That RAW Recap 02.06.14

As with so many RAWs of recent times the June 2 episode seems destined to be remembered for only a handful of things. Nobody will look back at El Torito wearing an afro wig, the Bo Dallas v Kofi Kingston or Adam Rose v Jack Swagger matches, Rusev’s medal presentation, Damien Sandow pretending to be a basketball player, or the latest match between 3MB and Los Matadores as anything special. Even the story beats for the Goldust and Cody Rhodes split and Alberto Del Rio qualifying for this year’s Money in the Bank match won’t be remembered a  month from now.

This RAW will be looked back on for its opening segment, its closing segment, and a meeting about Daniel Bryan that fell towards the middle. It’s important to emphasise that it was about Bryan and that it didn’t feature him. Bryan was not on the show. He’s still injured and will presumably be absent from television until Money in the Bank. There he will either defend the title against Kane in a stretcher match or be forced to vacate it so a new champion can be crowned in the MITB ladder battle.

The meeting (not that it was billed as that) was between Stephanie McMahon and John Cena. Steph had gone to the ring to run down Daniel Bryan (again) and his recently fired wife-slash-martyr for the Yes Movement Brie. She did that for a couple of minutes before John Cena joined her to stand up for Bryan. He did that by reminding the world of the clean victory Bryan had handed him at SummerSlam and describing him as a great wrestler.

Then Cena revealed his latest problem with The Authority. He believes that Stephanie and Triple H have allowed their dislike of Daniel Bryan to influence their decision making. That was hardly a revelation: the entire point of The Authority, who’ve been around as a heel faction for nine months now, is that they pursue their own interests and ideals under the guise of doing “what’s best for business.” They are corrupt bosses. That’s their gimmick. To have Cena addressing that as some sort of revelation after so long just made him look thick. It also didn’t do D-Bry any favours: it looked as though he wasn’t able to show up and defend himself so Cena had to do it for him. That wasn’t helped by Cena being naturally better at these sorts of confrontational promos than Bryan.

The exchange between Cena and Steph wasn’t bad. It was, in fact, rather good in places. But it gave us nothing we hadn’t seen or heard before. It felt like WWE treading water with a storyline they know will get a reaction instead of trying something new, which is what the absence of a top star should prompt.

Batista' quit. Deal with it.

The opening segment was my personal favourite of the programme. At first it seemed like a standard issue Evolution promo (aside from Batista randomly taking his jacket off as he walked down the aisle). ‘The Game’ talked about the gang’s feud with The Shield not being over and how he never loses, even though he’d been pinned the night before and Evolution had been the losers in both their encounters with ‘The Hounds of Justice’. Basically it was exactly the approach that would have been taken if a third Shield versus Evolution bout had been coming.

But that was the point. The writing team played on their predictability. The swerve came when Batista plucked the microphone from Triple H’s hand, mid-speech, and said he was tired of tangling with The Shield and wanted the one-on-one WWE championship match he’d been promised. H3 said there was a plan in place but Big Dave said he didn’t care. Triple H busted out a pep talk and said Batista would get everything he’d been promised once The Shield were beaten and dissolved.

Batista said he understood. The he quit. With a sarcastic, Royal Family-esque wave that demonstrated why he’s so good at the role he’s been in.

This was WWE’s way of writing ‘The Animal’ off television for a while. It gives them the option of bringing him back as a babyface to face Triple H or Randy Orton but that would be a foolish move. The last six months should have taught WWE that nobody is interested in cheering for Batista. The appeal of watching him is booing him and seeing how badly and unprofessionally he reacts to it. He’ll return at some point, and when he does it will be as a heel. I still think there’s appeal in a Batista v Bryan title match, so if Bryan has the title when Big dave returns that’s an encounter I’d like to see.

Then there was the closing segment. It’s the one that will be remembered the longest because it featured (or seemed to, see two paragraphs down) the dissolution of The Shield. Having been such a prominent part of WWE for the last eighteen months that was always going to be a big deal. Which is a good thing because taken on its own merits the sequence we saw close RAW was a tad underwhelming.

Why, Seth? Why?!

