Diva Search

You may have noticed Brie and Nikki Bella are back in WWE. They've returned to the company that made them famous for two reasons. The first is that established female performers are needed to save its flimsy Divas league. The second is that whatever projects they were banking on for their post-WWE life didn't work out as planned.

If rumours are to be believed the Bellas aren't the only women WWE have contacted for a return. They are the first to agree to terms on new contracts. Other women who have apparently been contacted are Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix and Kharma. That Brie and Nikki are back shows that WWE are aware of the problem they have and indicates that they want to do something about it.

The thing is that the company should have tried harder to re-sign them in the first place. The company books the Divas as an afterthought but it clearly cares enough about them to want to have something resembling a worthwhile division around. If they felt otherwise they'd simply retire the concept of female wrestlers and have all the women under contract work as valets or in other on-air roles.

Don't let Cena and Bryan see this, guys

Kharma left the company under difficult circumstances without ever wrestling a televised match. Beth Phoenix decided to retire. Maryse and Kelly Kelly both wanted to pursue careers outside of wrestling. I'm unsure how K2's getting on with that but I know Maryse has launched her own jewellery line.

With a bit of leniency when it came to negotiating WWE probably could have retained the services of Maryse and Kelly. Both women wanted to able to do non-WWE stuff in their spare time without getting authorisation from management. WWE dislike this because they feel they should profit from anything contracted talent do. Seems unfair to me, considering WWE is a multi-million dollar company.

A more reasonable second reason for making talent get authorisation is to ensure they're not doing anything to wreck the WWE brand name. That I can understand. It doesn't mean the company's entitled to a share of the profits though.

The cases of Phoenix and Kharma are different. I think both needed to be away from wrestling for a bit. 'The Glamazon' has been wrestling for a long time and says she wants to do other things with her life. I believe she means that but I think if WWE had offered her substantially more money they could have convinced her to stay for a year or two more.

The only lady I don't think WWE could have kept around (nor do I think they should have tried) is the former Awesome Kong. She needed to go away for a bit.

It's still unknown whether any other ladies will follow the Bellas back to WWE. As Phoenix has had a taste of being off the road I think she'll be a difficult acquisition. Kharma may be easier. She's had some time away and is still capable of leaving her mark on the WWE Divas scene. I'm sure that's something she'd like to do. It's why she signed in the first place.

Kelly Kelly and Maryse returns are entirely dependent on WWE's negotiating skills. As I mentioned above I think the promotion would be well advised to be a little flexible with regards to outside projects and name ownership. They'll still be making money from the merch sales the ladies attract.

The situation WWE currently find themselves in is entirely of their own making. They should either be more willing to grant a little freedom to employees or they should have called up some new Divas a year ago while they still had the established names available.

The promotion is doing the smartest thing it can in these circumstances. Trying to bring back former stars is a good move. It could give the division a boost and give champion Kaitlyn some credible challengers. It will only be deemed a success if the returning starlets help to establish a new batch of women. The likes of Paige, Sunmer Rae and Sasha Banks should all be called up to share screen time with the more famous women. Scripting meaningful feuds and giving the newcomers wins is the best way to ensure this situation doesn't arise again.

Knocked Out

Over the last ten years TNA has managed to do a few things better than their chief rival WWE. One was the innovative X Division. While the X athletes have had some rocky spells over the years they are currently on the way back to becoming an important part of the company’s programming again. New signings are swelling the ranks and the booking team seem determined to make us care about the belt with the X again.

Another area TNA used to outperform WWE in was the booking of their female talent. In 2007 the company became serious about featuring women as wrestlers and established the Knockouts division. Performers such as Awesome Kong, Gail Kim and the Beautiful People were hired to fill the ranks. They did everything the company could have hoped for: they produced excellent matches and got over.

While the TNA Knockouts division is still superior to WWE’s Divas league it is has seen far better days. The recent departures of both Angelina Love and Velvet Sky, two of the promotion’s most over wrestlers and stalwarts of the women’s division since it was introduced, indicates that TNA is no longer serious about promoting the Knockouts.

Mickie James, shown here as Knockouts champion, could still attract viewers if TNA booked their female wrestlers better

Part of the problem is the signing of Brooke Hogan. She has been brought in as the authority figure of the Knockouts division, a move that has predictably lessened the amount of airtime the existing roster receives while also making Hogan’s daughter the focal point of the division, rather than the wrestlers. It’s a pointless role created to give Hogan’s firstborn something to do.

TNA still has some excellent Knockouts on board. Gail Kim, Mickie James, ODB, Tara, Madison Rayne and Sarita are all solid workers and make a great foundation to build a division around. Brooke Tessmacher and Taeler Hendrix are both still rough around the edges but could and should improve if they’re allowed to keep working with such a talented locker room. Meanwhile the creative freedom TNA grants its employees should ensure that the women continue to have their own voices.

Perhaps the best news for fans of the once mighty Knockouts division is that Kharma, formerly TNA’s Awesome Kong, has been released from her WWE contract. If TNA want to get serious about their women’s branch again she is the ideal person to sign.

The question is whether or not that’s actually what TNA wants. Letting talented performers walk away makes it seem as though the women aren’t a priority for the company right now, and the slapdash booking and decreased time backs that up. If that is the case then things need to be reconsidered down in the IMPACT Zone because promoting the Knockouts as competitive athletes and relatable characters is a very simple way of attracting a new audience and differentiating themselves from WWE.

Woman's Hour

WWE’s obsession with hiring models for its Divas division, as opposed to women with a passion for wrestling, is finally beginning to prove ill-considered. By loading up on women who were persuaded to join the group because it could offer them fame and fortune WWE gleefully failed to think about what would happen when that fame and fortune was achieved. The likes of Kelly Kelly and the Bellas have done their best to make it as wrestlers and are now “taking time away from WWE” to pursue other ventures.

“Taking time away” can be taken as a euphemism for “leaving until they’ve exhausted all other options.”  At that point the girls will put a call in to WWE safe in the knowledge that they can get their old jobs back.

This wouldn’t have been the case years ago. WWE has always had a spot on its roster for attractive women. It’s part of the nature of the modern wrestling business. But a decade ago these women would have been limited to roles at ringside. Only women who could actually wrestle would have been booked in proper matches.

Things have changed. During John Laurinaitis’s time as Head of Talent the company hired more and more models and less and less women with actual wrestling experience. Trish Stratus, Lita, Victoria (now Tara in TNA), and Mickie James all left the group for various reasons. It’s unfair to blame that solely on Johnny Ace. However, it was his job was to either entice these performers to stay or find replacements for them. He did neither and so must be considered at least partially to blame for the current state of WWE’s female league.

There’s still hope for the Divas yet. The recent rumours of WWE signing Sara Del Ray are promising, and will be a step in the right direction if it turns out to be true. ‘Death Ray’ is one of the most accomplished grapplers in the world with years of experience and solid matches on her resume.

