Daniel Bryan's Achilles' Neck

If you watched Extreme Rules you'll know that Daniel Bryan didn't defend the Intercontinental championship as planned. He was officially pulled from his match against Bad News Barrett hours before the show aired because he wasn't medically cleared to compete. The issue was with a concussion, nagging neck issues or a knee problem, depending on your source of choice (personally I think the neck thing seems likeliest). Almost the exact same thing happened to Bryan last year. After winning the WWE championship at WrestleMania XXX he made one pay-per-view defence (against Kane, of all people) before being pulled from action by WWE's medical staff. He eventually vacated the championship and took time off for neck surgery and rehab.

That history has repeated itself, and so soon, will surely prompt WWE to assess the way they use Bryan, which is a shame because he's a dedicated, talented man who worked hard for years to make it to WWE and gain acceptance with their audience (and management team). The more he's afflicted by health problems the more it seems that the wrestling style that initially got him signed is catching up to him. It's a sad, ironic twist worthy of the finest wrestling storyline.

This man has had no luck with
title reigns over the last two years.

Obviously the right thing has been done by Bryan in the short term. He's been taken off TV and will presumably return only when he's healthy. Ultimately though, a long term solution is required to this problem. The fact that Bryan has been having these issues, on and off, for well over a year and that they resurfaced so soon after his return from a lengthy layoff indicates that there's something serious that needs addressing. While part of the problem can probably be taken as Bryan pushing himself too hard and coming back earlier than he probably should have done the issue is very likely something that's going to keep cropping up regardless of how hard Bryan pushes himself.

There are several options open to WWE. They can send Bryan home for months, possibly even years, and not use him as a wrestler again until he's passed the strictest medical tests. They can stop using him as a wrestler and keep him on TV in an authority figure role. They can lighten his schedule, giving him more time off to rest his knackered body. Or they can take the incredibly extreme route and release him from his contract.

The first option would be best for Bryan. He'd be getting paid to get himself healthy. Were he to be released (an extreme option, as I'll discuss below) he'd almost certainly begin taking non-WWE bookings at the first opportunity, which would not help whatever his current medical problems are. But if he remained under WWE contract he wouldn't be able to do this. WWE would benefit from this too, keeping access to a popular performer for their various media efforts and looking like a benevolent outfit. They'd look like scumbags if they released him.

The lengthy layoff doesn't seem likely though, not least because Bryan will apparently be cleared within a few months and is keen to get back. Only the incredibly useless or the incredibly useful get paid to sit at home by WWE. Look no further than JTG for a useless example and Shawn Michaels for a useful one. Bryan is clearly closer to the HBK end of the spectrum but I don't think he's quite useful enough to earn an extended rest break. There's also the fact that he may not want one and request a release if WWE stopped booking him.

Keeping him on TV and recasting him as a commissioner, commentator or manager would encourage Bryan to rest and keep a bigger name on television but it wouldn't play to his strengths. Bryan can handle the occasional lengthy promo but he couldn't spout the plot points needed for an authority role. Plus that scene's flooded with better suited talent at present, most notably Triple H and Steph McMahon.

The idea of Bryan as a manager anywhere in wrestling is ridiculous. He could probably make a good colour commentator for a company like Ring of Honor (especially when you consider his status in that promotion) but he'd be lost in the role in WWE. And again there's the issue of there being no vacancies anyway.

Releasing him would be, as noted, extreme. WWE have released one prominent star in relatively recent memory: Kurt Angle was cut loose in 2006 when he refused to take time off or go to rehab to combat his neck and addiction problems. This is about the closest parallel I can think of but it's still not especially strong. Nothing indicates Bryan has turned down help and he's definitely not coping with the addictions Angle had. There's also the fact that even though his stock had fallen by the late summer of '06 Angle was still probably more highly regarded by the WWE office than D-Bry is now.

The biggest difference in the two situations is WWE itself. In 2006 WWE was only just getting into the swing of drug testing. It was years away from being as coma aware a company as it is now. In other words, it wasn't a company as concerned with presenting itself as caring and considerate as it is now. This may sound cynical and to be honest it probably is but I don't believe the majority of WWE's management team care overly about the health of their in-ring performers because so much of the way the company operates contradicts that claim. But they do care about being seen to care and a by-product of that is that working conditions have improved, for the appearance of the thing as much as anything else.

All of which is a bit of a tangent. The bottom line is that I think it would take some very serious and unpredictable exchanges for WWE to reach the point where they're releasing Daniel Bryan, freeing him up to head to New Japan to get kicked in the head by Shinsuke Nakamura.

Personally I think the best thing WWE could do with Daniel Bryan right now would be to put him in a tag team. This would have several benefits. Firstly it would cut down on his in-ring time without affecting his TV time or house show schedule. It would encourage him to work a safer, or at least less spot-heavy, style. It would give the tag division a boost, which could tie in nicely to the recent great work done by New Day and the Brass Ring Club. Finally teaming with Bryan would be a good way to elevate someone.

I think the ideal candidate for a D-Bry partner is Dolph Ziggler. He wrestles at a similarly swift pace, he's every bit as popular, he could take a beating to set up a hot tag to 'The People's Elixir', and there are entertaining (to me, if nobody else) team names in Team DBZ or The DB-DZ Connection waiting to be used. No, strictly speaking 'The Show Off' doesn't actually need elevating but together I think Bryan and Ziggler could make the tag team championship mean more than it has in years. That, along with the health benefits for Bryan, makes it worth trying, in my opinion.

The John Cena School of Booking

I think it’s about time John Cena started trying to make some new stars. Considering the length of time he’s been WWE’s leading man (nine years and counting) he has a woeful track record in this department. He helped to establish both Edge and Rob Van Dam as credible main eventers in 2005, losing the WWE championship to each to kick off their respective first reigns. Since then, nothing.

In fairness it should also be pointed out that Cena didn’t exactly “make” either Edge or RVD when he lost to them. Van Dam had been ECW’s hottest act since 1998 until it ceased to exist and Edge had steadily been building up to a main event run since the closing months of 2003. A victory over Cena was, in each case, simply the final act that established that they were to be viewed as top tier names in WWE. In other words they would have made it to the top with or without a victory over Cena.

I miss the days of him wearing his baseball cap backwards.

The problem doesn’t lie with Cena. He has shown willingness to lose to a wide variety of names many times over the years. The problem lies with WWE’s creative department. Too great an emphasis is placed on protecting his image as the company’s leading man. I understand Cena is not a Jericho-like veteran figure who can routinely lose without suffering any ill-effects. He does need to win most of the time to maintain his status. Sadly, it’s part of his act. But when he does lose WWE should be prepared to have him do so cleanly, to ensure the victory means something for the guy getting it.

Take Cena’s Extreme Rules cage match with Bray Wyatt for example. Having defeated ‘The Eater of World’s’ at WrestleMania Cena had to take a loss at the Rules show to keep the rivalry alive for the third and final instalment. The overbooked finish saw Cena plough through Wyatt and his two henchmen with relative ease before getting distracted by a child with a strange voice, which allowed Wyatt to sneak up on Cena and ultimately win the match.

There was no need for Cena to job out Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, or for a child to be introduced to provide further distraction. It’s not that it made Bray look weak or ineffective, it’s that it cheapened the win so much that it was worthless. Wyatt had accomplished nothing by winning a match in such a wacky manner. The main thing that saved him from being harmed by the encounter is the fact that he’s such a charismatic performer that people will support him regardless.

That opens up a potential counter argument that the Extreme Rules kerfuffle was fine if Wyatt ultimately came out of it unscathed. Not so. Just because Wyatt was unharmed doesn’t make it right. He could still have been enhanced by a more convincing victory. And I’m using him merely as an example. Most other wrestlers on the roster would have been damaged by such a roundabout win over Cena.