Triple H stood in the aisle with fellow Evolution members Randy Orton and The Sledgehammer. He announced that beating The Shield in an elimination match had been Plan A. Plan B was revealed to be Seth Rollins smashing Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose with a chair. Reigns was targeted first, leaving Deano to do some of his best surprised acting, which was so hammy that I briefly thought he was going to be switching sides too (and let’s face it, he was the one most people thought would be going heel when the Shield split came). Rollins then left the ring and handed the chair to ‘The Viper’ so that he could go in and take a turn walloping the two good guys.

Perhaps it’s wishful thinking but I’m not convinced Rollins’s heel turn will be permanent. It was interesting to note that he gave Ambrose many more chair shots than Roman Reigns. That could have been under orders to set up an Ambrose v Rollins singles match, leaving Reigns for Orton. It could have been Rollins being a professional and knowing that Reigns’s back was covered in bruises from the caning he’d taken the night before and not wanting to harm him more than necessary. Or it could have been done with the bruise excuse in mind with a plan to revealing that storyline Seth took it easy on his buddy at a later date. When he reveals himself as a double agent, basically.

It could have had no meaning whatsoever too, of course.

I know the double agent idea is unlikely. It’s probably just wishful thinking on my part but I’d like it to turn out that The Shield were in on the turn the whole time as part of a “trick” on Triple H. The thing there is that it wouldn’t actually get them anything.

I wasn’t ready for The Shield to be split yet. They had things they could still do together and I wanted them to hit their two year mark as a group, for no other reason than two years is a good amount of time for a multi-man act to stay together in WWE. The group had a special kind of energy to it and could have gone further together. In fact I remain convinced that Reigns could have captured the WWE championship sometime in the next year without the group being split.

The split feels like a slightly desperate attempt to inject some freshness into the top of the card. That’s something that’s needed because top face Daniel Bryan is injured and little thought has been given to helping other young acts flourish over the last three months. But it’s a short term solution. No new names have been made with the move, and that’s ultimately what’s needed. Instead what WWE have done is break up their most popular group in years and destroy their second most popular act while their most popular is injured.

It was a setup all along!

It’s too early to say turning Rollins was a wrong decision. There are things that could be done to make it interesting, such as having Rollins reveal he’s been a “Triple H guy” for years. There’s a shot of Triple H raising Rollins’s hand the night he won the NXT championship that could be thrown up on the Titantron as proof of that. Plus Rollins versus Ambrose, Rollins versus Reigns, and the tag matches we could get all stand a high chance of being very good. So I’ll reserve judgement. But it’ll take a lot to make me wish The Shield weren’t still together.

Payback 2014 review

With two rematches heading things up, not much going on on the undercard and no WWE championship match Payback did not look like a strong show. Could WWE pull off a minor wrestling miracle and fashion the second ever Payback event into something worthwhile? Read on and see.

The show started with a video package. The focus was on the top two feuds between Wyatt and Cena and Evolution and The Shield. It was not WWE's greatest effort. There have been far more interesting video packages, but it did at least do what it was supposed to and was well put together.

Michael Cole welcomed us the "the historic" All Stare Arena as United States champion Sheamus bounded out to the ring for the opener. The reaction to him was mostly positive although I'm sure I heard some boos. Perhaps that was just wishful thinking on my part. Clips were shown of his recent interactions with Cesaro and the problems they've had following the Code of Honor.

Cesaro's entrance was preceded by a Paul Heyman promo. He told the audience CM Punk was watching the Blackhawks get their streak broken (cheap heat there)... just like Brock Lesnar had done to The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Even that couldn't turn the crowd fully against Heyman. His accomplishments in wrestling are too easy to respect.

Sheamus is taken for a Big Swing.

Cesaro and Sheamus started tearing into each other immediately and had a match filled with hoss sweat and hoss adrenalin. Shaymo gained an early advantage and heard a smattering boos. The longer the match went the more prominent they became. 'Great White' showed signs of going full-on heel when he dropped three knees on 'The King of Swing', a sequence which was accompanied by an amusing sneer. A "Sheamus sucks!" chant kicked up when he survived a Swiss death pop up uppercut. Boos rained down on him as he signalled for the Brogue kick. Cesaro absorbed a White Noise and a cloverleaf before coming back with a Cesaro Swing. When he tried to pulls Sheamus up for a Neutralizer he got caught with a small package to end a good, lively opener.