That Kharma has been released may be disheartening for both her fans and people hopeful of a Divas resurgence but it’s important to remember that while she may be gone there is still every chance she will return to the company at some point. I’m of the opinion that this could be a similar situation to the one Daniel Bryan went through after the Nexus formation angle and that she will be rehired by the company whenever she is ready to return to the ring full time.

Kharma would be ideal for a WWE Divas show

The forthcoming WWE Network will provide an excellent opportunity to rebuild a worthwhile women’s division. A one hour weekly show is exactly what the Divas need. Create some interesting characters, put them into logical storylines that fans want to follow, book matches that last longer than two minutes and you’d have a Divas show with every chance of success.

I’m not condoning shuffling the Divas off into a corner to be forgotten about. The top names in the division could and should still appear routinely on RAW and SmackDown. Think of the Divas show as a chance to give some of the younger names a chance to get noticed (both by fans and officials), with the women appearing on the bigger shows helping to draw in an audience.

Sort of like NXT, but for female performers only.

Character-wise WWE is already in a deceptively strong position. It may have lost the Bellas and Kelly Kelly (for now) but they still have some well-rounded female roles on our screens. Eve Torres is a shining example. She may not make an ideal regular wrestler for a Divas show but she would be perfect as a heel authority figure. Her work earlier in the year as John Laurinaitis’s Executive Assistant proves that.

AJ would be a perfect candidate to construct the show around, at least during its early stages (read more on this here). She has been involved in a top programme that has seen her rub shoulders with the WWE champion (CM Punk), an accomplished, well-respected veteran (Kane), and arguably the most over man in the company (Daniel Bryan) over the last few months.

She is a star. On top of that she is passionate about being a wrestler. Her first show as RAW GM left me feeling that the WWE writing team are unsure how to best use her in the role. Maybe it could be made a short term arrangement with her resuming active competition in a few months.

AJ is currently the RAW GM but she'd be better used as a babyface wrestler

They may have had their pushes decreased lately but both Beth Phoenix and Natalya have had solid character work done in the past. Natalya could be pushed as a babyface looking to proudly continue the Hart legacy while ‘The Glamazon’ can simply be pushed as a strong, dominant ass-kicker. While I think the focus of the show should be restoring some honour to the Divas title after six months or so a tag team championship could be introduced. The Divas of Destruction would be an excellent choice for inaugural champs.

As mentioned above Kharma has finished with WWE for now. Assuming she does return it would take very little effort to establish her as an unstoppable monster. She could be fed (not literally) a jobber each week for a few months before gradually being pitted against bigger names, gradually moving her towards a proper programme for the Divas championship. Think Ryback with ovaries.

The development system is currently home to women who would benefit greatly from a programme such as this. Raquel Diaz (daughter of Eddie Guerrero) springs immediately to mind. Her Exfoliating Ugliness Tour is an interesting gimmick that warrants more screen-time. She is unlikely to get that on NXT but she would get it on a Divas-only show.

Meanwhile the likes of Tamina, Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox and Layla would all benefit from not playing second fiddle to their male counterparts. All have had rough personas sketched out for them, a new show could help flesh them out a bit. Perhaps if this show had been around a few months ago Layla wouldn’t have flopped as Divas champion.

To create a worthwhile show WWE would need to bring in some more talent. Del Ray would be a good start. She could have excellent outings against the Phoenixes, Natalyas and Kharmas of the roster. Both Angelina Love and Velvet Sky have just finished up with TNA and Sarita is rumoured to want to leave too. They would all fit in nicely on a WWE Divas broadcast. The Beautiful People could have an excellent tag team feud with Phoenix and Natalya.

The Beautiful People could help to establish a Divas tag division by feuding with the Divas of Destruction

WWE also has the option of asking Trish Stratus and Lita to be involved. Lita has commentary experience working alongside Jonathan Coachman on Sunday Night Heat. She wasn’t the best in the role but she would be an interesting choice for a female-only in-ring product. Trish could be tried in the role too. Both women are busy but a show such as this would likely follow the NXT format of being taped at a regular venue once a month. I’m sure they could fit that in.

I’m sure both women could be persuaded to make occasional appearances in matches. A bout involving either of them (Trish in particular) could attract a ratings spike if promoted in the right way.

There are plenty of women plying their trade on the independent scene. WWE could easily afford to bring in three or four of the best to flesh out the lower portions of the roster, with an eye to rewarding those who do well with a push once the show is firmly established. The promotion could even hold some women-only try-outs to scout for new talent. Their bank account affords them plenty of options.

A Divas show could create programming with a different sort of appeal for the WWE Network and help WWE create some new, bankable female stars for the future. It wouldn’t be quick or cheap, but it would be worth it. The company can afford it and will soon have an entire channel’s worth of time to dedicate to the venture.

Girl Next Door

Last summer AJ was just another face in the flock of WWE Divas. Her lack of a certain form of enhancement and her down-to-earth, girl-next-door persona helped separate her from her peers a little but, for the most part, she was treated like every other female on the roster by the writing team. The lack of a proper Divas division didn’t help much either.

In short, AJ didn’t stand out and her opportunities for advancement looked extremely limited.

How times have changed.

Since being paired up with Daniel Bryan at the end of last year AJ has developed into WWE’s most interesting and unpredictable character. During the initial stages of the pairing it seemed as though WWE was going to present us with an abusive side of the then-World Heavyweight champion. Instead they had Bryan blame AJ for his infamous eighteen second loss to Sheamus at WrestleMania XXVIII and then kick her to the curb. That was refreshingly novel.

‘The Geek Goddess’ didn’t take her dumping well. She made advances towards CM Punk and Kane (who were involved in a feud with Bryan, natch) in the weeks following her dumping, and revealed that she likes it when men look at her. She flitted from one of the men to another, keeping fans and the men themselves guessing as to who she was most interested in.

Since Kane has been dropped from the storyline AJ has become even more of a focus in the Punk v Bryan rivalry. She will act as the guest referee during their WWE championship bout at Money in the Bank and has received far more screen time than any other female performer this year. That includes Eve, who was the recipient of a pretty impressive push in the first few months of 2012, current Divas champion Layla, and Beth Phoenix, who started the year with the butterfly belt and is arguably the fed’s most accomplished female grappler.

AJ is easily WWE's most successful female performer since Trish Stratus

It has been years since WWE invested this much time and care into a female performer. Not since the days of Trish Stratus and Lita has there been a woman on the WWE roster who is over as an act in her own right. It’s a state of affairs that has come about because AJ seized the chance she was given when originally paired with Bryan, entered compelling, memorable performances and made every moment of screen time she receives count.

If only more WWE contracted performers were afforded such a chance to shine and were rewarded when they took the intiative.

That she’s still tied to the WWE title scene makes sense for now. The storyline still has steam left and has yet to reach its natural conclusion. With SummerSlam a month away I think WWE should be planning to have this programme culminate there, or perhaps at Night of Champions a month later.