I think the time’s come for Cena to start losing the occasional feud. I’m not suggesting he should be putting over Corey Graves in his inaugural main roster feud, rather select opponents who have been deemed future headline certainties. Rusev is an obvious example. He’s currently being presented magnificently, presumably in preparation for progressing to the top. He is also exactly the sort of man who would suffer at the hands of the current Super Cena model. Anyone familiar with WWE should find it all too easy to envisage Cena being the first man to power out of Rusev’s Accolade submission hold before hoisting the big Russian up to plant him with a match-winning AA.

Rusev... CRUSH!

Of course, somebody has to be the first to break The Accolade. But it doesn’t need to be Cena. Shouldn’t be, in fact. He’d gain nothing from it and it would prove a setback to Rusev. He’d be just another guy who lost to Cena. Conversely, imagine the reaction if Cena fell victim to the hold (even via referee stoppage). Rusev would be set as an unstoppable machine with an unbreakable hold. A victory over Cena could kick off a period of complete dominance for Rusev, which could in turn be brought to a hault six to twelve months later by a rising babyface who finally manages to snap The Accolade and put Rusev down for a three count.

Cena could not perform tasks like this all the time. As I’ve already said, he does need to win the majority of the time in order to maintain his status with Da Kidz. But he can afford to lose a big match or a feud decisively once every six months or so if it’s going to create a new star.

Story Time

Things seemed so promising on RAW the night after WrestleMania XXX. The show went off the air with new WWE champion Daniel Bryan standing in the ring with The Shield, facing down the old guard of Kane, Batista, Randy Orton, and, of course, Triple H. It hinted at a storyline that would see Bryan enter an uneasy, if informal and unstated, alliance with ‘The Hounds of Justice’ to face their common enemies. 

Earlier on in the night we’d seen Bray Wyatt’s Family defeat their number one foe John Cena (teaming with Sheamus and Big E for no stated or apparent reason), making it clear that series would continue. That in turn made it fairly clear Wyatt would be getting his much deserved win over the top boy at Extreme Rules and that a third singles instalment would be likely for Payback.

Unfortunately very little of what that episode seemed to tantalisingly hint at has materialised. The last month of WWE programming has been drab and uninspired. Wrestling television by the numbers designed more to keep the status quo than progress storylines.

This alliance could have been explored far more.

We could have had nuanced, multi-layered storylines. Just a few months before they’d saved him at the end of the April 7 RAW Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns had been beating up D-Bry on a weekly basis. A sense of mistrust on Bryan’s part could have been played up. On The Shield’s side there could have been frustration at Bryan not immediately warming up to his saviours, costing them victories against their more unified opposition. 

That said the Evolution reunion came about far too easily. Yes, all are heels and had been gradually getting cosier for around a month before ‘Mania. But ‘The Animal’ and ‘The Viper’ had faced one another for the championship. They’d worked together at various points against Bryan but they had also wrestled one another too. There was a grudge there, or at least there should have been, and both men were primarily motivated by regaining the WWE championship from Bryan, something only one could do. 

Are we to believe that Batista and ‘The Apex Predator’ are the sorts of men who will forget about what has motivated them for months simply because they’re attacked by The Shield? I’m not saying doing Evolution versus The Shield was a bad idea. It wasn’t. The Shield have reinvigorated six man tag matches in WWE and it was perfectly logical to pit them against one of the most prominent (if not actually accomplished) three man teams in company history. 

The decision to do Kane v Bryan and Evolution v The Shield should not have meant a split into two separate plots but that’s what we got. Triple H reformed Evolution, Orton and Batista completely forgot about their championship aspirations (Orton still hasn’t had the televised rematch he is almost certainly entitled to in kayfabe terms), and Bryan was pitted against Kane because there was nobody else for him to wrestle. Meanwhile Cena and Wyatt remained in their own little bubble.

It would have been so easy to keep Bryan and Kane attached to the Shield and Evolution story because both rivalries kicked off together. It would have created matches that people would have been interested in seeing, made it easier to spin off into new feuds once things were played out, and would have decreased the amount of filler on RAW. With eight guys (ostensibly in three factions of heels with a monster who’ll do their bidding, force of nature good guys, and a loner underdog champion who doesn’t feel he can fully trust anyone) the need to book meaningless matches that end in non-finishes just to setup staredowns would have been decreased. And there’s the layered storytelling I mentioned. Just off the top of my head the Evolution reunion would be far more interesting if Orton and Batista were both going along with ‘The Game’s’ desire for revenge in exchange for future title matches as opposed to… well, that’s the point isn’t it: we don’t know why they’ve happily fallen into line behind Triple H, do we?

I admit it would have been harder to work Cena and Wyatt into the big picture because they’re so far removed from the other two plots. But it wouldn’t have been impossible. Triple H could have tried using The Wyatt Family in The Shield’s old role as Authority hit men. That in itself could have started a new programme had the Wyatts, over a period of weeks, proven not as effective and been distanced from ‘The Cerebral Assassin’, ultimately leading to Evolution v The Wyatt Family. There would have been no need to make hard and fast plans to do that match, or any other, in however many months’ time. It would have been more about getting wrestlers interacting and creating things that could be called back to if stories developed in the right way.

At the very least WWE could have done an interesting six man tag by mixing the three feuds. Bryan teaming with a Shield member and Cena to face Kane, an Evolution member and Bray could have been an incredible main event to an episode of RAW. Extreme Rules would have looked a much hotter show if the April 28 RAW had ended with that match as the main event, having every player for each of the major feuds in a crazy ringside brawl as the show went off the air after the six man tag had broken down into anarchy. 

WWE’s reluctance to interweave its stories is hurting their long term storytelling and the progression of wrestlers. It’s unrealistic, not to mention dull, to see guys meaningfully interact only with the people they’re feuding with. Seeding in hints of future feuds, turns and allegiance shifts should be a standard part of wrestling programming. That WWE seem to be opposed to the concept is disheartening. Especially when we look at what could have been.

Extreme Rules 2014 review

With WrestleMania XXX and the April 7 RAW WWE did a commendable job of not only giving fans what they wanted but also shuffling guys into place for the spring-summer season. The Shield and Daniel Bryan were positioned as the new top faces while Cesaro was shunted into a prominent upper mid-card spot and Wade Barrett was reintroduced for a fresh run. Meanwhile Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista were reunited by their dislike of Bryan and The Shield and hints were dropped that Kane would be putting on his mask and acting like a maniac again.

Extreme Rules was the company’s first offering since setting up their new status quo. It wasn’t a show that needed to succeed at all costs, only a handful of WWE events a year fall into that category, but it was one that needed to be at least good to convince people that WWE weren’t going to change their new direction. Viewers needed reassurance that the newcomers were going to be allowed to succeed, basically.

It looked like a show capable of that. Bray Wyatt once again had a meeting with John Cena. Daniel Bryan and Kane’s feud had a lot of time dedicated to it and Kane was rebuilt so as to make Bryan’s inevitable victory a bigger accomplishment. The Shield were placed opposite the alleged greatest faction in WWE history. And Bad News Barrett, Big E, and Cesaro were all given spots that would allow them to continue getting over naturally.

The last is a particularly promising sign: WWE seem to have learnt that the modern audience reacts badly to being told whom they should support. If the creative team can learn to place the guys they want to get over into positions where audiences will gravitate towards them and support them of their own accord they’ll be on to a winner. The first step towards that is acknowledging it.

Cesaro Swing there.

The Cesaro v Rob Van Dam v Jack Swagger two fall triple threat match was on opening duty. Both Van Dam and Swagger got cheers when they entered, but it was Heyman who got the loudest ovation. He cut a pre-match promo that started out as crowd friendly as he talked about Extreme Rules stemming from the still popular ECW. That quickly changed when he mentioned Brock Lesnar ending The Streak. Cesaro did not get the massive cheers I’d expected because of that. Which was a shame because the match would prove the fans were really into him.

The match was sloppy in places to begin with. 'Mr Monday Night' gave Cesaro an awkward sunset bomb onto the ringside mats and then let himself down with some shoddy kicks and bumps back in the ring. First to be eliminated was J-Swag after a deadlift suplex from the second rope by Cesaro and a Five Star frog splash from RVD. 'The King of Swing' heard chants seconds into the singles portion.