The hour that followed that was tough going. It began with a match pitting Goldust and Cody Rhodes against RybAxel. It was irritatingly clear that it was taking place just to further the split between the brothers. It was no better than a standard TV match, something not helped by the fact that the audience took a while to warm up to it. The mighty Ryback got the pin after catching a Disaster kick and turning it into a Shellshock. Afterwards Cody told 'The Bizarre One' that he should get a better tag partner then walked out.

Lana came out to remind us that Vladimir Putin exists and then tottered to the ring behind Rusev. He was waving a flag like a madman just as he had a few days earlier at NXT Takeover. Big E came out with a US flag. At this point I was hoping they'd agree to an impromptu flag match. It wasn't to be.

The two found it tough to win the crowd over, suffering through a "We want Ziggler!" chant and, perhaps worse, indifference. Things picked up when E did his ever impressive spear through the ropes. From there it was still the basic power exchange you'd expect but the audience was making more noise. They didn't get long. Rusev slapped on the Accolade fairly quickly and Big E tapped out. 'The Bulgarian Brute' celebrated by shaking the flag like a lunatic again.

A second random filler match between Kofi Kingston and 'The Inspirational' Bo Dallas didn't take place. After Bo had done his Bruce Forsyth pose and given the fans a pep talk Kane walked to the ring. Kingston attacked 'The Big Red Machine' as he got into the ring, making him a heel in my book. Kane defended himself with a choke slam and a Tombstone then wandered off. Bo got back into the ring and told Kofi he'd back on his feet in no time if he Bo-lieved. The entire sequence was pointless, although WWE deserves credit for getting Dallas onto the show in some form.

Rob Van Dam's challenge for the Intercontinental championship was next. Defending champ Bad News Barrett got another mostly positive reaction. His bad news for the night was that RVD wouldn't be winning the title. It was a little unimaginative but his delivery was spot on. In a nice touch there are now three lions on Bad News's trunks. That's a football reference, in case you don't know.

Van Dam's not the only one who can kick.

The audience was split on who to cheer for in the opening moments, the air being filled with duelling chants. The match was fine but didn't feel like anything special. Nor did it feel as though it was as good as it could have been. RVD did his usual spots and Bad News did some kicks to the gut. The, ahem, good news for Barrett was that his Winds of Change and Bullhammer moves were both greeted warmly by the crowd. Van Dam went down to the elbow after a failed split legged moonsault.

A video reminded us of what's been happening with Daniel Bryan recently. The short version is that after winning the WWE title at WrestleMania he got a neck injury and Stephanie McMahon wanted him to vacate the title, having threatened to sac his wife Brie if he failed to do so. Ms McHelmsley made the video pointless when she recapped the same stuff live in the ring.

D-Bry said Stephanie had a chance to change people's perception of her. She said, in response to a Punk chant, the people wanted him to quit like Punk. Brie called Steph a bitch. That got a huge pop and a yes chant. Steph demanded the championship. Bryan went to hand it over but Brie stopped him and quit. Steph's response was to laugh which earned her a slap. That sent her running to the back as the Bryans led a yes chant in the ring. A replay aired during which Michael Cole called it "the slap heard round the world." I bet he doesn't even know what that's a reference to. Anyway, the upshot was that Bryan kept the WWE championship and the fans were happy. This presumably means he'll be back in action either at Money in the Bank or Battleground.

Bray Wyatt spent a minute or so interacting with fans at ringside after he'd walked to the ring for the Last Man Standing match. That included him staring at Jerry 'The King' Lawler (who WWE seem convinced every fan sees as a cuddly old gentleman instead of a cliché-spouting embarrassment) and laughing. Cena went through his usual pre-match routine while JBL surprised me by referencing his LSM match opposite Umaga from Royal Rumble 2007. That still stands as one of the greatest matches of Cena's career.

This was not he end of John Cena.