But what after that? Whether she screws one or both men (not like that, that’s a whole different kind of pay-per-view) there’s only so long that WWE can string out a title feud with AJ’s involvement, no matter how good it may be. There’s obviously no chance of AJ winning the title herself and so sooner or later WWE are going to have to find some other way to capitalise on her popularity.

The obvious answer is to move AJ over into the Divas division. As the WWE’s most over female performer in years she is a natural choice to headline a revived women’s league. By the time the company’s ready to make the move RAW will be a three hour show. That’s plenty of time to get the women’s scene back on track.

A brief feud between AJ and Layla could be booked to culminate at either Night of Champions in September or Hell in a Cell in October. From there Layla could have her role scaled back and Beth Phoenix and Kharma could be brought in to help construct a worthwhile women’s division in a three-way feud with AJ.

While we’re on the subject of making use of AJ why does she not yet have a T-shirt available? She has gotten into the habit of wearing either a Punk or Bryan shirt (or dressing as Kane). That’s fine to an extent as it makes sense for her character, but some merch of her own would help WWE (and the lady herself) make some extra cash. How about a T-shirt that reads “I dig crazy chicks” for guys and one that says “Do YOU like crazy chicks?” for female fans?

Just a thought.

Talent

Have you heard about WWE’s latest talent acquisition? No, not Brock Lesnar. WWE hasn’t secretly re-signed Batista, Jeff Hardy, or Goldberg. I’m not talking about Vader either. No, the man I’m talking about is John Laurinaitis.

At this point you’re probably thinking that John Laurinaitis has been working for WWE for years. Well, yes, he has. He joined WWE after the purchase of WCW in 2001. After starting out as a talent agent he quickly became the chief lieutenant to then talent boss Jim Ross. After three years of being Good Ol’ JR’s understudy (and unofficial hatchet man) Laurinaitis became the new Vice President of Talent Relations in 2004. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2007 and then Executive Vice President in 2009.

Yes, two promotions for doing the same job. That’s quite the lucky streak he has, no?

Back to the point. Laurinaitis has recently been relieved of his position as Executive Vice President of Talent Relations which leaves his sole role in the company (officially anyway) as the on-screen General Manager of RAW and SmackDown. He’s still being billed as the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations on TV but that could change if a storyline firing comes his way on Sunday (which it might).

John Laurinaitis: no longer the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations but still General Manager of both RAW and SmackDown. Phew!

The man who’s replaced him as the chief of WWE’s talent department is Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque. It’s too early to say whether or not he will do a better job than Laurinaitis but it’s difficult to imagine him doing worse. In his eight years in charge of talent relations Laurinaitis has signed only a handful of grapplers of have become genuine draws.

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan were both signed on his watch but in truth it’s difficult to imagine Laurinaitis was the only man involved in their signing (it’s all too easy to picture Jim Ross being dispatched to sign men with their reputations). John Cena is the only man to rise to prominence and stay with the company during the “Laurinaitis Era”, but again that will have had little to do with the talent head. The success of Cena can be attributed to Cena himself, Vince McMahon and the writing team.

A hefty list of talented wrestlers opted not to stay with the company while he was in charge. It’s unfair to blame the leaving of men such as Christian, Jeff Hardy (twice!), Goldberg, and Batista solely on Ace but he has to be considered a factor. That, coupled with his failure to sign anyone who has become a big money star for the promotion, has likely played a part in his removal from the role.

Triple H is WWE's new talent boss, and will bring a fresh approach to the role

It’s time for a new approach and fresh ideas. Triple H can provide that. ‘The Game’ has been easing into the role of talent boss for the last year or two. In that time he has been credited with the signings of Sin Cara, who is regarded as a flop by everyone, and Kharma, who has yet to make the impact predicted due to unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances. It’s very likely that he was instrumental in the signing of former ROH stalwarts Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli (now Kassius Ohno and Antonio Cesaro respectively) and he certainly would have played some sort of role in the negotiations with Brock Lesnar in March and April.

Laurinaitis doesn’t appear to be on his way to a future endeavour. His work as an on-screen authority figure has improved greatly since his introduction this time last year. He’s effective in the role, and provides unintentional humour with his frequent verbal botches. Because he’s established himself so well I expect he’ll stay with the company with a new backstage position of some sort for some time to come.

No Way Out preview

Banned substances, a concussion, the Brazilian flag and a broken foot have all played a part in limiting WWE's booking options for this Sunday's No Way Out. Despite this I am confident it will be a satisfactory show.
 
Original plans for the show called for Randy Orton to tangle with Chris Jericho. ‘Y2J’ got himself suspended after an incident on a house show (read about that here), so WWE quickly rearranged things so that ‘The Viper’ would face Dolph Ziggler instead. Then Orton got suspended too (read about that here). Meanwhile Sheamus had been set to defend the World Heavyweight championship against Alberto Del Rio. Those plans changed too, after ‘The Essence of Excellence’ suffered a concussion at the June 5^th SmackDown taping.

Doing the smart thing WWE decided to once again rely on Dolph Ziggler to plug the gap. That's something I predicted would happen on Monday evening (see this). I'm glad it did: the styles of the two men complement each other nicely and I'm confident they'll produce something memorable.

Dolph Ziggler has the chance to impress opposite Sheamus at No Way Out. He'll make the most of the opportunity

 
I don't expect 'The Heel' to go over. Not only is he a late replacement for someone else (and for the record I don't think ADR would've won either) but WWE are building Sheamus into a babyface star. Part of their plan is to give 'Great White' a lengthy title reign. I can't see him losing the WHC until SummerSlam at the earliest.
 
Cody Rhodes v Christian should be a solid mid-card attraction. Both men are good wrestlers and get the desired reaction from crowds. This feud hasn't really been built up a great deal, which is surprising when you consider it's a pay-per-view rematch featuring two of the company's most reliable guys and there have been few other feuds draining TV time recently.
 
I'll be surprised if Rhodes regains the gold on Sunday. He had a month-long reign ended at last month’s Over The Limit: what was the purpose of that loss if he gets the title back again so soon? I predict a loss for Cody to free him up for bigger and better things in the coming months. Hopefully that will be a rivalry with Sheamus or CM Punk.
 
The Layla v Beth Phoenix match doesn't interest me any more than their match at Over The Limit did. The best we can hope for is a post-match return from Kharma to destroy Layla as ‘The Glamazon’ watches on, setting up a feud between the two. The match could really go either way, mainly because WWE pays so little attention to the booking of its women’s division these days. Kharma is the best thing that could happen to the Divas and their title right now.
 
For the third time in the space of four pay-per-views there is a stipulation bout that will see John Laurinaitis fired if he or a wrestler representing him suffers a loss. In this instance the stip is attached to the Big Show v John Cena cage collision. That, coupled with Cena's position as the face of the company and Show's as current most-pushed heel act, leads me to believe this match will go on last.
 
