boots all along.

Which would be fine if it weren't for the confusing wrinkle that Rusev and Lana are a real life couple who love together. When they were being presented as manager and client they were dating. Now they're separated on-screen but still dating. This is one of those times when the best thing to do is roll your eyes and say "Wrestling, eh?"

² In reality he was filming a probably terrible WWE Studios film.

³ Holla holla!

⁴ At least that's wat I'm assuming WWE thinks. Obviously Ryback versus The Miz versus Big Show is not an especially great match but at least assuming there's some value attached to it within the company gives it some logical reason for happening here.

Double the Butterfly, Double the Fun

Over the last few years there's been intermittent talk about a Divas tag team division being introduced to WWE. Much of this talk has come from the Bella twins in interviews with various non-WWE organisations, websites and magazines (and, for what it's worth, it tends to be more Nikki than Brie). The recent renovation of the Divas division has, predictably, led to the Bellas making another push for it.

Potential tag team champions.

In principle I think it's a good idea. A singles belt and tag belts would help the division to feel more like a rounded, competitive division rather than a bunch of wrestlers swapping one championship amongst themselves. It would also make sense considering the prominence of tag wrestling in general these days.

The trouble is that it feels far too early for the Divas division to be heading in this direction. Right now the focus should be on establishing that this really is the best Divas line-up we've had in years. That means continuing to highlight Sasha Banks,  Becky Lynch and Charlotte (Flair) as women every bit the equals of their more tenured peers. It also means continuing to give women's matches the time to impress and satisfy, as well as making the singles championship currently carried by Nikki Bella feel like a prize worth winning. The introduction of tag titles would detract from this process and it would throw the focus of the division off kilter.

It would also highlight the lack of depth to the roster. Yes, the additions of the three NXT stars is welcome but it only brings the number of active wrestlers up to nine. Throw in Natalya (who's currently taking time off to help husband Tyson Kidd recover from an injury) and that's enough for five teams, hardly enough for a thriving division despite what large stretches of the last decade of WWE's men's tag division would have you believe.

Stick Charlotte in a singles title feud with Sasha Banks,
have Paige and Becky as a tag team.

The good news is that there are two pairings that are obvious for carrying a Divas tag scene. One is the Bella twins. You really shouldn't need me to explain why but I will: they're sisters and therefore a natural tag team. The other is the pairing of Paige and Becky Lynch. Their shared background on the British indies provides a logical reason for the two to form a regular team (because they feel a kinship). Their real long-time friendship dating back a decade could be referenced to make their journey to the tag team titles seem more special and heart-warming, more of an achievement.

 

A third option worth touching on is the "family" connection between Naomi and Tamina, although Tamina's limited in-ring ability would make them a poor choice to carry the division.

If the Divas' roster can stretch to twelve or so strong (a perfectly achievable goal considering the number of women in NXT) then a Divas tag division would be entirely justifiable. Emma and Dana Brooke are a logical pair of call-ups to make should tag straps be introduced. Alexa Bliss could find someone to team with. The two newcomers who I won't name because they're currently rotating through various handles could be introduced as plucky underdogs. Bayley and Charlotte's friendship from NXT would be the good basis for a call-up and a title chase. The division just needs time to get its singles work right. Post-WrestleMania next year things could, and should, be very different.

Revolutionising the Divas Division

The July 13 RAW saw the main roster debuts of Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch. Hardly breaking news at this point I know, it's taken me a while to get a post together on the call-ups. Not doing a post simply wasn't an option: the significance of the three women being promoted from developmental simultaneously cannot be understated.

Paige and her NXT allies, the unofficially dubbed Powerbuff Girls.

Moving a number of women from NXT's women's division is a sign that WWE management recognise change is needed in the way women are presented by the company. Having them be three of the four best wrestlers (the fourth, to clarify, is Bayley) is a sign that this isn't just a case restocking a depleted division but a drive to improve quality. Had the former been what the company desired they simply could have gone with utilising existing bit part players Alicia Fox, Cameron, Summer Rae and Rosa Mendes. That wrestlers who have been receiving critical praise were chosen to join the division tells us that creating a competitive, layered and compelling division is the goal.