Before the Wyatt Family could gang up on Cena the Usos dashed to the ring to provide some backup. Rowan and Harper backed off and the four settled in at ringside. Wyatt controlled the early stretch of the encounter as Cena absorbed punishment to make his later comebacks appear that little bit more impressive. After an AA to 'The Eater of Worlds' Erick Rowan involved himself in the match, prompting the Usos to leap into the ring. A brawl erupted between the seconds that saw Harper do a dive and an Uso jump off the top rope (after which they all disappeared to the back). This caused a distraction that allowed Bray to grab a chair to whack Cena with. That put Cena down for a six count before he grabbed the chair for himself and delicately tapped Wyatt on the back with it. Amazingly Michael Cole bothered to reference the internal conflict Cena had experienced over using weapons at WrestleMania. I hadn't expected that. It was rationalised that at 'Mania Cena was in a regular match where weapon shots were illegal. There were no such restrictions here.

Cena introduced a table. That backfired on him when Wyatt suplexed him through it. Cena was back on his feet by eight but was met with a set of steel steps to the head. Cena naturally made it back to his feet and gave Wyatt a steps shot of his own. Wyatt rolled to the outside of the ring and stood dazed at ringside, perfectly placed for Cena to lob the steps right at his head in the match's most impressive moment.

Wyatt was back up at seven and walloped Cena with a Sister Abigail into the crowd barrier. Wyatt was back dropped onto another set of steel steps. Moments later he leapt off them and landed a senton drop on Cena. 'The Franchise' blocked a chair shot and blasted Wyatt with an AA. At this point Harper and Rowan returned, double teaming Cena and helping Wyatt back to his feet to save him from losing. Jimmy and Jey were back out seconds later, saving Cena before getting wiped out by Harper and Rowan. The Wyatt boys then set up a pair of tables and then had a brawl with the recovered tag champs. Rowan was eliminated with a body block through a table while Harper took himself and Jimmy out with a suplex from the top rope through the tables at ringside.

Cena and Wyatt resumed their battle outside, Cena ducking a clothesline before getting body blocked through the crowd barrier. Both men were back up at seven. They brawled over to the tech area where Wyatt threw Cena into a stack of machinery, triggering a pyro explosion in the entranceway that nobody except the announcers reacted to. He came back from that immediately and back dropped Wyatt into a suspiciously empty box. He placed another box on top and stood on it, ensuring 'The Necessary Evil' couldn't return to his feet and earning himself a victory in the match of the night.

Cole talked about the performance as though it were a feud ender. I hope it was. I can't imagine it being bettered. Having the rivalry end here would allow it to end on a high with the match it's needed from the beginning.

The awkward job of following Cena v Wyatt went to Alicia Fox and Paige. They had a good match. The audience appeared to disagree, amusing themselves by singing Adam Rose's entrance music instead of getting into the action. The champion retained with the Scorpion cross lock, which is now being called the PTO, which stands for Paige's Tap Out.

A brief chat between Booker T and Alex Riley preceded the main event. They said nothing of consequence but it was nice to see Booker. Batista was rocking some new bright blue gear when Evolution entered (#Bluetista would trend on Twitter a few minutes into the match). I'd been hoping for a new weird outfit from him for a while. The blue garb hit the spot. Also, an Instagram picture was shown that illustrated Triple H has continued to stay in shape instead of going back to the Stan Hansen physique he was sporting in 2011.

'Bluetista' takes a boot but still manages to look good. What a pro.

After starting off with everyone pairing up and touring the arena the match settled down into a traditional six man tag match. There was a no disqualification stipulation so they didn't technically need to tag in and out. I suppose they opted for it so as to better pace the bout. As was the case at Extreme Rules the first half was a little slow, eschewing overly flashy sequences in favour of a methodical pace that didn't burn the crowd out and told the story of Evolution being well prepared for 'The Hounds of Justice'.

Things picked up at around the fifteen minute mark when Triple H smashed a monitor into Rollins's head after they'd brawls into the crowd again. Back at ringside Reigns found himself triple power bombed through the Spanish announce desk. Up in the entranceway Rollins took more punishment with a Pedigree on to a chair. Back in the ring all three Evolution members took it in turns to hold Reigns down over a set of steel steps (the steps certainly earned their keep on this show) as the other members caned him. Back up at the entranceway Orton hit a draping DDT on Ambrose before Rollins leapt off the entrance structure on to Tripper, Orty and 'Bootista'.