It won't be a pretty affair. In fact it will struggle to be enjoyable. Both men can produce decent matches against the right opponent but not against each other. They've clashed before and have never created a bout anything better than adequate (and I'm being generous there). The match will inevitably feature a few failed AA attempts from Cena before he eventually powers Show up for the move towards the end if the match. Women and small children will then marvel at how strong Cena is.
 
Who's going to win? It's not as clear cut as previous Laurinaitis-centric matches have been. I'm going to predict a victory for Cena. There are rumours that a new job title will be given to Laurinaitis soon (Assistant to the Board of Directors has been mentioned) so a loss for Show seems a distinct possibility.
 
Will Vince McMahon recover from his storyline concussion and appear at ringside for this match? I think he will. If he does, a swerve-turn wouldn't surprise me. I mainly think that’s possible because over the years Vince has developed the habit of returning to television as a babyface only to become a heel again very quickly (and usually with a hilariously nonsensical reason for doing so).
 
The final match to mention is CM Punk v Daniel Bryan v Kane for Punk's WWE championship. 'The Big Red Monster's' addition to this match is peculiar at best, offensive at worst. I would imagine that Vince’s mindset is that fans are "wrong" to enjoy a match between two men who cannot be considered the creations of WWE. Kane has probably been stuck into proceedings because Vince sees it as a way of "proving" a star he "made" can make the match better.
 
He's wrong.
 
Another Punk v Bryan singles match after their excellent exchange at Over The Limit would have been a great addition to the card. The inclusion of Bryan's on-screen ex AJ was just about tolerable because it didn't detract from the assured quality of the bout. Kane takes things a step too far and can only harm the work rate of the encounter. At this point our best hope is that Kane gets moved on to something else and Punk v Bryan clash again at Money in the Bank.

This poster could indicate that AJ will cost Daniel Bryan the WWE title, but that would assume that WWE has booking plans in place months in advance at a time when these posters are created. That's not the case...

This match could still be the best of the night. Kane is not a bad wrestler, he just needs the right opponents in order to truly shine. The two former ROH stars certainly fit the bill there. Recent booking developments make AJ-related shenanigans inevitable but I'm confident they'll be kept to a minimum during the match itself. I'm predicting Punk will keep hold of the title.
 
On paper No Way Out looks as though it will be average. As I stated above I expect it to be at least satisfactory, and wouldn’t be surprised if it veered into very good territory. My advice regarding pay-per-views carders (read more on that here) has not been taken but at least they made the right move in giving Dolph Ziggler a match with Sheamus. I'm looking forward to that far more than I was the original Sheamus v Del Rio match. If Ziggler doesn't put in a world class showing on Sunday I'll eat my hat.
 
Predictions summary
John Cena to defeat Big Show
CM Punk to defeat Daniel Bryan and Kane
Sheamus to defeat Dolph Ziggler
Christian to defeat Cody Rhodes
Layla to defeat Beth Phoenix

GlamaKong

Nikki Bella is the WWE Divas champion.

That’s not a sentence likely to fill any wrestling fan with joy. Nikki and her sister Brie are good looking young ladies and have improved greatly in the ring over the last several years but they’re nowhere near as good as TNA’s Knockouts or the women that comprise the SHIMMER roster (generally considered to be the best female only promotion outside of Japan). WWE simply isn’t seen as company that takes women’s wrestling seriously and Nikki’s victory is a perfect example of why.

But it should be pointed out that there’s a plan in place.   

Beth Phoenix, the woman Nikki toppled for the gold, is said to be injured. This isn’t true. Phoenix is as healthy as any active wrestler can hope to be. The reason that WWE are claiming she’s injured, with ‘The Glamazon’ helping the story along on Twitter, is that they wanted to take the title off of her because they are about to embark on their highest profile women’s feud in years.

Kia Stevens, formerly known as Amazing Kong and now billed as Kharma, is about to make her full time return to WWE. She is regarded as one of the best female wrestlers in the world and was considered a big signing for WWE back at the start of 2011. The most notable work in her career so far came during her stint in TNA, where she worked incredibly enjoyable matches with many of that company’s top names, including a stellar series with Gail Kim. She has wrestled extensively in Japan and across the US indies too, including the aforementioned SHIMMER.

WWE quite rightly believes that a programme between Kharma and Phoenix could be their hottest Divas feud in years. The decision to relieve ‘The Glamazon’ of the belt was made so that the company can bring Kharma back to television and immediately start building her up as the most dominant woman in the division without rushing into her clash with ‘The Glamazon’.

Presumably this will start with her crushing Nikki Bella and then ploughing through every other female performer on the roster. Once she’s established as a powerful force in WWE (and replays of her hitting the move formally known as the Implant Buster on Dolph Ziggler during this year’s Royal Rumble should help there) expect Phoenix to be brought back to begin chasing her for the title.

Can Kharma help revive the WWE Divas division?

I think if the two women are given substantial time and leeway to put on the best matches possible on pay-per-view and their feud is booked logically on RAW and SmackDown they could help to reinvigorate WWE’s knackered Divas scene and make the butterfly belt mean something. Phoenix has been WWE’s best female worker over the last year and a rivalry with Kharma should finally give her something to do beyond beat up expendable models each week.

If WWE handle this correctly they could set themselves on the path to having a competitive and enjoyable women’s division again. Natalya could be brought in after a couple of months to add a fresh dynamic to matches and perhaps enjoy a surprise title reign. Tamina Snuka keeps getting better and would be an interesting opponent for Kharma, Phoenix or Natalya. Meanwhile Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox can keep improving and work as outmatched babyfaces against the division’s top string of stars.

It will all start with Kharma obliterating Nikki Bella, and possibly Brie too. Rumours have been going around that the Bellas are leaving WWE very soon so I’d expect that to happen sooner rather than later, possibly as early as this evening’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view. It will likely be WWE’s way of writing the twins off of TV. I will take an admittedly sadistic pleasure in watching them get squashed and I imagine others will too. I hope in six months’ time we can look back on Kharma’s return and see it as a turning point for WWE’s female performers and the starting point of a resurgence of their division.

Girl Power

I’ll usually be among the first to criticise WWE’s approach to the booking of its Divas division but I have to admit that in the last couple of months they have displayed signs of actually booking the women under contract properly.

Last year’s push of Kelly Kelly was a decent start. It may have fallen flat because she has no discernible personality and can’t wrestle but at least the promotion was willing to give a female performer a chance to stand out again. I think they were hoping Double K would leap out of the pack as the next Trish Stratus. That that hasn’t happened doesn’t mean the company should give up their search and in their defence they haven’t.