As does, of course, the manner in which the three were promoted. They were introduced by Stephanie McMahon. Having a McMahon hype you up before your first appearance is a big deal, because they're the owners of the company and if they're going out of their way to talk you up it sends the message that you're worth attention¹. Te same goes for interacting with a champion in your first segment. Basically everything about the way the women were introduced was designed to let anyone unfamiliar with them know they're a big deal and reassure people who've enjoyed their work in NXT that they'll get the same kind of opportunities on RAW and SmackDown.

Naomi versus Banks could be great. Just saying...

Since the call-up the company has stuck to its guns on the revamped Divas scene. Charlotte, Banks and Brie Bella wrestled an eleven and a half minute three-way at Battleground. The following evening's RAW saw Charlotte defeat Brie in a nine minute match and Naomi and Banks topple Lynch and Paige in a little under fifteen minutes. The July 23 SmackDown saw a thirteen minute tag match, and the Monday 27 RAW a fourteen minute singles match between Paige and Banks. The newcomers haven't been booked to steamroll their more established counterparts but they have been made to look competitive, an intelligent approach that considers the long-term future of the division.

I'm not claiming the matches have all been classics. They haven't. The only one that can accurately be said to be n above average affair was the Banks versus Paige match, and that was at least partly due to Banks being the reigning NXT women's champion and 'The Anti-Diva's' history in the developmental league (and with that title) making for an interesting background to the meeting. But they have been longer than the average Divas match of the last few years, and they've been wrestled like the people involved have something to prove, presumably because they do.

The decision to form three factions is what I like most about the restructuring of the division. It keeps things simple and gives each Divas match a reason for happening. Going by the numbers there are now twenty-seven singles matches, eighteen tag combos, three six women tags, and the obviously climactic three-way trios collision that can be cycled through. That's easily enough to keep the division feeling fresh and exciting for months. If things are paced properly and the story is told right WWE could do something special with Nikki Bella edging closer and closer to becoming the longest reigning Divas champion ever².

Can Nikki Bella become the longest reigning Divas champion ever?
A strong maybe from me.

Whether Nikki achieves this feat or not, and personally I think she will because she seems liked within the company and the people that run the company are vindictive enough to want to take the chance to take an accolade away from AJ, she'll lose the title at some point. When she does it will be to a member of a rival faction, because these are the women who will form the focal point of the division for the foreseeable future. When that happens it opens up longer term stories of rivalries between people who are currently allies. Charlotte winning the title could set up a friendly series with Paige, for example, while Banks and Naomi seem destined to clash over "leadership" of their BAD stable.

It's taken WWE far too long to get back around to presenting its women wrestlers as athletes who have the same athleticism and competitive drive as their male counterparts but at least they got to it eventually. It was at least worth the wait as the situation they've created by going with three promotions at once has given us the most promising Diva line-up in years and dozens of potential storylines, matches and feuds. If they can meet half of the potential they'll be doing okay.

***

¹ we will at this point overlook the fact that Steph, while great on the mic, is nowhere near the level of her dad, the one and only Vinnie Mac.

² As things stand right now she will surpass AJ Lee's current 295 day record on September 15. That's the Tuesday before Night of Champions. It seems reasonably safe to assume that if Nikki leaves August's SummerSlam with the butterfly belt she'll make it NOC as champ, breaking Lee's record.

WWE Battleground 2015 review

Battleground was, amongst other things, a indication of Randy Orton's standing in WWE in 2015. This is a man who just under two years ago was positioned as the company's top heel and on-screen undisputed top star. Since splitting with his benefactors The Authority last year he's had an underwhelming feud with Seth Rollins and nothing else. After playing a relatively minor part at Money in the Bank this show saw him relegated to a thoroughly mid-card outing against Sheamus, and in his home town no less.