The quality picked up without Swagger. Mostly because RVD's brand of offense works better in a singles setting. A trash can was brought in to allow Van Dam to hit a Van Daminator. He was probably disappointed when it didn't get much of a reaction. Cesaro won an opener I'd expected to be better after a Neutralizer onto the very same trash can.

Backstage Stephanie McMahon told Daniel Bryan she was worried for his safety facing "the Demon Kane". That was supposed to make Kane sound extra intimidating. It actually made him sound like a Dragonball Z villain. Steph offered D-Bry the chance to vacate the championship. He refused.

Alexander Rusev defeated R-Truth and Xavier Woods in the night's second match, which Lana had dedicated to Vladimir Putin. 'The Suntan Superman' tapped to the Steiner Recliner after Woods had been attacked before the match. Rusev also jobbed him out afterwards for good measure.

Backstage Evolution told Renee Young about their massive egos (which hopefully wasn't a euphemism). They said their egos, which The Shield had predicted would be their downfall, had earned them thirty-one world titles. They didn’t acknowledge that world titles are generally won and lost in singles matches and that The Shield had more experience working in six man tag bouts.

Back out at ringside Bad News Barrett got a loud cheer when he entered to challenge Big E for the Intercontinental championship. Interestingly Michael Cole claimed Barrett had defeated Ziggler, Sheamus and Van Dam in a tournament to earn the title shot. He'd actually beaten Rey Mysterio in the first round. 'The Show Off's' losing matches he’s not even had now.

I'm afraid I've got some... good news?

As the heel Bad News controlled much of the match, setting Big E up for a comeback. Unfortunately Barrett was the more over of the two so when it came it was met with boos. It would have been a far better match if it has been laid out with Barrett’s popularity (which has been a regular thing over the last month) in mind. Not that it was bad as it was. Both men, neither of them small, took some big falls and set a brisk pace. Bad News won after slipping out of the Big Ending and dropping Big E with the Bullhammer elbow.

Before the clash between Evolution and The Shield took place Michael Cole described it as a meeting between the present and the future. I'd have thought the present and the past was more accurate. But that would've reminded everyone how long Tripper and the boys have been around. They couldn't be having that.

The Shield cleared the ring of Evolution with ease before the opening bell rang. From there the match was technically proficient for a long stretch, benefiting greatly from a hot crowd. The finishing sequence helped it meet its hype: Reigns was put down with a Pedigree and an RKO while 'The Animal' was dropped with a Black Out as he attempted a Batista bomb. Ambrose, Rollins, Triple H and Orton then brawled out into the stands where Ambrose was flung down a flight of stairs and 'The Viper' and 'The Cerebral Assassin' absorbed a New Jack style balcony dive from Rollins. It was an impressive moment from Rollins. One for the career highlights video.

POW! Right in the kisser!

Back in the ring Batista and Reigns recovered after several minutes of selling. Another Batista bomb attempt was wriggled out of and then Batista was blasted with a Superman punch and a match-winning spear. 'The Hounds of Justice' reunited out in the crowd to do their fist pose. It wasn't quite on the level of The Shield's trios match with The Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber but it wasn't bad. They were right not to put it on last though.

After that came the Cena v Wyatt cage match. 'The Eater of Worlds' controlled the match at the start, Cena occasionally making a comeback for long enough to attempt climbing out. Harper and Rowan were at ringside to stop him getting too far, allowing Bray to regain control. It was not the explosive exchange the feud (and the show) required at this point. It was a staid affair for much of its run time and needed to be far more. The match suffered from having too many escape attempts and not enough wrestling (or fighting).

During the course of the match Harper was pulled into the ring so that he could break up some Cena pin attempts and stack the odds further against Cena before getting eliminated from proceedings with a clothesline. A similar thing happened to Erick Rowan: he was left lying on top of the cage after Cena had smacked his head into the steel a few times. Cena had the match won but made the mistake of pausing at the cage doorway to take a look back at his handiwork. The Wyatt Family's music cue played and the lights went out for a few seconds. When they came back on a kid was stood on the ring steps singing into a microphone that gave his voice a peculiar timbre. This sight troubled Cena enough that he froze, which allowed Wyatt to sneak up on him and hit Sister Abigail. He then sauntered out of the cage to get the win.

The finishing sequence will prove memorable and played into the character of Wyatt nicely. It's probably a good enough cause for the two to have another pay-per-view match at Payback too. So it was a success on a few levels. It's just a shame the body of the match couldn't have been better.

Paige giving her belt a kiss there.

After a recap of the pre-show match between Hornswoggle and El Torito, which was an enjoyable comedy affair (Torito won), Paige defended her Divas championship against Tamina. It was a match bereft of heat, mainly because nothing had been done to encourage people care about its participants. There was a reaction when 'The Anti-Diva' applied the match winning Scorpion cross lock though, which is a promising sign for her future. The sooner WWE prepares some believable challengers for Paige the better.

Backstage Bray Wyatt was shown with Little Johnny (the kid who’d done the singing earlier). He said that his win over Cena means his message can no longer be contained and soon fans will flock to his cause. We really need a promo where Wyatt explains what he wants before he gets it. That would make his storylines flow far more naturally. Retconning is never desirable in wrestling.

The final match saw Daniel Bryan defend the WWE championship against Kane. As predicted the video package only concentrated on their history over the last month or so as opposed to the two years of on and off feuding they’ve had.

They started out with some hardcore action in the ring, making use of chairs, kendo sticks, monitors, announce desk covers, and steel steps. After that they headed backstage where they smacked one another into production trucks and cars and introduced fire extinguishers, shovels and tire irons as weapons.

After KOing the challenger with a tire iron to the head D-Bry loaded him on to a forklift (sparking memories of Rock and Mankind's 1999 empty arena match) and drove back to ringside so that he could pin him. Apparently pins were not legal anywhere else, even though previous extreme rules matches in WWE have featured a falls count anywhere stipulation. For good measure Bryan hit a flying headbutt off the top of the forklift once he'd dumped Kane into the ring.

Naturally 'The Big Red Machine' kicked out then did the no-sell sit up spot. Bryan's running knee was halted by a choke slam. The champion kicked out of that then pelted Kane with chair shots before locking him in a Yes Lock. Kane broke that by sliding to the outside of the ring and then turned a suicide dive into a choke slam through an announce table. That was a well-executed exchange.

Note the phones in hands.

Making use of the extreme stip Kane pulled a table out from under the ring and set it on fire. His plan was to choke slam Bryan through it but he didn't manage to: 'The Dazzler' cut him off with a kick to the head and a shake of the ropes. For some reason that caused Kane to lose his balance and tumble through the table. He stood up immediately and got hosed down by a member of the ring crew brandishing a fire extinguisher. That disoriented him as he rolled back into the ring, allowing Bryan to hit his running knee for the victory.

Taken on its own merits the WWE championship match was very enjoyable. Matches like that wouldn't work on every pay-per-view, especially in the main event, but they can be effective when used occasionally. The crowd were into it and reacted well to Bryan's victory. The champion is now well placed to either move on to a fresh challenger, such as Batista or Randy Orton, or work a rematch with ‘The Devil’s Favourite Demon’.

The rest of the show was a mixture of successes and mild failures. Bad News and Cesaro both left their matches looking good with the crowd supporting them more than they had beforehand. Big E wasn’t harmed by his loss of the IC gold (although I’m still disappointed he wasn’t able to hit the heights of his Elimination Chamber match with Jack Swagger). The Shield looked like stars in the closing moments of and immediately after their win over Evolution, but the bulk of the match could have been better. The same can be said for Cena v Wyatt. And the Paige v Tamina match would have been well served going on second, leaving Rusev’s tedious squash of Truth and Woods to cool the crowd off before the main event.

Who's next for D-Bry?

It was an enjoyable enough event and it leaves WWE with lots of options for Payback. Cena and Wyatt will probably clash again but beyond that it’s hard to tell what we’ll get. Evolution could book themselves in a rematch against The Shield, although it’s hard to see what that would achieve. More likely is that one member of Evolution will challenge Daniel Bryan, perhaps leaving the others to clash in singles matches against Shield members. Or perhaps we’ll get the eight man tag team match (Kane and Evolution versus The Shield and Bryan) that looked so promising at the end of the April 7 RAW. That the company’s booking isn’t obvious is a good sign.