The biggest positive about the Divas division (and I’m using the term “division” fairly loosely) right now is that Beth Phoenix is the champion. Phoenix can talk when she has to and is a fantastic wrestler. She’s also a good size for a champion in that she can realistically work with anyone. If you’re too big or too small it limits the options of the booking team when it comes to opponents (male examples would be Rey Mysterio and Big Show).

With ‘The Glamazon’ at the helm I feel the Divas have a shot at earning back some of the TV time they’ve lost over the years.

Tamina Snuka’s brief push last month was also a positive. It may not have lasted long but Jimmy’s daughter was permitted to look competitive against a woman who had been positioned as the top star for months. Phoenix made Snuka look like her equal before she beat her, which is exactly the right way to elevate a talent when they have to lose a match. Tamina also deserves credit for improving her wrestling skills so much over the last year or so. She’s gone from a valet who looked incredibly wooden and uncomfortable to someone who can work a long match (by WWE women’s standards) and feels confident enough to do a splash from the top rope.

Two of the best female performers currently in WWE

The recent elevation of Eve Torres may seem like one of the more soap opera aspects of wrestling (because it is) but it’s also WWE making the most of a character development that has seemingly come about as a side effect of a bigger story. That too deserves praise. If Eve is handled right she could be successfully elevated to a feud with Phoenix. That would require ‘The Glamazon’ to turn face or play tweener, but she’s shown she’s capable of doing both.

With Kelly Kelly having announced her dissatisfaction with Eve’s recent heelish ways a feud between those two could be written into storylines with ease. It may not produce the greatest matches in the world but it would provide the division with a mid-card feud while Beth Phoenix continues ploughing through challengers. She could possibly get involved herself for a three-way feud. That would be something different for the Divas.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that if WWE spent enough time planning things out now Eve Torres could be the company’s lead heel Diva in six months’ time.

The rest of the Divas all have something to offer. Alicia Fox has shown that she can wrestle competent short matches when provided with the right opponent. The Bella twins have well defined characters and work well as a tag team (because it hides their weaknesses and allows them to pull the “heels that look alike switching places” trick). Kaitlyn is one of the best options WWE currently has for elevating someone to the top for a run with Beth Phoenix, but for some reason they seem reluctant to make that move. For now she seems to be stuck on NXT. That show has also given us Maxine, a decent talker who wrestles well enough to warrant a raised profile within the company. If built up properly she could work as a heel champion sometime in the not too distant future.

Speaking of the future I believe that if Daniel Bryan loses his World Heavyweight championship at WrestleMania we could see a storyline develop in which he blames on-screen girlfriend AJ for the loss, eventually leading to him slapping the LeBell lock on her. If that happens it will likely lead to her ending up as the on-screen girlfriend of a face like Big Show or Sheamus, but it could be used as an opportunity to boost the Divas division: give AJ a couple of months off to sell the devastation of the hold before making a courageous comeback to the ring to chase the Divas championship. The timing could be worked out so she captures the belt at SummerSlam.

The final women to mention are Natalya, Kharma and Layla. Kharma and Layla are still on compassionate leave and the injured list respectively, but when they return they will be capable of making a big difference to the female roster. If WWE makes use of the talented women they currently have access to then they could have a decent division up and running by the time both ladies are back on television.

Alongside Phoenix, Natty Neidhart is the best female worker WWE has under contract. That she’s been saddled with the tedious gimmick of “breaking wind” in “amusing” backstage segments is a perfect example of WWE getting things wrong. It’s nothing that can’t be fixed though: just stop filming that arrant nonsense and give her matches instead. Simple. If given time to breathe as a performer Natalya can be one of the best female workers in the history of the promotion.

They are getting things right with the women, which is a good sign. Talk of a Divas TV show of some description airing on the WWE Network is also a good sign that the women will get more attention from the writing team. The company just needs to keep pressing on with the good work and continue giving the women things to do.

Slaying Monsters

Monsters used to rumble into wrestling promotions every year or so. Their task was a simple one: they were there to beat everybody that was put in front of them. They would begin with expendable jobbers before moving on to mid-card talent who would help give the newcomer more credibility by putting them over decisively, not something audiences would be used to seeing. The monster would then plough through the federation's main event talent, possibly picking up a world title along the way.
 
In short: they would be made to look unstoppable.
 
All this was done with a greater goal in mind. That goal was to create a new star to pit an existing headliner against. The monster was usually a heel, the existing star was usually a face. The story would be simple but effective: the monster heel would have proven their dominance over everybody the company had to offer and it would be up to the valiant babyface to finally bring them to justice.
 
Part of the reason the approach was so effective was that only one wrestler would receive this treatment at a time. From the moment that wrestler debuted to the moment they left they would be the company's most dominant star and would be afforded every curtesy by both the booking team and other wrestlers. Anybody else receiving similar treatment would diminish the effect of both pushes. It was all about keeping the monster looking impressive.
 
There are plenty of wrestlers who have received very successful monster pushes within the last couple of decades, proving that the concept can work on a national level. A smattering of examples off the top of my head are Goldberg, Kane (when he first appeared in 1997), Awesome Kong, the Great Khali, Samoa Joe (in both TNA and ROH), and, of course, Brock Lesnar.
 
All succeeded on a mixture of their own talent, the backing and competence of the appropriate creative teams, and the fact that they were the only acts of their kind in their respective promotions at the time.

One of the most obvious monsters of recent times: the Great Khali!

Sadly such care is no longer taken in the wrestling business. At least not in North America. Of the continents three major wrestling promotions two are pushing two or more monsters concurrently while the third is approaching the gimmick so haphazardly that we can't even be sure it's what they're trying to do.
 
The third company I refer to is TNA (was it ever going to be anyone else?). When Crimson was first brought into the company he was given a healthy number of victories. Technically he is still undefeated as he hasn't been pinned or made to submit himself yet. Unfortunately (but predictably for TNA) the waters have been muddied by having Crimson suffer losses in tag team bouts. While he hasn't lost himself the damage has still been done: an element of doubt now exists regarding Crimson's undefeated credentials. He has been tarnished by his tag partner's shortcomings. That (in addition to the fact that he has not been booked to garner as many one-sided victories as should have been the case) has tarnished his image as a dominant star on the rise.
 
Yeah, TNA has failed to disguise the weaknesses of one of their talents. What a shock!
 
Perhaps more surprising is WWE, who have created several very successful monsters over the years which means we should be able to assume they understand how to keep them looking as strong as possible.
 
I still believe the push should have gone to somebody younger and more capable but they did an excellent job of building up Mark Henry last year. He went from a tedious mid-card face to a legitimate top card heel in the space of six months thanks to a clear vision and strong booking. Sadly his status as the company's monster has been harmed recently by several other men being presented as being just as unstoppable. Big Show has been permitted to look far too competitive against 'The World's Strongest Man' far too often. Kane returned in December and, while he hasn't been stacking up victories, he has been obliterating John Cena (a top star that was presented as Henry's equal only a couple of months ago) on a regular basis and was also credited with Zack Ryder's storyline injury.
 