It's peculiar how the standing of someone like Orton can fluctuate so drastically. He's been on the roster for well over a decade now and despite this, and the fact that he's a favourite of the McMahons and is amongst the best wrestlers on the roster (when he's motivated) he frequently finds himself dropping down to programmes such as this, his momentum and focus drained. It's impossible to imagine this happening to John Cena, who is a close parallel to Orton in terms of years served and standing on the backstage pecking order.

But hey, this is a company that finds it a struggle to sustain a push for pretty much everyone. That's why Bad News Barrett defeated R-Truth on the pre-show (in a match that should make it clear why I don't write about pre-shows) despite having won the allegedly star-making King of the Ring tournament in April and Adrian Neville, the man who debuted to much fanfare the night after WrestleMania and who we're supposed to believe has been pegged as a future headliner, was nowhere to be seen on this show. For that matter it's why the Divas division which was given some fresh talent in a high profile and well received segment on RAW just six days earlier wasn't considered important enough to have its match announced in advance for this show.

Orty won his opening match against Shaymo with an RKO (outta nowhere!), an interesting outcome with Sheamus being the Money in the Bank holder but not exactly massively surprising. It was a pretty enjoyable match for the most part but we didn't see anything special. It would probably have been improved by losing a couple of minutes, to be honest.

After a recap of the main roster debuts of Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks we were shown Stephanie McMahon chatting to Jojo backstage. After pandering to the St Louis fans (to make it clear she was a face at this point) she announced that there would be a triple threat later in the night with a representative of each Divas team involved.

Five!

New Day followed that with some chatting of their own, only they did it on their way to the ring for their tag title match. They said they'd been tested for five weeks (prompting a nice call-back to Big E's obsession with the number five that he had in NXT) but they hadn't lost their way. They ended by saying they deserved to win and that they'd defeat the Prime Time Players. It was a great promo, mostly because they're such smug idiots. Big E in particular was great (again).

The more prominent New Day combo of Kofi Kingston and Big E represented the team in the match. It makes sense that they get to wrestle the most because they're the more capable members of the group and it frees Xavier Woods up to ran around the ring being a modern day Bill Alfonso. He came out with such gems as "Worst. Leg drop. Ever" after Titus leg dropped Big E, "What happened to you?" after Darren Young had been launched out of the ring by Big E, and "There it is again: triceps meat!"

The match followed the standard WWE pattern: the heels isolated D-Young and worked him over in the corner. After several minutes Young tagged out to Titus, who smashed his way through Kingston and Big E. The crowd were really into Titus at that point, which just goes to show that if guys are booked to their strengths people will react.

After being distracted by Woods Titus tagged back out. Young immediately hit a crisp overhead belly-to-belly on Kingston, walloped Big E with a rolling elbow, and back dropped Woods on the ring apron. Back in the ring he was caught with a spin kick by Kofi and set up for the Big Ending by Big E. He wriggled out of that, avoided a Trouble in Paradise, and hit the one-time 'Wildcat' with a gutbuster. Titus was then tagged back in to hit the match-winning Clash of the Titus.

It was nice to see the Prime Time Players turn in another strong performance after years of being considers just another team. They've shown they have something to offer the division. It's just a shame they've not had the chance to work with Cesaro and Kiss, Harper and Rowan and the Usos, all three teams being afflicted by injuries. We do have a PTPs versus Lucha Dragons match to look forward to though. That could be interesting.

Backstage Paige talked about how she'd been wanting change for the Divas division for months and she's psyched to have Charlotte and Becky Lynch helping her. Lynch said they should tear the division down and rebuild the entire thing. Charlotte said they'd do with flair. I'd like weak, obvious puns to become her new gimmick.

Match three was Roman Reigns versus Bray Wyatt. One of the most interesting thing about the match was the video package that explained why it was happening. Mostly because it highlighted how weird the rivalry between the two is. Wyatt started off by talking about how it should have been him that won Money in the Bank, which made sense because wrestlers should want to win that as it gives them a world title match with a practically guaranteed victory. That he'd be jealous of Reigns being in the match and cost him the win made sense. What didn't make sense was that the feud quickly degenerated into mid-90's level Undertaker-esque mind games, complete with doppelgangers, promos about loved ones, and the apparent ability to teleport.