I wonder if Triple H believes in The Shield yet...

Batista was the first man to fall to elimination, getting pinned after a spear from Reigns. Rollins was saved from an RKO by Reigns, who was in turn saved from a draping DDT by Ambrose. He then eliminated 'The Viper' with the Dirty Deeds headlock driver onto a chair. That left Triple H alone with The Shield. He tried for a Pedigree on 'The Lunatic Fringe' but Reigns made the save with a Superman punch. Batista, who'd stayed hanging about at ringside, then slipped into the ring and flattened him with a spear. Orton, who also hadn't left, retrieved 'The Game's' sledgehammer from under the ring and passed it to his teammate. Ambrose got smashed with it before Rollins stunned H3 with a springboard knee, setting him up for a spear from Reigns to end a solid match. The show ended with The Shield doing their fist bump pose over Triple H.

So was Payback worthwhile? Well Cena versus Wyatt and The Shield versus Evolution certainly were. Sheamus and Cesaro’s US title battle was a surprisingly satisfying offering. The rest of the show was nothing special. Nothing was especially bad but, three previously mentioned matches aside, nothing was especially good. The show seemed designed to fill a gap in the WWE schedule before the more important Money in the Bank. Hopefully that will get WWE’s pay-per-view offerings back on track. Because Payback never really stood a chance.

Payback 2014 preview

Another month, another WWE pay-per-view. Or special event. It's not entirely clear what we're meant to call them anymore. They're still available on pay-per-view so that seems safe enough.

This show is an odd one. It was originally going to be headlined be three matches that had, in one form or another, taken place on previous supershow Extreme Rules. It was an undesirable situation that came about through the WWE writing team's failure to prepare anything fresh. But one of those three matches has been dropped, because of an injury to WWE champion Daniel Bryan. That’s made an undesirable situation worse, and here WWE's writing team are completely blame free. It's just one of those unfortunate, badly-timed things that happen.

Daniel Bryan will still appear on the show. He just won’t wrestle. Monday’s RAW saw Stephanie McMahon ask D-Bry to vacate the championship, explaining she didn’t want to strip him of the gold because it would only encourage people to support him more (a nice little way of stringing the plot out). Bryan refused so Steph decided to play hard ball, revealing that if Bryan didn’t turn up and hand over the gold at Payback she’d fire his wife.

It’s impossible to tell what will happen at Payback. It depends entirely on how quickly it’s believed Bryan’s going to be back in the ring. It was said on RAW that his time away was expected to be longer than had been hoped but there’s no way of knowing if that was a true statement or not. It’s possible WWE have been told Bryan could be back in the ring in a couple of months and they’re hoping to keep the championship on him.

Either WWE are trying to see how long they can hold out with an inactive champion because they don’t have a solid enough backup plan or they know Bryan’s going to be disappearing from TV for a while and they want him to be written out as a hero. I suspect it’s the latter. Although I hope I’m wrong and Bryan’s only going to miss a few months I don’t think it’s likely.  

Of the two big rematches left the one I think will main event the show is The Shield v Evolution. To be honest I'm surprised they didn't go on last at Extreme Rules. It was reassuring that Bryan got to headline, especially with what's happened since, but it felt as though the six man match had been set up to take precedence. The match in question was slightly plodding for its first half but picked up significantly in its second. Here the six men are being blessed with a no disqualification stipulation and an elimination format. If it can equal or better the quality of the Extreme matchup it should be a fitting headline bout, and those rules additions should see that it does.

WWE being as formulaic as it is would usually make me expect a victory for Evolution here. They lost the only other encounter the teams have had so they'd get a win here to set up a deciding third encounter for the near future. I don't think that's going to happen though. I think 'The Hounds of Justice' are going to get their second straight win over the three former world champions.

The elimination rule allows for a booking approach that can make a member of The Shield look strong, with two members being eliminated early by the veterans and leaving the third man to valiantly battle back against long odds. If this formula is used it seems pretty safe to assume that Roman Reigns will be the lone man battling Triple H, Orton and Batista. Something practically identical happened at Survivor Series and WWE have been keen to present Reigns as a wrestler who's not easy to put down for a three count. What better way to make him look a beast than to have him take on all three members of Evolution?