Then there's Brodus Clay. Since returning to TV on the January 9th RAW 'The Funkasaurus' has done nothing but beat enhancement talent. It would have far more effect if the three men mentioned above hadn't received similar treatment.
 
That's four monsters in WWE alone, an absurd number.
 
It's Ring of Honor's attitude that I find most surprising. For a company that prides itself on its old school approach and mentality to wrestling booking to be pushing two men in such similar ways can only be described as a disappointment.
 
The two men in question are Tommaso Ciampa and Michael Elgin. Both have been added to factions, allowing managers to be at ringside to disguise their shortcomings and help them get crowds riled up. Both perform a lot of power moves (so they're physically dominating the competition) and Ciampa's even got the trusty "undefeated streak" story on the go. It's a stark contrast to the way in which the promotion booked Samoa Joe years ago: he beat everybody and nobody was seen as his equal when it came to victories.
 
I make the above points to highlight the change that the wrestling business has undergone (and continues to undergo). It is a caution, or warning, for all the promotions mentioned. Less, as they say, is often more.

Royal Stumble

Was WWE’s twenty-fifth annual Royal Rumble event a hit or a miss? Broadly speaking I’d say it was a hit, mainly thanks to the two excellent world championship matches on the undercard. The Rumble match itself certainly wasn’t as memorable as previous instalments have been.

The show kicked off with the triple threat cage match for Daniel Bryan’s World Heavyweight title. All three men received healthy reactions from the St Louis crowd, with the champ originally getting heavily booed before a “Daniel Bryan” chant broke out at the start of the match. Surprisingly even Mark Henry got some cheers as he waddled out to the ring.

The match lasted for around ten minutes and was very smartly booked. Henry (who has a ridiculous number of injuries and deserves praise for being involved in the bout) spent most of his time selling, only getting involved at key moments. The bulk of the match was carried by ‘The World’s Largest Athlete’ and the champion. Bryan took numerous big bumps to make his opponents look like monsters, while Show displayed his strength by manhandling both the champion and his fellow challenger.

The finish saw Bryan desperately trying to scrabble over the top of the cage as Show chased him. The champion was caught by the throat and dangled above the ringside mats. After a few attempts Bryan managed to wriggle himself out of Show’s paw and fall to ringside, retaining his title.

Daniel Bryan: still the World Heavyweight champion.

It was a simple exchange that succeeded in making Show look like a monster and Bryan look like the cowardly heel. Considering the limitations (and injuries) of the challengers and the size difference the talented champion was facing this match couldn’t have turned out much better. It was a solid and enjoyable opener.

That was followed by a lengthy video looking at John Cena’s WWE career and his charity work. There was a similar video later on that focused on The Rock. These were clearly there to hype the Cena v Rock match at WrestleMania XXVIII. They were well made, as all WWE video packages are, but there was no reason they had to be debuted at the Royal Rumble. They could have been saved until RAW. They’re clearly going to be played repeatedly between now and WrestleMania so holding off on them for one night wouldn’t have been an issue, and it would have allowed more time to be distributed to other matches on the show.

Match two was a previously unannounced eight Divas tag match pitting Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox, Tamina and Eve Torres against the Bellas, Natalya and champion Beth Phoenix. Because there were so few other matches on the card the women actually got a decent amount of time for once. They proved that when they get more than two minutes for their matches they can put on compelling performances. This was the best Divas match I can remember seeing in a while.

The only criticism I have is that no new storylines seemed to begin. The heels won, which meant no new challenger was created. This match would have been the perfect way to set up Tamina or Alicia Fox for a program with ‘The Galamazon’. Babyface wins are also preferable in throwaway, unannounced matches and we didn’t get that here.

Following that we saw Zack Ryder being wheeled about backstage. John Laurinaitis rocked up and showed him a private dressing room he’d had constructed. Eve appeared, knocked Laurinaitis for being bad at his job, and then purposefully wheeled ‘Long Island Iced Z’ into his private quarters. Lucky Zack.

Back in the ring it was time for Kane v John Cena. Had they been granted a gimmick match (no disqualifications or falls count anywhere perhaps) they could have had a far more enjoyable encounter. As it was they had to try and engage fans in a straight wrestling match. That’s neither man’s forte and it showed.

After several minutes of boring action (which the live crowd did get into it has to be said) the two tussled on out to ringside where they were both counted out. Yes, the match that had been granted the most amount of TV time prior to the pay-per-view ended on a double count out.

The post match angle saw Kane and Cena head backstage hitting each other. Kane got the upper hand and then walked into Zack Ryder’s private room (which Eve was mysteriously absent from). The former US champ received a few smacks to the face and was the wheeled to the ring. Eve then reappeared and begged Kane to stop. He didn’t. Instead he laughed and tombstoned Ryder. Before he could turn his attention to Eve, Cena made the save and got a well executed choke slam for his trouble. Satisfied, Kane left.

The match itself wasn’t as awful as it could have been, but the double count out finish was cheap. Cena should have been booked to get the clean victory to keep him looking strong for his match with The Rock. Kane wouldn’t have been harmed by a loss to such a well established main event star and the post match sequence would have set up a rematch if one is desired (presumably the non-finish was done so that WWE can present a rematch at Elimination Chamber).

The second filler bout of the night was Drew McIntyre v ‘The Funkasaurus’ Brodus Clay. Clay’s routine was well received by the crowd and he continued to look like someone who belongs on WWE programming. The same cannot be said for McIntyre. His look has not evolved since he first appeared for the promotion in 2009. He needs to do something to encourage the creative team to give him more than the dreaded losing streak gimmick he’s currently saddled with. Get a haircut or new tights, pitch an outlandish gimmick. Drew needs to do something because at this rate he’s going to get released.

On a side note, while this match was enjoyable both men would have been better served being in the Rumble match. Brodus could have been booked to eliminate several men before getting tossed out by an established wrestler. He would have looked like a dominant rising star had that happened. Meanwhile WWE could have added to Drew’s losing streak gimmick (I don’t agree with it but that doesn’t mean I can’t think of ways to make it work) by having him get eliminated as soon as he stepped foot into the ring.

Following an advert for the following evening’s RAW, centring on an appearance from Triple H regarding the future of John Laurinaitis, it was time for the WWE championship match between CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler. Laurinaitis was smartly booked to stand at ringside during this one, another referee taking care of the actual officiating.

Without the baggage of the special guest referee gimmick to contend with Ziggler and Punk were able to put on an amazing match. They got fifteen minutes, the first ten being packed with tremendous wrestling before the final five minutes went back to storylines: Punk accidentally bashed the ref as he took Ziggler up for a GTS, sending the official sprawling to the outside. Laurinaitis, instead of getting into the ring to officiate the match, checked on the wellbeing of his employee.