I like the Wyatt character and I'm not averse to Reigns as a top guy but none of this has done either man any favours.

Do you care? Do I? Who even knows anymore...

The match was slow and featured little to hold attention. Reigns started off by lumping Wyatt but had the tables turned on him with a punch to the mouth from the outside. From there 'The Eater of Worlds' controlled a brawl around ringside for several minutes, the highlight of which was him screeching with laughter at the Spanish announce team. Reigns would eventually make a comeback after being trapped in a sleeper for what felt like five minutes, battering 'The New Face of Fear' with right hands, clotheslines and other assorted basic power moves.

Reigns went for the Drive-By (the awful name for his running drop kick) but got caught with a clothesline by Wyatt. After giving Reigns a senton on the outside Wyatt rolled Reigns back into the ring and continued to work him over. Reigns would fight back, allowing the two to exchange signature moves and finishers in what was the hottest portion of the match and should have been the finishing sequence. Instead they had Wyatt kick out of a Superman punch, counter a spear with a kick to the face, and floor Reigns with a right hand for a two count before both men took a breather and the match continued.

The actual finish saw a lad in a hoodie jump the barrier and shove Reigns into a ring post as he was throwing chairs into the ring. Wyatt then hit him with Sister Abigail in the ring and pinned him. The hooded lad then joined Wyatt and revealed himself as Luke Harper. While run-in finishes are never ideal I was okay with this one. The Wyatt Family should never have been broken up. Putting them back together is the most sensible thing that could have been done.

After a SummerSlam hype video and a shot of the St Louis Cardinals (a team I care so little about I can't even be bothered to Google what they play) we got a segment of Jojo interviewing Beautiful and Dangerous (geddit? Because it spells BAD!) backstage. Jojo asked if they'd had trouble picking a representative for the triple threat. Naomi went the basic heel route and asked if Jojo was implying BAD were trouble. She then told us the strengths of each member: Tamina's the muscle, Naomi's the razzle and the dazzle (whatever that's supposed to mean), and Sasha's the NXT women's champion, which was presumably Naomi's backhanded way of admitting Banks is the best wrestler of the trio (because she is). Banks basically said she'd show what she was all about in the match. The three then wandered off and went straight into their entrance.

Your brand new Divas division.

Banks and Charlotte represented their teams. Nikki Bella teased that she'd wrestle for Team Bella before telling the crowd "Not tonight" and leaving the ring. It would be Brie that wrestled for the Bellas. In my opinion Alicia Fox would have been the best choice form that team in terms of wrestling ability. I suspect WWE wanted an actual Bella in the match though.

The match was essentially another Charlotte versus Sasha Banks match with Brie interfering every so often. The NXT girls were pleasingly over. The audience reacted strongly to Charlotte's Flair mannerisms and broke into a "Like a boss!" chant when Banks was in control. The match got over ten minutes and held the crowd's attention with solid wrestling work (mostly between Charlotte and Banks), high spots (mostly in the form of dives out of the ring), and by allowing everyone involved (including those at ringside) to get across something of their character. Charlotte won with the figure eight leg lock on Brie after Brie had broken up a Bank Statement on Charlotte.

The penultimate match (not the semi-event slot, as you'll read below) was Kevin Owens versus John Cena for Cena's United States championship. Owens was the heavy favourite with the live crowd, just as he had been in the previous two meetings. Both lads put on a great match, just as they had in their previous two meetings. Highlights included: Owens catching Cena as he attemptd a cross body block and giving him a version of the World's Strongest Slam; Owens rolling out of the way of the Five Knuckle Shuffle setup and luring Cena into position for a Swanton bomb, only to be met with knees; Owens stealing the Five Knuckle Shuffle for himself; Owens reversing the springboard Stunner into a German suplex; Owens' second rope fisherman buster; Cena reversing the pop-up power bomb into a hurricanrana; Owens hitting an AA and applying the STF; and Owens taking a springboard Stunner only to stay on his feet and floor the champ with a lariat.

Even though he's turning out great matches Cena's
still doing sloppy applications of the STF.