Extreme Rules 2014 preview

The first important thing to note here is that this is not Washington. I mention this because a couple of months ago I wrote this. Basically it had been revealed, by official websites no less, that Extreme Rules was to be held in Washington, the home state of Daniel Bryan. That set me off writing the post I've linked to in which I drew parallels between the Daniel Bryan of today and the Chris Benoit of 2004.

I stand by the ideas. I would have been completely right about the potential storylines. If, y'know, Extreme Rules was being held in Washington and not the Izod Centre in New Jersey. 

The event being held where it is is a good thing of course. This is the building that hosted the famed April 8 2013 RAW. There were fans from all around the world there that night, because it was the night after WrestleMania XXIX, but that doesn’t mean that there were no local fans there making noise. There were. Which means we’re as good as guaranteed an excitable crowd for Extreme Rules. And lively crowds can turn very good events into great events.

There are certainly enough big matches to make this a memorable show: Kane versus Daniel Bryan for the WWE championship, the six man tag meeting between Evolution and The Shield, and John Cena’s caged clash with Bray Wyatt. It says something that Cena is in what is in the least significant of the three. When the company’s biggest star is not involved in either of the top two bouts on a pay-per-view (or is that special event?) you know things are pretty crammed at the top.

This is the second major meeting between Cena and ‘The Eater of Worlds’. They had a singles match at WrestleMania and beyond that have only interacted in handicap matches, brawls and run-ins. This means that their feud still feels fresh, even though it officially began at Royal Rumble when The Wyatt Family cost Cena the WWE championship (although that development was actually ignored for a month). 

So far it seems to be based around Bray considering Cena a false idol for fans and wanting to reveal him as a fraud. For his part Cena seems to have no real problem with the Wyatts beyond the fact that they keep attacking him. The guy just wants to be left alone.

As already stated this will be a cage match, something ‘The CeNation Leader’ suggested as a way of allowing Bray to prove he doesn’t need to rely on Luke Harper and Erick Rowan (who I think should be referred to as ‘Eerie’ Erick Rowan) to win. I was pretty sure Wyatt would defeat Cena on this show even before the cage stipulation was announced. If anything that’s made me more certain of the result. By beating Cena without direct aid Wyatt will be shown to be on or close to Cena’s level. That he lost with aid (at ‘Mania) will only serve to further highlight the magnitude of the accomplishment. That it’s a cage match gives WWE a handy get out whereby they can have Wyatt win without having Cena suffer a conventional loss. The preacher can simply climb out of the cage.

That said I expect Harper and Rowan to appear at some point during the match. Just because WWE can give Wyatt a clean(ish) win here doesn’t mean they will. I expect the Wyatt boys will do something like pass handcuffs to their leader. Maybe they’ll climb into the cage and take AAs. They’re too prominent to simply omit from Extreme Rules completely.

If Main Event and Friday’s SmackDown (spoilers of which are available at time of writing) are anything to go by Harper and Rowan are going to begin working against tag team champions the Usos fairly soon. I don’t dislike Los Matadores or RybAxel¹ but The Wyatt Family are clearly in a different league when it comes to audience acceptance. The tag titles should get a boost from the feud. 

The unwanted but apparently necessary filler match will see Xavier Woods and R-Truth team up to take on Alexander Rusev. Wrestling logic dictates that the powerful heel who has so far proven unstoppable will easily defeat the two disposable babyfaces he’s being pitted against. It’s just one of those things that you know. It’s nice that the match has a bit of a story behind it (Rusev has defeated both men in singles matches and attacked them afterwards) but there can’t be any doubt that ‘The Bulgarian Brute’ will win.

A match with significantly more substance to it is the Cesaro v Jack Swwagger v Rob Van Dam match. It’s nice to get a triple threat match from WWE that is not based around a championship. Here the problem started when Cesaro quit Team America and became Paul Heyman’s latest client. The singles feud we expected has evolved to feature RVD as Swags and ‘The King of Swing’ have interfered in each other’s bouts involving Van Dam. 

This match would be good either as an opener or sat towards the middle of the card. Wherever it goes I think it will be amongst the best offerings of the night. If it doesn’t feature a spot where Van Dam does something to Swagger as he’s being given a Big Swing by Cesaro I’m going to be very disappointed. They could surprise us with a Van Dam or Swagger win but I think Cesaro’s the sane pick.

Speaking of Cesaro, I’d originally expected him to be the man challenging Big E for the Intercontinental championship. He didn’t even make it to the finals of the number one contenders’ tournament. Nor, for that matter, did Sheamus, the man I assumed ‘The Swiss Superman’ would defeat in a hard-hitting hoss fight. Instead ‘The Celtic Warrior’ fell to Bad News Barrett in the semi-finals while Cesaro went down to Rob Van Dam. The RVD v Bad News final was one I hadn’t expected to see, which in a way made it more enjoyable. From the moment it was set up I wasn’t really in any doubt that Barrett would be the man advancing to Extreme Rules and I was right.

Big E defending against Barrett is in a sense the most intriguing match on the show. They’re not wrestling because they have some grudge to settle, the standard WWE approach. In fact they haven’t really interacted with one another at all. They’re wrestling simply because both want the Intercontinental championship. This is something many people (myself included) have been waiting to see for quite a while: WWE reintroducing some lustre to the IC gold. The simplest way of doing that is by having guys talk about how much they want to win it.

I think there’s every chance the match will be a thriller. Think back to Elimination Chamber where Big E tore the house down with Jack Swagger in a match stuffed with big bumps (neither is a small man, making those falls particularly impressive) and near falls. Nobody but the most ardent fan of either man had expected that sort of performance and I think the same is largely true here: nobody expects Barrett versus Big to be anything special. But it could be. Barrett is of a similar size to Swags and wrestles a not dissimilar style. I want Big E to prove that he can pull an Elimination Chamber level performance out of the bag regularly. And I also want Barrett to have a cracking match. He deserves to after waiting patiently on The JBL and Cole Show for months and refining this new gimmick.

I’m picking Big E to win. If WWE are intending to make the IC strap relevant again the best way to do it would almost certainly be to keep it on one guy for a while and have him wrestle a series of exciting defences. That’s something Big E will hopefully prove well suited to. 

A title match it’s harder to get excited about is Paige versus Tamina Snuka. I like Paige a lot but Tamina is not someone who thrills me. It’s also another match where the competitors haven’t really had a rivalry as such. Tamina simply earned a title shot by winning a match. That worked for Barrett and Big E because there was a tourney that stretched over several weeks. It’s a different story for the Divas belt because Tamina won a one off match and then did nothing else. Plus no matter how battered the Intercontinental title’s rep may get it would take a lot more than what it’s been through to mean less than the Divas strap.

I think the match itself will be good, it’s just that there’s very little to get invested in. It would be a different story if AJ was still on TV. They could have done a straight rematch then, or a three-way. They could even have done this match and played up AJ being irked by being a position where she has to cheer for her bodyguard to win something she considered hers. But that’s not the world we live in. The sooner ‘The Anti-Diva’ retains here and moves on to wrestling Emma or Natalya or even the Bella twins the better.

Back up at the top of the card we have WWE champion Daniel Bryan defending against Kane. It’s a match that could be said to have to years of history to it. The two first crossed paths in the summer of 2012 in a three-way feud with WWE champion CM Punk before putting their differences aside (in anger management therapy sessions) and becoming one of the most notable odd couple tag teams ever. They won the tag team titles and held them for an impressive eight months before losing them (at last year’s Extreme Rules funnily enough), then quietly went their separate ways.

For Bryan that meant a clean WWE championship win over John Cena at SummerSlam and a feud with lead heel faction The Authority and a series of mildly disappointing outings opposite Randy Orton. For Kane it meant a series of jarring plot leaps (something which has become as much a part of the character as anything else): after being abducted by The Wyatt Family² he returned to TV and attacked Miz³ and then joined The Authority as Director of Operations⁴. 