Punk shouted at the interim GM to join him in the ring to count the three, at which point ‘The Show Off’ struck with a sneaky rollup. Punk countered that and had the challenger beaten again. There was still no three count though. Following a third instance, Punk scooped Ziggler up for another GTS but it was countered into a Fameasser for a convincing near fall from the freshly-recovered ref moments later.

Punk needn’t have worried: he got the win shortly thereafter with a second GTS, which ‘The Heel’ took as well as anybody (Punk can be sloppy giving the move at times). Laurinaitis counted along with the referee in the ring (presumably to show how unbiased he is) before attempting to roll to ringside. That didn’t work: he found himself in the centre of the ring and had to shuffle awkwardly to the outside from there. It’s ring skills like that that made him an All Japan tag champ.

After the final airing of the “by the numbers” hype video it was time for the Royal Rumble itself. We had been told before the event that every superstar was eligible to enter. That statement was never clarified and only seemed to confuse matters going into the match. As it turned out there were fewer surprises in the match than normal, which makes you wonder what WWE intended the eligibility line to mean.

This man has a match at WrestleMania XXVIII. It won't go on last though.

To be clear, it was the Royal Rumble more than any other match that stopped this show from being all it could be. Part of the problem was the lack of surprises. Fans have become accustomed to seeing surprise entrants enter the Rumble, and this year they were presented only with ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan and Road Dogg. I’m a big fan of the former New Age Outlaw but I appreciate he’s not really the biggest star the company could have brought in.

All three members of the announce team (Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, Michael Cole, and Booker T) entered the match. While it was funny to see their reactions to one another entering (and to see Booker and Lawler pull Cole down from the apron) I can’t help but feel it would have been better to get some more genuine surprises for those spots.

I was expecting more returns too. The obvious man to mention here is Christian. ‘Captain Charisma’ has been off television for a couple of months now. It was originally rumoured he’d be back in time for the Royal Rumble. Unless something has gone very wrong with his recovery I can’t see any reason why he was omitted from the show. There’s also Skip Sheffield to consider: he’s been off television for close to eighteen months now. He’s been working dark matches lately, under the name of Ryback, and I thought he’d benefit from an appearance in the Rumble match. Apparently WWE disagrees.

On the plus side we did see the return of Kharma. Working as a face she scared Michael Cole into eliminating himself before giving bump king Dolph Ziggler a monstrous Implant Buster (that’s what it was called in TNA anyway, WWE will likely rename it). It was nice to see her back, and the pop she received was very encouraging. You do have to wonder why her return wasn’t linked to the Divas tag bout though, especially when you remember what I was said above about starting new feuds.

Foley and Ziggler were both in the Rumble but they failed to interact. That surprised me. Their segment together on RAW a couple of weeks ago seemed to hint at a WrestleMania feud between the two. There’s still plenty of time for that to happen, but it’s odd that it wasn’t started at the Rumble.

Most worryingly the match highlighted WWE’s current lack of roster depth. That no-hopers Jinder Mahal, Alex Riley, Epico, Primo, and Jey (but not Jimmy) Uso got into the match shows that WWE really needs to start rebuilding its battered mid-card.

The order of entry was another concern: too many big names were held off until the final stages of the match. Chris Jericho, if he wasn’t going to win, should have entered far earlier than number twenty-nine to show him blasting through the competition in order to convince people he was on course to win. Similarly Randy Orton could have entered at number twenty-seven, which is considered lucky because it’s produced four winners, instead of David Otunga. Doing that would have encouraged more people to believe that ‘The Viper’ was going to leave victorious. Both are simple changes that would have played up to Orton and Jericho’s status as the favourites. It would have made the Rumble far more enjoyable.

In the end it was Sheamus who was victorious. I didn’t see that coming at all, but it was a pleasant surprise. ‘Great White’ is a likeable, talented man, who should be one of WWE’s biggest stars for several years to come. He’ll benefit from the Rumble win and two month push into WrestleMania. Presumably he will be tackling Daniel Bryan on the big show, leaving Punk to battle ‘Y2J’.

The main problem I have with this year’s Rumble is that it didn’t feel like the start of WrestleMania season. It felt cobbled together, rushed. It felt as though WWE was more concerned with preparing video packages for Rock and Cena than utilising the Rumble format and high buy rate to make it rising stars look good.

Congratulations to Sheamus, his win is deserved and I’m sure he and Daniel Bryan will put on a great show in Miami. It’s nice that the two will finally get to face each other at WrestleMania after last year’s debacle. Unfortunately, the rest of ‘Mania may not receive as much attention as it needs if the Rumble (and its video packages) was any indication.

That RAW Recap 30.05.11

WWE is not known for having technical difficulties, but when it has them it has them in a spectacular fashion.  This was the case on Monday when a large portion of RAW’s opening segment was broadcast without sound. You’d be hard pressed to find a more puzzling opening to RAW than R-Truth mouthing into a microphone whilst destroying a merchandise stand.

The problems were fixed long enough for Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler and Michael Cole to acknowledge them and welcome us to the show, but then Truth made his way into the seating area and the sound cut off again. It’s a shame the sound went during this segment because when it came back on it was clear Truth had done a great job of riling the fans. Particularly noteworthy was his treatment of a father and his two sons for wearing Cena T-shirts. The clip was replayed later in the evening with audio and it was great heel mic work.

Eventually Cena came out to confront Truth. I missed his first few sentences but when the sound came back on (for good this time) the crowd were solidly behind him. Last week I felt that the positive response Cena got was partially due to the effectiveness of Truth as a heel and I feel the same this week. The mentions of “little Jimmys” and roaring at the crowd to shut up are great ways of establishing a heel act.

While I enjoyed everything about the Cena and R-Truth interaction I was less impressed with Michael Cole. Was having him answer an email from the RAW General Manager really necessary? No. Lawler could have done it. Even if they were determined to have Cole do it he didn’t need to use his heel catchphrases just one week after what was essentially the end of his push.  The inclusion of the line about no little Jimmys being at ringside felt like an attempt at a joke, perhaps to signify the GM is now a face and to ease the heat on Cole, but it backfired because nobody laughed.

Cena v R-Truth was announced as the evening’s main event. As the championship was not mentioned once throughout the course of the show I have assumed that is wasn’t on the line.

Coming back from the first commercial break we were treated to a bunch of elderly gentlemen sitting around in a car park with their feet dipped into a children’s paddling pool. They were eating hotdogs and burgers and generally seemed to be having a fairly jolly time. These vignettes took place because it was Memorial Day. It was a nice thought, but slightly random. It didn’t help matters that one man looked like Dusty Rhodes, making me think they were wrestlers (they weren’t).

The first match of the show was Dolph Ziggler v United States champion Kofi Kingston in a non-title match. As is customary with non-title matches on WWE television shows the champion lost. I imagine that will set up a US title match at Capitol Punishment on June 19^th. The match was very enjoyable. The two have good chemistry and would make a good addition to the undercard of the DC show.