The finishing sequence saw Cena hit an Attitude Adjustment from the second rope. Despite it being the third of the match overall and WWE matches very, very rarely seeing someone kick out of a third finisher Owens kicked out. Cena sold absolute disbelief as Cole emphasised he'd not seen him looked so stunned since he lost to The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. Owens was deadweight as Cena pulled him up but managed to sneak in a small package for a very believable two count. Cena then applied the STF, forcing Owens to tap out.

That Owens lost was disappointing. But he was kept strong in defeat, fighting against the STF and being allowed to kick out of the AA three times. It verges on amazing that Cena has been this good in 2015. It just shows that if he feels he has something to prove against someone he'll work hard to produce a cracking match. That's three match of the year contenders he's had with Owens now, in addition to the various TV matches he's had with Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Dean Ambrose and others. I wouldn't mind Owens v Cena IV at SummerSlam, even though this was framed as the final entry in their series.

Miz wandered out to the ring after that, just as Cole and company were talking about Ryback being pulled from his scheduled title defence due to a staph infection. 'The Awesome One' ran down 'The Big Guy' for getting injured and depriving him of his championship victory. He proclaimed himself the toughest man in the building and urged Big Show to retire, prompting 'The World's Largest Athlete' to waddle out to the ring. Miz tried sweet talking him but got a KO punch for his trouble. The audience enjoyed that. I was just happy that the segment was kept short.

Which just left the WWE world championship match, Seth Rollins defending against Brock Lesnar. Everything immediately before the match, the hype video, the entrances, was excellent, perfectly building anticipation for the big fight. At the bell Lesnar rushed Rollins into a corner and hit him with shoulder tackles. Rollins managed to slip away and left the ring. 'The Pain' followed him and got caught with punches as he rolled back in. He shrugged those off and tried a suplex. Rollins clenched the ropes and got in some well-placed kicks on the challenger. He headed to the top rope and launched himself off, hoping to daze the big man.

Suplex city. Population; Seth Rollins.

It didn't work. He got caught. And then the suplexes began. Rollins absorbed five German suplexes before he rolled outside the ring, grabbed the title belt ad tried to leave through the crowd. Lesnar leapt out of the ring, launched himself over the crowd barrier and through Rollins back into the ring.

Rollins took another German suplex and some elbow strikes before reversing a suplex and wobbling Lesnar with a super kick and some strikes of his won, all aimed at the hamstring. Lesnar was taken down to his knees and took four super kicks as he staggered back up. The champ tried for a Pedigree but Lesnar turned it into an F5 attempt.

Rollins escaped that and kneed 'The Beast' out of the ring, following him out with a suicide dive. He returned to the ring to go for a second but Lesnar slipped in after him and met him with a belly-to-belly suplex off the ropes, Rollins' seventh suplex overall. Lesnar hit five more German suplexes on Rollins. Rollins responded by slapping Lesnar. Lesnar smirked and gave Rollins (unsurprisingly) another German suplex.

After that Lesnar scooped Rollins up and blasted him with an F5. The count went as far as two before the lights cut out and a gong sounded.

Yes, he first ever singles match between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins was interrupted by the return of the fifty-year-old Undertaker.

To his credit Lesnar sold the appearance like The Undertaker was the scariest sight he'd ever seen. That was the best approach to take but considering his standing within the company there was no guarantee he'd do it. He had, after all, beaten 'The Dead Man' with relative ease in their last encounter a year and a half earlier and been on a tear ever since. If anyone on the roster could justifiably stare down 'Taker and treat him like a washed up has-been it was Lesnar. Not doing so retained the air of credibility that's needed for whatever Undertaer does next.

Still over after all these years.

Based on what we see next that seems like a rematch with Lesnar at SummerSlam. 'Taker went for a choke slam. Lesnar escaped and went for an F5. Undertaker escaped that, kicked Lesnar low, and gave him both a choke slam and a Tombstone piledriver. He went to leave but returned to hit a second Tombstone when Lesnar dragged himself up to his feet. The response was wild, but a few boos stood out amongst the pro-Undertaker cheers and chants.