They didn’t interact in a meaningful way for quite a while, and their former status as friends was frustratingly never really acknowledged or explained. Eventually they started having matches against one another on RAW (and they were apparently going to face off at WrestleMania before CM Punk walked out, although it’s possible that would have changed when it became apparent fans weren’t willing to accept a ‘Mania card that didn’t include Daniel Bryan getting his due spot). Then they drifted apart again as Bryan started being prepped for a match with Triple H and Kane developed problems with The Shield. 

The latest chapter in the storied Bryan-Kane rivalry has seen ‘The Big Red Machine’ put the mask back on after being belittled by Stephanie McMahon. That supposedly “unlocked his sadistic side” and prompted him to viciously assault D-Bry on the April 21 RAW, giving him three Tombstones before wandering off. That showed Bryan can be dominated by his challenger and created storyline damage for him to sell (the Tombstone remains one of the most protected moves in WWE), which in turn creates a match at Extreme Rules in which Bryan is even more clearly the underdog than he is usually.

Basically, after two years we once again have Bryan and a masked Kane at odds over the WWE championship. The only major difference is that CM Punk’s not involved here. There’s a lot of history to the pairing but it’s not one that easily translates to a video package, even one put together by the talented team at WWE’s disposal. For that reason I expect the video package for this feud to focus only on the last month or so. It could be used as the blow off to an epic two year story but I just don’t think it will be.

The quality of the match itself should be great. Bryan is very clearly one of the best wrestlers in WWE and doesn’t really ever have bad matches. The same isn’t true of Kane, but he has plenty of experience working with Bryan, is currently in the psycho monster role he functions best in⁵, and has an Extreme Rules stipulation allowing shortcuts that will help both tell a story.

I can’t imagine a world in which Kane wins the title at Extreme Rules. It would be the most pointless exercise imaginable. Bryan has been built up for months and, despite the solid work done reheating him, nobody takes Kane seriously as a regular top line performer now. The match exists to give Daniel Bryan an obstacle to overcome while he’s waiting for Batista, Randy Orton, Triple H or a combination of the three to give him his first major challenge.

The reason none of those three men are challenging Bryan at Extreme Rules is that they’ve reformed Evolution for a match with The Shield. This is another one with a bit of history to it. The Authority had used ‘The Hounds of Justice’ as enforcers and to keep the WWE championship on chosen one Randy Orton. Trouble started brewing between the men in black and their benefactors in the build-up to WrestleMania when Kane ordered beatdowns on the trio (which was later revealed as something Triple H had “masterminded”). The post-WrestleMania RAW saw The Shield officially turn on The Authority when they cleared them from the ring and saved Daniel Bryan from a beating.

Since then we’ve had the standard promos and attacks. It’s been inoffensive stuff, necessary to fill TV minutes and keep interest bubbling away in the match. It didn’t need to be anything much more than that because the allure of The Shield taking on Evolution is enough. Even if people aren’t aware of Evolution’s history (which is possible because the group split nine years ago) or who Batista is (equally plausible seeing as he left for four years) this match holds massive appeal. The Shield are massively popular and, more to the point, have built up a reputation of having excellent six man tag matches when it counts. Seeing them face the boss and one of the promotion’s top heels (Orton) is a big deal. Knowing the significance of Evolution within WWE simply to what’s already there.

I think this stands a strong chance of being the match of the night. Everyone involved knows how to play their role and five of the six are amongst the best performers in the promotion. The sixth is Batista, and he’s not as bad as people like to make out. A major part of the reason he’s so disliked is because of what he represents: part-timers nicking spots. No, he’s not as good as the other five, but he gets audiences riled up and a multi-man match is the best place for him: his ring time becomes limited but his screen time doesn’t. 

Either team could win this. That’s the reason I think it should go on last. The result of Kane versus Bryan is simply too obvious to be able to follow this. I’m leaning towards The Shield. As the younger guys who have lengthier in-ring futures than Evolution they need the win more. Roman Reigns pinning ‘The Game’ would be nice, setting up their SummerSlam encounter, but it seems a bit early for that. If it happens now, four months before the event, where does WWE go with it?

Extreme Rules does not look like the greatest WWE show possible. You’d need to give Paige a better opponent and scrap the handicap match for it to be in with a chance of getting that honour. But it doesn’t look bad. The top three matches should all be worth watching and the Intercontinental title match and triple threat have potential to be great too. I think I’m going to get my hopes up. Let’s hope it’s worth it.

Predictions summary:

The Shield to defeat Evolution

Daniel Bryan to defeat Kane

Bray Wyatt to defeat John Cena

Big E to defeat Bad News Barrett

Cesaro to defeat Jack Swagger and Rob Van Dam

Paige to defeat Tamina Snuka

Alexander Rusev to defeat R-Truth and Xavier Woods

                                                                           ***

¹ On a side note here I had a dream the other night that RybAxel got some matching ring gear and started being managed by Paul Heyman again. I can’t remember much beyond that but I’m pretty sure there was a feud with The New Age Outlaws going on.

² He made a sequel to the See No Evil flick, one of the first offerings from WWE Studios many years ago. Nobody wanted it. That didn’t stop WWE from making it.

³ This went nowhere, which surprised no one.

⁴ Kane was impressed by their contempt and disregard for humanity. Or something.

⁵ Clarification: Glenn Jacobs wrestles his best matches in the psycho monster role. He does his best work in a comedy role sending up the nonsensical nature of his character.

That RAW Recap 28.04.14

There's no preamble this week. Frankly they're a pain to write.

This week's RAW was the final one before Extreme Rules, which meant it was the last opportunity for WWE to provide reasons for people to be interested in the show's top feuds. They didn't pass it up. They know what they're doing when it comes to this stuff.

The opening segment was given over to the John Cena and Bray Wyatt rivalry. It was Cena who hit the ring (which was surrounded by a cage so as to subtly promote the Extreme Rules cage match) first and it was clear from the moment he walked out he had engaged serious mode. You see the previous week's episode had ended with Cena taking on the entire Wyatt Family in a three-on-one handicap match, something WWE fans (or those who have the WWE App at least) had voted for. Understandably Cena started off by asking why the fans had chosen to put him in that situation. Somewhat less understandably he revealed he actually knew the answer.

The reason is a simple one: Cena has been on top of the company for a decade. In that time, as he rightly pointed out, the fans, he himself, and the landscape of WWE have all changed. Tastes have evolved and while Cena has evolved too it has not been in line with what fans desire. Part of the problem is that most fans are simply keen on seeing new names at the top, which is something no established star can help with directly. They can help to make these new names but they cannot be these names themselves which means they will always, to some extent, be an obstacle in the star building process. Someone who's been on top for as long as Cena and is a polarising figure to begin with is going to find it extra tough to overcome the problem.

Cena recognised that in his promo. He named The Shield, Cesaro and Daniel Bryan as stars of the future, then threw in some NXT names too. Those men all have the same passion and drive to succeed as Cena considers himself to have, and it's that that makes him excited for the day he steps aside for such names. But according to Cena the leader of the Wyatt Family doesn't share this passion, only being interested in himself. Which is a nice way for the Cena character to address a man positioned as a cult leader. Of course Wyatt only cares about himself, and of course a company man like Cena would be upset by this.

Wrestling doesn't get much creepier than this.

Naturally Cena found himself interrupted soon enough. But it wasn't Wyatt or any other wrestler doing it. It was a children's choir. They shuffled out on to stage (something that took a while to coordinate meaning we were treated to lengthy shots of Cena doing his best to look pensive) singing He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. Then Bray Wyatt joined them and led them to the ring while singing the song himself. The lights went out for a moment and then came back on to reveal the kids surrounding the ring wearing sheep masks. Wyatt, who had one nipper perched on his knee, laughed uproariously while Cena looked... well, to be honest it's hard to know what he was going for here. It was either betrayal or disgust. That I can't tell probably means he didn't do a particularly good job.