There are other things this booking approach has going for it. The first is that if Rollins and Ambrose are to go out first the opening minutes will be a blaze of fast action and big bumps as the two cram in as much as possible while they have the chance. It also allows WWE to tease the idea of a Reigns versus 'The Game' singles encounter. I'm torn on whether it's a good idea to have this match come down to those two. It would be a great moment if Reigns pinned Trips to win (or if Trips stole a victory by cheating) but it could also run the risk of giving too much away and devaluing a singles match.

Whatever the finish ends up being I'm picking The Shield to win. If Evolution do go over it'll likely be a quick pin after Reigns makes his second elimination. I'm convinced Reigns is going to go it alone for much of the match.

Down in the middle of the card we have WWE's secondary and tertiary titles being defended. Yes, the US title is being defended on a pay-per-view! I can't remember the last time that happened.

The night after Extreme Rules Sheamus won a battle royal for the United States championship, ending Dean Ambrose's eleven month run. He'll defend it against Cesaro. I like 'The King of Swing' and his association with Paul Heyman a great deal. I am distinctly less keen on 'The Celtic Warrior'. But as uninterested as I am in him I do think Cesaro is a good choice of opponent for him. They're a big pair of hosses who work pretty rough matches. It'll be fun if you like that kinda thing (and I do when Cesaro's involved). That said the most interesting aspect of the match for me will be seeing whether the fans turn on Shaymo and cheer Cesaro. I want them to.

The Intercontinental title match will see the fascinatingly popular Bad News Barrett defend against Rob Van Dam. It strikes me as weird that this is a rematch of the tournament finals held just before Extreme Rules. Bad News won there and went on to win the title. What has RVD done to earn a title shot against a man who beat him to progress to a title shot of his own just over a month ago? The situation demonstrates what a mess the middle of the WWE card is and how little planning went into 'Mr Monday Night's' latest stint with the promotion.

Since bringing his JBL and Cole Show antics to television Barrett's been entertainingly sarcy and had some good matches (nothing that explains why practically every audience cheers him despite him never officially turning face, but that's fine). I hope he gets given enough time to have another good showing here, and that he's able to work out how to do so around Van Dam's notoriously awkward, nineties spot-based style.

I don't think either of these championships will change hands. Both men have only just got their hands on their respective prizes and I think WWE's got plans for each. For Barrett the plan’s simply to finally get him over. For Sheamus it’s a heel turn (which for some reason involves the US title). Also making me doubt title changes is the fact that short reigns are fairly rare in WWE now.

In other title action Paige will defend her Divas championship against Alicia Fox. Yes, that’s Alicia Fox the wedding planner turned wrestler who has been built up as completely unstoppable over the last month. She’s been decent in her recent matches but it’s still disheartening to see WWE putting her against Paige when they have Emma and Natalya on the main roster and Sasha Banks waiting in NXT. All three all have more interesting characters than Ms Fox and are better wrestlers too.

I’ll be amazed if Paige wins. The entire purpose of Alicia’s push seems to be to make her appear unstoppable so it’s more impressive when Paige overcomes her challenge. Fingers crossed for a more competent challenger next month, and some of those hundred and eighty minutes of RAW we get every week getting devoted to making a worthwhile women’s division soon.

Providing the prerequisite filler are Big E and Rusev, who have had one of the most uninspiring feuds over the last several few weeks. It seems way too early to be putting ‘The Super Athlete’ against someone who’ll work a competitive match with him. I’d expected another month or two of squashes.

It will probably be Rusev who wins, although I wouldn't be surprised if Big E got the nod. He’s been a bit aimless lately. Being the man who ends Rusev’s undefeated streak would, in the hive mind of the WWE writing team, "get him back on track". Never mind the fact that the streak becomes more impressive the longer it goes. That’s not how these things are assessed in WWE.

Two other matches look likely for the show based on recent television happenings. The first is Jack Swagger v Adam Rose. I like the Rose gimmick a lot. As long as he gets an entourage of a decent size for his special event debut I'll be happy. Match quality is irrelevant in this. That's not the point of the Rose character. He'll probably win and Swagger and Colter will be peeved.