The show went off the air with Undertaker marching backstage and Heyman tending to Brock Lesnar in the ring. The fate of Seth Rollins was left unknown.

As a show Battleground was pretty good, on the whole. The main event was great and although it went to a non-finish it did so for the right reasons and provided something that satisfied in place of a hot match. Owens v Cena III was every bit as good as their previous two encounters, the Divas were finally presented as a serious division again on pay-per-view, and the tag titles were attached to another enjoyable match. There were less  good additions like Orton v Sheamus and Wyatt v Reigns but they were never actively bad. It stopped short of being a top notch show but it was a highly enjoyable couple of hours.

***

Results summary:

Randy Orton defeated Sheamus
The Prime Time Players defeated New Day to retain the tag team championship
Bray Wyatt defeated Roman Reigns
Charlotte defeated Brie Bella and Sasha Banks
John Cena defeated Kevin Owens to retain the United States championship
Brock Lesnar v Seth Rollins went to a non-finish when The Undertaker returned and attacked Lesnar

That RAW Recap 13.07.15

In my opinion the July 2015 edition of Monday Night RAW deserves to go down as one of the best episodes of recent times. As usual it featured both good things and bad but unlike usual the good things outweighed the bad and, more importantly, when things were good they were really good. And things were never better than when Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins faced off and when the Divas division finally got the shot in the arm it's needed for what seems like years.

Lesnar and Rollins was great because everyone involved knew exactly what was expected of them and made sure they were on top form. The pair were given the standard  issue WWE trope of a contract signing to play with but got to do something different with it. Rollins played the cocky heel who claimed to have a plan to take down his more dominant foe. Lesnar played the super-cool face not at all rattled by Rollins' bravado. Both were excellent, as were their respective seconds Kane and Paul Heyman.

I still love Lesnar even though they're going OTT with this Suplex City stuff.

What made the exchange truly great was the brawl (because there's always a brawl). Rollins tried to sneakily palm a weapon he'd stashed under the desk. Heyman noticed and called him on it. 'The Future' denied the accusation, playing up the affront for all it was worth. Lesnar's response was to flip the table over and pull out the stick¹ Rollins had hidden there. He then calmly placed it on the table and sat back down, gesturing for Rollins to make his move.

Rollins showed caution but did make his move, beaming with pride after he'd grabbed his stick back. He began taunting 'The Beast' but didn't get far before Lesnar sprang to his feet and lobbed the table in Rollins' face. A German suplex followed before Kane got involved, briefly helping Rollins to give Lesnar a kicking. Naturally this didn't last: Lesnar would shrug off Kane's efforts and F5 him outside the ring before smashing his ankle with the ring steps.

Once Lesnar had left Rollins would return to the ring and cut a promo on him, promising to "slay" him (because he's a beast, y'see) at Battleground. He then turned his attention to Kane, telling him he was nothing and stomping on his injured ankle.

Rollins left this segment looking like an opportunistic coward who people should be desperate to see receive his comeuppance. Lesnar left looking like an unstoppable juggernaut. Which is exactly what he should be. Along the way we were reminded that Lesnar is not just freakily strong but impossible to intimidate and smart, all excellent qualities in a take-no-prisoners type babyface. Basically it's stuff like this that reminds you just how great Lesnar is.

As good as the Lesnar-Rollins stuff was it's the stuff with the Divas².

Let's start with (an attempt at) a succinct summary with what happened. Divas champion Nikki Bella strolled out with her sister Brie and Bella groupie Alicia Fox. The usual routine of Nikki talking about being a strong champion only to be interrupted then played out. Paige being one of the people interrupting was not a surprise. Stephanie McMahon being the other, however, was.

Steph, inexplicably playing babyface³,  talked about Paige wanting to bring about a revolution in the Divas division and made it clear she thought this was commendable (and in fairness she couldn't have done this as a heel). She then introduced NXT stars Becky Lynch and Charlotte as Paige's allies. Charlotte, being the daughter of Ric Flair, naturally got the louder reaction of the two but not by a huge amount. That this can be said of Lynch shows how far she's come since she was entering to stereotypical Irish music and doing awkward jigs in the ring.