Later on in the show Cena's feelings would be explored a bit. Renee Young found him and asked what had happened earlier in the night. The former WWE champ told her nothing had happened and stomped off. Later still Cena apologised to Renee and announced that Wyatt's shenanigans hadn't gone down well with him. Then he promised Wyatt would not be singing his song after Extreme Rules. I hope that's not true. A man called 'The Eater of Worlds' singing children's songs is one of the best things about modern wrestling.

RAW's final two hours were where the other main event programmes were dealt with. First Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella received an apology from Stephanie McMahon for the rambunctious behaviour of Kane the previous week (he'd delivered three Tombstone piledrivers to Bryan, resulting in D-Bry sporting a neck brace here). Unsurprisingly the WWE champion didn't believe Steph's apology was sincere. The boss understood his attitude and granted Brie a Divas championship match to make up for it. That's as good a reason as any for getting a title match in WWE.

Comic book poses, you say?

The match started immediately and featured Bryan at ringside because he was worried about 'The Devil's Favourite Demon' turning up. He was right to be concerned because Kane did indeed put in an appearance. Instead of walking down the ramp or entering through the crowd as he had the week before he came from under the ring. His attempts to drag Brie back under the ring with him failed: first Bryan hit him in the head with a wrench (where was Triple H's sledgehammer?) and then again when Brie kicked her way out of Kane's grasp and ran off. Which was necessary because Monster Mode Kane can no-sell wrenches and he'd made a ridiculous comeback to pester Brie again.

It was another segment designed to rebuild Kane so that he correctly functions as a monster for his match with Bryan. As far as achieving that goal went the segment was a success. It did considerably less well in the good taste department: a near seven foot man chasing down a woman a few inches over five foot is not a pleasant image, even when viewed through the prism of wrestling logic.

Finally there was the Roman Reigns versus Randy Orton main event. Before Evolution entered the arena we heard from The Shield backstage. They basically said that they are a greater force than 'The Cerebral Assassin' and his boys and that they're the future. Ambrose had the best line when he said that "evolution has passed Evolution by." It effectively reminded us of the key issues between the two factions and what The Shield perceive as their strengths. Good stuff, in other words.

Once Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns were in the ring there was a stare-down between the six men. We were supposed to think that the tension may boil over into a brawl but that at no point seemed likely. It was Tripper and 'The Animal' letting the side down there. They didn't look like they were ready to engage in a fight. 'The Viper' and all three members of The Shield did a far better job of seeming like they were on the cusp of coming to blows.

Ric Flair: fan of The Shield.

Before the match started Ric Flair sauntered down to the ring. Because he doesn't get the chance to hog the spotlight any more he took his time, gobbling up several minutes of television before he'd even said a word. When he did it was to deliver a promo that was basically self-parody. 'The Nature Boy' is generally accepted as one of the greatest talkers ever. Old footage of him bears that out. He was giving excellent promos as late as the mid-2000s (as part of a Evolution, funnily enough). Judged on his RAW performance alone nobody would accept Flair as a good talker, let alone one of the best ever. He filled his speech with an excessive number of pauses and didn't seem particularly passionate about what he was saying. He was very clearly there to hang out with his mates and enjoy having spotlight shone on him.

There were a couple of problems here. The first was that, as I've already noted, Flair doesn't get to be in the spotlight much these days. He's always had a tendency to try and make himself the centre of attention as it is (and in fairness that's a large part of why and how he became successful) and that's only worsened when he doesn't get the opportunity to be adored on a regular basis. The second issue was that 'Naitch' was tasked with putting over The Shield. He did it, but in such a stilted, almost unclear, fashion that the audience was flat when he turned to shake hands with 'The Hounds of Justice'. The likelihood is that he wasn't entirely happy about having to endorse The Shield over Evolution. He really is friends with the three members of the latter team and was linked with them professionally for a fair amount of time. Having to snub Evolution on any level basically required Flair to acknowledge that another group was better than one he'd been in. That wasn't going to sit well with his ego.

So basically The Shield were endorsed by Ric Flair but in such a cack-handed way as to make it not worth bothering. A better use of Flair would have been to encourage him to parody his overblown flip out promos and declare that Evolution would destroy The Shield. It would have seemed less jarring considering the history of Flair and Evolution and would probably have been better received. Because everyone loves Flair flipping out.

Reigns v Orton didn't really last long enough to be considered a good match but it showed promise. It turned into an interference special fairly quickly, with Triple H, Orton and 'The Animal' taking The Shield apart for a few minutes before a comeback was made. The show ended with The Shield holding the ring (the ultimate sign of dominance in this overly common wrestling scenario) and Evolution backing up the rank. A good ending as it furthered the issue between the two units without actually favouring either too strongly, leaving the outcome of their Extreme Rules match as hard to predict as before the show.

That RAW Recap 21.04.14

It’s been revealed, through the magic of the interweb, that the ratings for Monday Night RAW have been decreased over the last two episodes. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise. The April 7 episode was the post-‘Mania one, which always does well. The April 14 edition was never going to be able to compete because the reasons to watch simply weren’t as strong. By the time the April 21 show rolled around it was pretty much business as usual in terms of who’d tune in.

The April 7 RAW featured significant changes to the lead feuds in the company and got WWE’s ever tricky late-spring-early summer season off to a good start. The ratings going down don’t mean they’ve failed or that people aren’t interested in The Shield taking on Evolution or Daniel Bryan’s championship reign. It just means that the people who were watching over WrestleMania Season have had their fill of wrestling for now. Many will be back for SummerSlam. The rest will be back for WrestleMania XXXI.

The reason I bring this up is that a lot seems to be getting made of RAW’s ratings drifting down and it’s not really a concern. It’s to be expected. WrestleMania always sees a peak in ratings. As long as the ratings don’t fall drastically (which they haven’t) there’s no cause for concern. The core audience is still there.

The business as usual approach WWE have gotten back to can best be described as workmanlike. They know the matches they’re building to both in the short term and long term and each was allocated what was deemed an acceptable amount of time on RAW.

The opening segment was the clearest example of this. It saw Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella celebrating their recent wedding in the ring, the first time the pair have been shown together on RAW since the 2011 storyline which saw Brie and Nikki competing for D-Bry’s affections (they ended up losing out to Gail Kim). Their unfettered happiness wasn’t allowed to grace screens for long as Stephanie McMahon rocked up to announce Bryan would be defending his title against Kane at Extreme Rules. She referred to this as a wedding gift. She needs to work on her gift selection.

This table would prove surprisingly sturdy.

It didn’t end there. Kane, now back in his wrestling garb, mask and wig, ran in through the crowd and got the better of the Bryan as the champ tried to protect his wife. Bryan took three tombstone piledrivers: one on ringside mats, one on a set of steel steps, and one on (but not through) the announce table. Bryan did a stretcher job to sell the effects of the beating and Steph called ‘The Big Red Monster’ a bastard.

The delivery of the line indicated Stephanie was genuinely displeased with Kane’s antics. If so this would mark a return of her playing both face and heel in the same segment, something which characterised her time as SmackDown GM many years ago.

There were two reasons this sequence took place. The first was that Daniel Bryan’s father had unexpectedly passed away and he needed to be written off of TV for a bit (WWE were reportedly happy to simply excuse Bryan but he insisted on appearing as advertised). The second was to reheat Kane as an unstoppable, merciless monster who poses a real threat to the Daniel Bryan’s title reign.

This was needed partially because he’s spent the last six months or more playing a suit-clad executive. But there’s more to it than that. The Kane character, as has been noted on this blog before, goes through periodic phases. He’ll play a monster heel for a while, then become a heroic, misunderstood face, gradually segue into being a comedic babyface, before doing something completely unexpected like joining DX, entering therapy or accepting an office job and wrestling in a vest. It’s become the norm and the character has proven malleable enough to be able to withstand these revamps. But it does necessitate scenes like the one on RAW every now and then, just so that he can be taken seriously for a little while.