Next was an Alberto Del Rio promo. I can’t remember the last time he wrestled on RAW. It has to have been a few weeks ago now. He’s one of the company’s best wrestlers so he should be wrestling every week. The way he’s being used is only convincing me that it was a mistake to move him from SmackDown. Cole claimed that he had been driving around town all day with Del Rio. That was clearly not true and just an odd thing to say. It used to work when ‘King’ did it in the late 90s, but it suited his character more than it does Cole’s.

Del Rio introduced a video package recapping Big Show clumsily stumbling in front of his car last week and then announced that Show owes him money for damaging the car. Yes, Alberto Del Rio, one of WWE’s hottest prospects, and Big Show, the comedy giant who has lost to everyone, are being set up for a feud later in the year centring on ADR’s personal ring announcer knocking Show over with a car. This feud is a waste of Del Rio, but if it needs to happen he should at least be credited for taking Big Show out without the aid of a car. An in-ring angle could have happened with Del Rio using his arm bar submission and chair shots to take Big Show out. That would have been more effective.

Del Rio saved the segment (and I imagine he will save the feud when it happens) with his solid verbal skills and impressively sleazy wink.

A random seconds-long shot of Eve Torres and Kelly Kelly stretching in preparation for their match was shown, and the Kelly action continued after a break with a video package telling fans who have somehow managed to dodge the information that Kelly was featured on Maxim’s Hot 100 list. It’s a nice achievement for her and helps the company so it makes sense to highlight it. What doesn’t make sense is showing the entrance of Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres whilst having the Bella twins enter the arena during a break. It’s not that I’m a particular fan of the Bellas, it’s more that as Brie is the Divas’ champion having her entrance cut from TV devalues the title. WWE doesn’t care about things like that, but it should.

The match itself was the standard WWE women’s bout, most notable for being refereed by James ‘Little Guido’ Maritato. Kelly Kelly got the win for her team when she pinned one of the Bellas following a Fameasser. Sadly the move went unnamed.

The elderly folks were shown again. They were still enjoying themselves.

Back in the arena Michael Cole entered the ring and reverted back to his heel persona to call out Alex Riley. This is how Cole should have been used all along, rather than becoming the overexposed windbag he ended up as. By allowing Cole to do the majority of the talking it ensured fans reacted better when Riley did finally speak, because by that point they wanted to hear want he had to say.

Cole did a fine job of getting heat here, and it was good for the rising star Alex Riley, but was this the wisest move for the company to make just one week after the end of the Cole’s run as the company’s most pushed heel? Shouldn’t he be working as a regular commentator for the time being to ensure that the character doesn’t begin to overshadow the wrestlers again? That was the problem in the first place after all.

Eventually A-Ri had enough of Cole and shoved him to the ground. Just before he could start a proper beating The Miz ran in to make the save and the two had another realistic brawl. Miz has been very generous with the amount of offence Riley gets and the amount he sells for him. It’s a perfect example of Miz doing all he can to help build new stars from his newly acquired spot at the top. It would be nice to see more people in his position trying to elevate others.

It was a good segment: fans reacted loudly to Riley attacking Miz again, and neither wrestler was overexposed. The key thing is that it didn’t last too long and the fans were left wanting to see more of Riley. This soon after becoming a face that’s vital.

The evening’s third match was Rey Mysterio v CM Punk, with Mason Ryan at ringside. As expected, this was the match of the night. The two of them work very well together. Mason Ryan performed all the interference required of him without messing up, which has to be considered an achievement. I did wonder why Otunga and McGillicutty weren’t featured on the show and this would have been the natural place for them. They won the tag team titles last week and didn’t appear this week. That makes them and their titles look worthless (which they are (all of them) but WWE should be doing everything it can to change that).

The Kharma segment was one of the most refreshing things on WWE television in a long time. Allowing Kia Stevens to speak through the Kharma character she’s been portraying was the perfect thing to do. She spoke from the heart and got a solid reaction from the crowd for doing so. Considering she’s only been on WWE TV for less than two months and has yet to wrestle I think WWE should be very pleased with the reception she got. This should tell them that allowing talent to put part of themselves into their TV personalities is the right direction to go in.

The Bellas came back out to get themselves some cheap heat by calling Kharma fat and trying to goad her into attacking them. She had described the pregnancy as “high risk” which Cole and Lawler informed us meant that she couldn’t do anything physical or she would risk losing her baby. High risk or not I would have thought that wrestling while pregnant is never the best of ideas. The “high risk” nonsense was fine though, it didn’t take away from a well crafted segment.

I hope Kharma’s return in around a year is handled as well as that segment was.

How do you top a brilliant segment? You don’t! WWE know this and wisely opted to show their annoying Captiol Punishment hype video featuring Obama. Once again it was introduced as a Jerry Lawler dream sequence. This video is what separates sports entertainment from wrestling.

We got our final look at the outdoor party. A game of volleyball was being played. On concrete. There was nothing entertaining about the scenario, but Cole and Lawler had a good chuckle anyway.

We got a brief match between Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne in which Bourne scored the upset with a quick rollup then ran out of the ring as quickly as he could. The win was the right gesture, but having Bourne running away two weeks in a row is not the best way to build him up.

Finally, we got the R-Truth v John Cena match. After audible replay of Truth’s rants from earlier in the evening (with audio) we got a brief glimpse of him working the crowd whilst waiting for Cena. He did a great job of that too. He has been a revelation as a heel.

The match itself was relatively short and made shorter by the stalling Truth did on the outside. That was the story of the match: Truth would briefly wrestle Cena, come off worse, and roll to the outside to stall. It got the desired reaction from the crowd but also told the story that Truth is not capable of competing with Cena in a fair match.

The constant stalling played into the finish: Truth sauntered off into the stands and began taunting the father and sons from the start of the show, which brought Cena out to defend their honour (because that’s just how Cena rolls). Naturally the two wrestlers started brawling, and then headed back to the ring. As Cena was coming over the barricade Truth knocked him back into the fans and slid into the ring, earning himself the cheap count out victory. It was a simple and effective way of furthering their feud.

Following the match Truth went to disturb the family again, this time deciding that what he really wanted to do was throw water onto the father. There was no logical reason for this beyond the fact that he’s a heel. That’s just what heels do, particularly in WWE. Cena did his hero routine again but Truth had made his getaway and the show ended with the WWE champion mopping the brow of a random man in the audience.

On the whole I think it was a solid show. On the down side we didn’t get to see Alberto Del Rio wrestle and it was once again made clear that only the world titles matter these days, but the positives more than made up for these minor shortcomings. The Kharma segment, the Cole and Riley interview, and everything involving R-Truth and (shockingly) John Cena was very watchable and got good reactions from the crowd. On top of that we got a CM Punk v Rey Mysterio match, and that’s never a bad thing. I’ve sat through far worse episodes of RAW.