As Paige and her designated pals had a staredown with Team Bella the entrance music extravaganza continued and Naomi, the forgotten woman of the division, sauntered out with Tamina. Naomi said she had unfinished business with both Nikki and Paige before being told, almost patronisingly, by Stephanie that she absolutely deserved to be in the ring. Sasha Banks was then introduced as the new playmate of Naomi and Tamina and joined them in the ring to face off with Team Bella.

Finally, an exciting Divas scene.

Which is where things broke down. Nikki, Brie and Alicia turned around only to find they were also being confronted by Paige, Charlotte and Lynch. A brawl broke out. It was lengthy and a bit sloppy but it drew the audience in and it made it clear that all nine women were equals. It also ended exactly as it needed to, with Lynch trapping Brie in the armbar, Charlotte applying the figure eight leg lock to Alicia, and Banks giving Nikki the Bank Statement. It was the perfect introduction for the three women from NXT, and it was particularly nice to see women's champion Banks paired up with Divas champion Nikki.

What made all of this work is that WWE have spent so long getting around to it. It's would be misleading to say that they've done a slow burn build because they've have an awful main roster women's division for much of the last decade, but they have taken a more deliberate pace over the last few months. Team Bella has been built up as a dominant force ruling over a stagnant division. They've played on the fact that their women's division is weak as well as the common view that Nikki and Brie "don't know how to work" and written in a sensible story about a lone crusader, Paige, trying to instigate change.

With just one fifteen minute segment WWE made their main roster women's division interesting. There are so many directions they could take and matches they could present. I'm excited about the Divas division for the first time in years. And for that alone this episode will always be memorable for me.

***

¹ That it was a stick, albeit a very nice one (by which I mean it was nicely smoothed and had some varnish on it), was the only disappointing thing about this segment. With the current story being that Rollins is becoming increasingly like his on-screen mentor Triple H it would have made far more sense for him to have hidden a sledgehammer under the table.

² Look, I'm aware of how unprogressive it is to refer to women as Divas. I think we all are. But that's the label WWE (by which I mean Vince McMahon) has chosen for its female wrestlers so I'm going to use it. I'm nothing if not accurate when it comes to this sort of meaningless stuff.

³ To be fair Steph rapidly switching between heel and face is not new. She was doing it as long ago as 2003 during her time as GM of SmackDown, where she would happily play both good and bad on the same show. At least these days she tends to have the good grace to leave a few days between her turns.

Naomi Uso's New Look

Naomi's heel turn last month came out of the blue. Which is hardly a surprise as it wasn't something WWE had been planning to do. Naomi's new status within the Divas division was necessitated by the gap left by AJ Lee's sudden retirement and the decision to take Paige off TV for a month so that she could go and make a straight-to-DVD movie with The Miz¹.

Want to be a heel? Put on sunglasses. Instant heat.

It's generally accepted that had AJ stuck around she would have turned on Paige and been the heel challenger to a babyface Nikki Bella at Extreme Rules. I'm not sure this would have worked out well. While AJ had previously flourished as a heel I think fans would have been loath to boo her over Nikki. With Extreme Rules taking place in Chicago (the home of AJ's wrestler-turned-UFC prospect husband CM Punk, for those not in the know) I think Vince and co. would have stuck with the safer option of keeping AJ a face and Nikki a heel for that match. Things could easily have been reworked so that Nikki and Brie were the ones sending Paige packing for a month. AJ could have gone bad on Paige's return, allowing the Bellas to transition gradually into a face role. 

Things have worked out better than they likely would have with AJ around. We had seen every permutation of matches possible involving Nikki, AJ and Paige (and everything involving Brie Bella except a four-way match). A change up in the heel-face alignments could have refreshed things but not drastically. Someone new being moved up the women's ranks is preferable, and that's what AJ's retirement facilitated.