Less than an hour later the rivalry between Evolution and The Shield received some attention. Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista strolled to the ring for a promo talking themselves up. This was just as necessary as the rehabilitation of Kane, but for different reasons. Evolution was not a group that went through wildly different phases. It was presented as the elite of wrestling. But the last time the faction was a regular fixture on our screens was in early 2005. This segment was needed to remind people of the group’s former standing, to stop it being three guys with shaved heads getting together because of shared enemies. The promos helped there, but what was of most benefit was the video package that aired showing the group’s past. It was a nice piece of work.

Randy looks happy, doesn't he? Meanwhile Triple H looks
like he's going for the Horatio Nelson look.

Naturally The Shield put in an appearance here. They didn’t need building up, but they did need to be placed in the vicinity of Evolution in order to avoid being overshadowed or perceived as second rate. Had they not walked to the ring to speak out it would have looked peculiar. It was also handy as a way of highlighting the difference between the two factions: Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns are united while ‘The Game’, ‘The Viper’ and ‘The Animal’ are individuals currently banded together by a common cause who have a history as a team.

By the way, anyone worried that the reformation of Evolution would bring an end to the sartorial elegance of Dave Batista should have been relieved here. He did himself proud. Part of the Evolution gimmick was a love of suits. While Orton’s favoured option of dressing in trunks and a T-shirt was closed to him Batista simply exchanged his ridiculous skinny jeans and trainers for a ridiculous suit. He opted for a waistcoat, his beloved shirt with a collar a different colour to the torso, and shades. This is part of the reason I don’t object to Batista being on TV. He finds ways to make his character work no matter the situation he’s placed in. He knows that he needs to look absurd, so he makes sure that he does.

The show ended with some work being done on the Cena versus Wyatt Family feud. That doesn’t have the far reaching effects of Bryan’s title reign or the Shield v Evolution series but it’s still the promotion’s number three feud and will probably be looked back on as a key aspect of Bray Wyatt’s early career.

 

The main event had been the subject of a vote throughout the night. Viewers had been given the power to decide whether ‘The CeNation Leader’ faced one, two or all three members of The Wyatt Family. Perhaps unsurprisingly they went for all three. This could be used as fuel for Bray to argue that he’s succeeded in convincing the audience’s view of Cena (which seems to be his goal) or as a reason for Cena being “off his game” at Extreme Rules. The likelihood is that it won’t be turned into anything significant but the possibilities are there. Even if that’s the case it was a way of highlighting the dispute and reminding everyone that WWE’s shows are currently so packed that they have three feuds that can go into the main event and not feel out of place.

It was not the most thrilling episode of RAW ever. It wasn’t intended to be. It was designed to accomplish a number of things and it accomplished them. It got us closer to Extreme Rules without giving away too much or boring us by not doing enough. That, in WWE, is a good result.

That RAW Recap 14.04.14

The opening of the April 14 RAW was not what WWE had planned when the previous week’s episode went off the air. Instead of a promo from Triple H about how he was irked by The Shield and Daniel Bryan (or whatever) we got a tribute to The Ultimate Warrior, who died of a heart attack on Tuesday April 8. The entire roster started the show stood on the stage as Jerry Lawler introduced a video package for the Hall of Famer. It was a touching compilation of rope-shaking and match footage. Afterwards Triple H instigated a Warrior chant, which everyone in the building joined in with.

The tributes would continue throughout the night, taking the form of career highlight videos focusing on specific Warrior matches. The bouts selected for inclusion were his Intercontinental title victory over the Honky Tonk Man at SummerSlam ’88, his iconic clash with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI, his SummerSlam 1990 cage match opposite Rick Rude, and an edited version of his final RAW promo. WWE did a good job making Warrior look a star.

The show proper kicked off with Alberto Del Rio taking on Rob Van Dam, one of four first round matches in a tournament to determine the number one contender to Big E’s Intercontinental gold. The match was nothing special. In fact it was pretty sloppy in places. The most notable thing about it was that the announce team mentioned Van Dam’s hybrid style. For whatever reason (quite possibly because I often try and tune them out) I’d never registered that they say this in every RVD match. It’s incredibly lazy, but that won’t stop them saying it next week. Van Dam progressed to the second round after yanking ADR off the top rope and hitting him with a Five Star frog splash.

After a recap reminding us of what went down with Evolution, The Shield, and Daniel Bryan (who was on his honeymoon with Brie Bella and wouldn’t make an appearance) the week before we were shown Triple H shaking hands with Orton and Batista in an office. ‘The Game’ told his boys that he didn’t think The Shield were going to let either of them near the WWE championship and said it was an attitude that reminded him of Evolution (which was probably meant as a compliment). Then he said he doesn’t think anyone can stop them then immediately contradicted himself and said a united Evolution could. Both Batista and Orton told Tripper that he was on his own. ‘The Animal’, you see, just wants to be champ.

I suggested Goldust's robe on a TWP
episode. Maybe they're listeners.

The evening’s second match was Goldust and Cody Rhodes v RybAxel. It was enjoyable, as most things involving Cody Rhodes are. Perhaps surprisingly the heels won clean, Ryback pinning Cody off a Meathook clothesline as Cody went for a Disaster kick. It meant we got to hear RybAxel’s hunting horn heavy theme tune again, so I was all for that win.

In his latest hype video Bo Dallas told us today is a gift, which is why it’s called the present. I can’t wait until he’s on TV with this ridiculousness. There’s a lot of potential in character and I’m hopeful WWE are going to do something worthwhile with him.

Out next was Paige. We were reminded of the circumstances of her debut and title win but there was no victory promo from her. Nor was there any appearance from former champ AJ Lee. I’d expected the latter in order to set up a rematch at Extreme Rules. Presumably she was elsewhere and her reaction to the loss of her title will come next week. The new champion faced Alicia Fox in a non-title match. Fox dominated much of the match. Eventually Paige turned the tables with a kick and applied her scorpion lock for the submission victory.

Hour two opened with WWE tag team champions Jimmy and Jey Uso (whose continued popularity surprised and pleases me) facing Randy Orton and Batista. The story behind it was that the Usos had challenged the Evolution boys after the beating they’d taken around ringside the week before. The Usos started off with a barrage of punches and a pair of dives on to their foes but the match quickly proceeded into a slow pace with Team Ortista keeping things under control.

It didn’t last long. After a few minutes ‘The Viper’ left the ring to give Jimmy a beating around ringside (again) and got attacked by The Shield. Big Dave was left alone in the ring. Rollins and Ambrose sacrificed themselves distracting him to allow Reigns the chance to get into the ring and drop ‘The Animal’ with a Superman punch. That Ambrose and Rollins got taken out is a small thing but a nice touch: it demonstrates that The Shield can and do work together to accomplish their goals (here it was getting their hands on Batista) and that each man works towards the greater good. It’s something we’ve not really ever seen in WWE. For that reason alone it should be supported.

After a break Batsy and Orty were shown walking through a backstage tech area. They came across Triple H and Stephanie, who were just standing around instead of running the show. Trips said he’d told them so and wandered off. The two were left to look sour together and glare after him.

Out at ringside Paul Heyman walked out to brag about Brock Lesnar ending The Streak. He had photos cued up to remind us how everything played out at ‘Mania and said that nobody had believed him when he said The Streak would end. By his logic we should now believe everything he says and announced that Cesaro was going to be the next major star in WWE. They should play up Heyman being some sort of pro wrestling oracle. That’s a character development that could really go places.

Check out the walk on Cesaro.

‘The King of Swing’ came out to no music but was wearing his lovely, shiny ring jacket. He was there to wrestle Mark Henry in an IC tournament match. After plastering ‘The World’s Strongest Man’ with uppercuts and avoiding a World’s Strongest Slam Cesaro won the match with a Neutralizer. His win got a split reaction. I think that was as much because of the lack of a Big Swing as anything else.

Another Triple H and Stephanie segment occurred backstage. This one saw Brad Maddox dispatched to tell The Shield they had a six man tag match in the main event. The identities of their opponents were not disclosed. This was Maddox’s only contribution to the show. Sooner or later a new role is going to be needed for him. The GM spot has become obsolete (again).