The second is a tag team title match between the Wyatt Family and championship pairing the Uso brothers. It’s been obvious for a while that WWE were planning to give us the Usos versus the Wyatts because Harper and Rowan are only team on the roster never to have challenged for the tag team titles and because they’re over. If the match happens a title change isn’t impossible but I’d slightly favour Jimmy and Jey winning, either by a flash pin or by disqualification. That would set up a rematch for Battleground.

Of course if the tag title match doesn’t happen I expect all four will get involved in the latest instalment of the Cena versus Wyatt programme. It's worth mentioning that this feud started in January at Royal Rumble. It was left alone for a month and they didn't actually have their first match until WrestleMania but that's still a long time. And it's entirely possible it will continue beyond Payback into Battleground and Money in the Bank. I hope it ends here because I can't imagine what the pair could do to keep things going for that long. My interest is already flagging and I’ve enjoyed a lot of what they’ve done.

Another thing worth noting about this match is that it's to be fought under Last Man Standing rules. Cena has a good record with that stipulation, both in kayfabe and non-kayfabe terms. In kayfabe terms he's never lost a LMS bout. In non-kayfabe terms he almost always produces something worthwhile with the stip. There's something about it that brings out the best in him and suits his style. Which is a bit odd when you consider the match is actually about pacing comebacks and selling, two things that are not Cena strong points.

This could be a worthwhile match. Which is good, because it needs to be. Their 'Mania bout wasn't bad but Wyatt losing was a disappointing result. The Extreme Rules cage match was mostly bereft of heat and featured one of the most ridiculous finishes I've ever seen. It was inventive but didn't do Wyatt any favours and went far too far in its goal of protecting Cena. This series really should be the making of 'The Eater of Worlds', something that propels him up the card. If it's to do that then at least some of these matches have to be memorable for being really good as opposed to memorable for their insane endings.

I'd like to pick Wyatt to win at Payback. It would be two singles victories over Cena in a row as well as Cena's first loss in a Last Man Standing bout. Those are things that could be used to hype Wyatt, noting that he’s achieved things few other wrestlers could. But I've got a feeling that Cena's going to win. He doesn't need to. A victory over Wyatt does nothing for him. But this match is one that could go to either man, and in those situations, if he’s involved, it tends to go to Cena.

This show doesn't look anything special, which is a pity but not a surprise. The injury to Daniel Bryan hasn't helped but it's not the only problem. WWE have done well introducing their new characters to TV but less well at giving them things to do. Both areas need equal attention for shows like this to have the strong appeal they should. Hopefully WWE will make the best of a bad situation and focus on areas on their entire roster in the build-up to Battleground.

Oh, and this show being held in Chicago and all CM Punk returning probably needs addressing. Not gonna happen. 

Predictions summary:

The Shield to defeat Evolution
John Cena to defeat Bray Wyatt
Sheamus to defeat Cesaro
Bad News Barrett to defeat Rob Van Dam
The Usos to defeat The Wyatt Family
Paige to defeat Alicia Fox
Rusev to defeat Big E
Adam Rose to defeat Jack Swagger
El Torito to defeat Hornswoggle

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.

Payback From an Alternate Universe

I was going to write a RAW recap but Monday’s episode was one of the dullest in months and didn’t interest me enough to make me want to spend time doing that. Instead I thought it would be interesting to write about the direction WWE seem to be taking for their next pay-per-view, Payback, and what I’d do differently.

Monday’s RAW made it clear that the issue between Daniel Bryan and Kane isn’t over. It should be, because D-Bry cleanly defeated ‘The Big Red Machine’ in the main event of Extreme Rules. As an audience we have no doubt that Bryan can beat Kane, which makes another title match between them a pointless exercise.

The reason WWE are taking that direction is that they haven’t prepared any other heel challengers for Bryan. That should have been a priority directly after (and ideally before too) WrestleMania. The Kane feud would have made a nice placeholder while somebody else was built up to work with Bryan after Extreme Rules. Kane was fine for a month but going beyond that is too much. Someone new should be in the spot.

If you want to go by rumours then apparently Batista declined the Payback title match with Bryan. If that’s true then it’s a pity. Bryan versus Big Dave would have had incredible heat to it: the company’s most popular against the company’s most hated. With Bryan involved it wouldn’t have been a bad match either. With the right story, length and crowd it could have been very good.