Naomi was the obvious choice from the current batch of main roster talent. Aside from Natalya she's the best wrestler of the bunch. Layla, Summer Rae, Cameron and Alicia Fox aren't in her league while Emma has been stalled by her ham-fisted call-up and around a year of drifting. Rosa and Eva Marie don't even qualify as wrestlers at this point. It's questionable whether they ever did. An argument could be made that the opening up of a high profile spot was the perfect opportunity to move Charlotte from NXT. The timing was good, no question, but I think WWE were right to wait and introduce her in exactly the fashion they desire, whatever that turns out to be. Had they tried to rush her up in the wake of AJ's departure it likely wouldn't have ended well.

Naomi's been impressive in her new role. She's displayed a viciousness and a cockiness that weren't even hinted at with her babyface persona (and despite WWE's black and white approach to booking these are attributes that babyfaces can display, as long as it's done right). The promo material she's been given hasn't been great but she's done what she could with it. She's switched up her look, getting a new hairstyle and new ring  gear. That includes some frankly amazing trainers that change colour during her matches. Basically, she's done everything in her power to make herself stand out and separate her current work from that of her non-entity babyface persona.

Looking forward to that Naomi and Tamina v Bella tag match, playa! Holla!

The recent addition of Tamina as her bodyguard is promising. It gives Naomi access to the classic smaller-wrestler-with-bigger-hired-muscle trope that is hard to get wrong. It also indicates that WWE see her working out in this new role long term. Which is good. Because Naomi is talented but mostly blank slate in terms of character. Which means she can fill any role and continue to improve over time.

Now if we could just get a couple of call-ups from NXT the main roster women could be in a great position.

***

¹ That movies are prioritised over wrestling, the only thing WWE and, more importantly, Vince McMahon have ever made money doing, is a wonderful example of what's wrong with this company.

Banking on Banks

Sasha Banks is lucky that Charlotte has been selected as the next NXT female wrestler to become a full-fledged WWE Diva. Because if Charlotte were staying in NXT indefinitely she would, rightly or wrongly, overshadow Ms Banks as the top woman on the roster. And while Charlotte has improved every single aspect of her game since debuting in mid-2013 she is still not as rounded and polished a performer as Banks.

Banks started out on the independent circuit as Mercedes KV. It's fair to say that she didn't make a splash there. In fact she's a very good example of a wrestler who was perfectly competent on the indies but needed the finishing touches of the WWE developmental system to truly shine. In other words, she's exactly the sort of wrestler NXT and the Performance Center were designed for. Not everyone can be a Kevin Steen or a Prince Devitt.

When Banks debuted as a humble babyface she seemed promising but unspectacular. She was a good enough wrestler but she lacked the edge to make herself stand out. Thankfully she would turn heel and become a founder member of the BFFs (the Beautiful, Fierce Females) stable alongside Charlotte and Sumer Rae, a move which afforded her the chance to create a fresher, edgier character that tapped into the ever fruitful mean girls trope. It had been done before, most notably by The Beautiful People in TNA, who beat Sasha and NXT to it by a decade, but I don't think it's ever been done quite as well.

"Bah gawd, look at the torque!"

As 'The Boss' Banks oozes superiority and confidence. She's switched to flashier ring gear, gotten herself a catchier theme tune, and taken a more ferocious approach in her matches. Her double stomp to a corner hung opponent is a simple move but looks vicious, while the Bank Statement is one of the best finishing moves anywhere in wrestling. It looks entirely convincing and Banks never fails to perform it fluidly. There is no other female performer who comes close to matching her character or in-ring prowess in NXT, and only one or two on the main roster.

Banks has worked her way to the top of the NXT women's division by wrestling well and creating a great character. She's proven herself capable of having good matches with everyone she's put against and has one of the best characters in WWE. She is perfectly positioned to become the central performer of the women's division as NXT expands. That may mean she gets slightly less money but it will also mean she gets to do more. On the main roster she'd almost certainly be relegated to a filler position for a championship that means little, if anything. In NXT she can be the perennial champion and one of the performers who helps NXT expand into something bigger than it currently is. Long term her current position is certainly the more interesting.