Back in the arena Lana talked up Alexander Rusev in both Russian and English. After posing and talking to himself in the ring ‘The Super Athlete’ defeated Xavier Woods in a squash match with The Accolade (or the Steiner Recliner for those of us who enjoy referencing Scott Steiner). After the match R-Truth attacked Rusev. That didn’t end well for Truth. Worth noting was that Lana was shown to call Rusev off of Truth for a moment. I’m sure that was done to demonstrate that she’s the one in charge, not Rusev.

After some merciless Network plugging the third tournament took place, this one pitting Sheamus against Jack Swagger. Those who enjoy hoss fights were well served by this match. The match was a little slow for my tastes, although I did appreciate the two men not going light on one another. Sheamus won with a surprise Brogue kick after gritting his way through an ankle lock. He did a good job of selling the effects of the hold after the match.

An Adam Rose promo followed that. It was the same one that was on the week before. A new one would air later in the night, this one showing Rose winning a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos and then telling his bunny (a fully grown man in a bunny suit) not to be a lemon but a Rosebud. I love me some Adam Rose. He’s a marvellous gimmick.

A break was followed by Damien Sandow telling everyone that he was the most deserving man in WWE. Big Show waddled out but that didn’t stop ‘The Intellectual Saviour’ talking: he shouted that he wouldn’t be silenced and told people to sit back down and listen to what he had to say. It’s material like that that sets the Sandow character apart and makes it work. Sandow continued talking once Show arrived, claiming people should be begging to touch him as he walks to the ring. He said he deserves “it”, failing to specify what “it” is, because he’s earned “it”. He prodded Show in the chest and got a WMD punch for his trouble.

Presumably the segment existed to set something up for Sandow. I’ve no idea what it could be. He looked pretty pathetic here. Not only did he crumple to Show (that was to be expected frankly) but he was instructed to cut a promo that wasn’t really about anything. All we know is that Sandow feels he’s earned respect. We don’t really know he suddenly feels the need to address it on TV. Perceived lack of respect can’t be the reason: that’s something he’s been putting up with for months.

Hour two kicked off with a Bray Wyatt speech. He talked about The Man and said John Cena’s made a career out of lying to people. Cena is, according to Wyatt, not a man but a beast. Wyatt promised all the kids that he wouldn’t let Cena lie to them anymore and confided that he had Cena where he wants him, up against the ropes, and all he needs to do is give him one final push. My immediate thought was that Cena’s had enough pushing.

Bray Wyatt, 'Eater of Worlds'... and lights.

Wyatt invited Cena to come to the ring. He did, natch. The first thing he did was make a remark about pushes. So there we go: I sometimes have the same train of thought as John Cena. Cena said the monster Wyatt talks about doesn’t exist and then cracked jokes at the expense of the Family. This led to one of WWE’s favourite tropes: obviously doctored photographs. We were shown Abigail Wyatt on Myspace (Wyatt’s face on a woman’s shoulders), Mama Wyatt (Luke Harper in a dress, found via Tinder) and a Wyatt baby (Erick Roan’s head on a swaddled baby’s body). It wasn’t funny but Michael Cole dutifully mugged along anyway.

Wyatt said Cena always falls back on his jokes, so then Cena did his serious voice. He said Bray relies on Harper and Rowan and challenged him to give them a rest and face him in a cage match at Extreme Rules. Wyatt liked that and accepted the challenge. Then he sang. He has a majestic voice.

Match seven was Emma and Santino v Layla and Faaaaaan… daaaaaan… goooooo. Yeah, Summer Rae’s out and Layla’s in. The storyline reason is that Fandango grew bored of Summer and wanted a new “dance partner” (to this end we got an amusing video in which Fandango told Summer Rae “It’s not me, it’s you”). The actual reason is that Summer Rae is expected to become more significant now she’s made it to Total Divas so the decision’s been made to split her off from the mid-card dancer. Layla’s replaced her because she had nothing else to do, but it works out well because she has a dance background. Summer did not. Everyone benefits from the change really.

As all of the recent mixed tag matches between this lot have been this was nothing but basic filler. These matches are designed more to drive forward stories than anything else. Layla won after pulling Emma off the top rope. Yeah, that’s a finish now.

Backstage Stephanie gave Kane a telling off. Once he’d had enough of Steph’s yammering Kane stood up and started doing his heavy breathing routine, just as the camera angle changed to reveal that his old mask (and wig) were sitting on a table inside a glass cabinet. If that being there wasn’t weird enough (and it was) Kane reverently took hold of the mask and promised Steph that he would destroy Daniel Bryan.

The final tournament match of the evening was Dolph Ziggler v Bad News Barrett.  Bad News was surprisingly popular. I hadn’t expected that, attributing the cheers he got the week before to the large number of British fans at the event. I suppose people can sense how much Barrett enjoys playing the character and that makes them appreciate him more. The match itself was the best of the night. ‘The Show Off’ survived Barrett’s old Wasteland finisher. In turn Barrett was able to kick out of a top rope X Factor. Bad News next escaped from a Fameasser. Seconds later Ziggler slipped out of Barrett’s wild sidewalk slam. Barrett’s first Bullhammer attempt was ducked, Ziggler sneaking in a roll-up that should have gotten a better reaction as a potential finish than it did. Barrett kicked out and connected with his second Bullhammer attempt for the win.

After the match Bad News proclaimed himself the next Intercontinental champion and did the Scotty Riggs overhand claps again. Now seems a good time to discuss the title tourney. As enjoyable as Bad News has been in his last two RAW appearances I don’t think he’s getting to the final. He will face Sheamus in the second round while RVD faces Cesaro. The matches seem designed to give Sheamus and Cesaro opponents that can have great matches with them, and it’s them that I expect to go to the final. Van Dam is an enhancer at this point while BNB can fall to a former world champion without looking week, especially when he’s had two enjoyable wins leading up to it.

I could be wrong but it seems like ‘The Swiss Superman’ is the clear favourite to win the tournament. I can’t imagine anybody facing Big E for the IC gold. Given the selection I don’t want to either. Big E showed back at Elimination Chamber that he can have a good power match if he gets the time to do so. And that was with Jack Swagger. He should be able to accomplish far more with Cesaro.

Before the main event a Kane promo aired. ‘The Big Red Machine’ was shown wearing his mask and walking through various fiery locales. It was put together very quickly, considering the mask had only been put back on less than an hour before. It’s like it’s all scripted or something…

The main event saw The Shield take on Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger and Fandango… along with 3MB, Titus O’Neil, RybAxel, Alexander Rusev, and Bad News Barrett. Instead of taking the obvious beatdown direction the eleven men actually tagged in and out in a handicap match against Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns. Rollins was isolated, with all the heels tagging in for twenty second stints to hit him with some basic move or other. Reigns eventually got bored and went round to his foes’ corner to spear Ryback. That prompted a ringside brawl which featured dives from Ambrose and Rollins and then spilled into the ring, where the heels got the advantage on ‘The Hounds’.

It's another Triple H faction reunion!

Then Evolution’s music hit and Triple H, Batista and Orton walked out and dismissed the mid-carders. They gave Rollins a kicking and then hit Reigns with an RKO and a Batista bomb. Rollins got the same. Meanwhile Ambrose was finished off with the Batista bomb-RKO combo that was debuted at WrestleMania. Triple H encouraged Reigns to try and fight back to his feet then had him pulled up so he could give him a Pedigree. Evolution then spent the last minute of the show posing.

This was another good episode of RAW. There were no great matches, but there were good ones in Bad News Barrett v Ziggler and RybAxel v the Rhodes bros. The purpose of the show was not to give us a plethora of excellent matches, it was to get things moving for Extreme Rules. Cena versus Wyatt in a cage match is a good tone setter for the card. It looks as though a six man tag match between Evolution and The Shield and a WWE championship defence from Daniel Bryan against Kane will also be added. The title match should be fun enough but D-Bry will need a more credible opponent for Payback. The six man, on the other hand, should be a great addition to the card, and a worthwhile “special show” (they’re not pay-per-views anymore, ‘member?) main event.