The other matches that seem likely for Payback are also rematches: The Shield v Evolution and John Cena v Bray Wyatt. While going with rematches helps the show’s name make sense it doesn’t really do anything to encourage people to tune in. The Shield v Evolution rematch is fresh enough to warrant another airing but it will be the third supershow in a row to feature Cena taking on ‘The Eater of Worlds’ (and Cena has also clashed with The Wyatt Family on various episodes of RAW and SmackDown), and I’ve lost count of the number of times Bryan and Kane have wrestled each other over the last two years.

Bray Wyatt would have made a good challenger to Bryan at Payback.
Instead he'll face John Cena. Again.

I’d have moved Wyatt into a programme with Bryan and pitted Cena against someone new. This would have created two fresh matches for Payback, one of which would have featured the WWE champion defending against a man who was not only coming off a win (albeit a fairly unconvincing one) over the company’s top star but who had beaten Bryan decisively and fairly at Royal Rumble. A DQ finish at Payback (not ideal but feasible if the match were not going on last, which would be an option with Evolution v The Shield to do main event duties) could have led to a rematch at Money in the Bank which Bryan could have won decisively.

After his unsuccessful championship challenges Wyatt would have been free to slip back into his programme with Cena for a third and deciding encounter at Battleground (to be held in July) or SummerSlam. Meanwhile Bryan would have been free to defend against Randy Orton, Triple H or one of the names mentioned below at Battleground before facing Brock Lesnar at ‘The Hottest Show of the Summer’.

Several guys could have been picked to oppose Cena at Payback and Money in the Bank. Cesaro is an obvious guy to mention, although WWE seem to be taking things slow with him and waiting until people are desperate to see him pushed into the main event to do something substantial with him. Which is an approach hard to argue with after the success of Daniel Bryan. ‘The King of Swing’ strikes me as someone who’d get a great match out of Cena in a pay-per-view environment. A match between Cesaro and Bryan would definitely be good enough to headline any WWE pay-per-view.

A bit more of a stretch would have been Jack Swagger. ‘Big Hoss’ has been treated as a mid-carder with no prospects of advancement for years now. That would have made a programme with John Cena pretty surprising. But they could have had some passable matches, and if Cena had lost just one (not impossible with the booking options Zeb Colter’s presence provides) Swags could have been credible enough to be used as a challenger to Bryan in July, especially if he’d been booked strongly against the champion before their PPV meeting.

Alexander Rusev (who may now simply be going by Rusev) would have worked too. He’s only been squashing jobbers for a month but I think we all know he’s going to be pitted against Cena at some point. It’s such an obvious story that WWE won’t be able to resist: an unstoppable foreign heel who loves a bit of Vladimir Putin attacks Cena a few times before facing him in a regular match to get the loss he deserves for not being American. It’s one of the most successful wrestling storylines there is.

Of the three I’d have gone with Swagger. I think moving Cesaro into two such high profile feuds could result in a backlash against him. As I say, he’ll benefit from moving up gradually as Bryan did. Rusev could work but he’d probably benefit from another month or two of squashing guys and winning low key feuds. I think we’ll see him tangle with Cena at SummerSlam for real. He’ll be as well prepared as he needs to be by that point if the current approach is stuck to.

This man needs challengers.

So at Payback I’d have had Swagger face Cena, Wyatt challenge for the championship and Evolution face The Shield. That would provide two fresh matches, help prepare a fresh challenger for Bryan (and Bryan v Swagger could be an excellent match), and give a second outing to a match and feud people seem keen on. By the summer you’d have Orton, Triple H, Batista (if he’s still around), and Swagger ready to work a pay-per-view match with Bryan. Options are what WWE needs at the moment.

Basically a good job was done getting the title onto D-Bry but they forgot to do any work creating challengers for him. It wouldn’t take them long, no more than a couple of months, but at the moment it doesn’t look like it’s a priority. They seem more interested in putting their popular champion into silly backstage skits and having him face characters that nobody believes will beat him. They’re spoilt for choice for guys to elevate into challenger roles. They should pick three and get to work.