The Terminator

A fortnight ago Ryback made his SmackDown debut with a dominant squash match victory over a jobber named Benny Stevens. He followed that this week with a similarly impressive showing against Benny Camer (also a random jobber). It’s still very early going for the Ryback character but it’s been an impressive start.

Ryan Reeves originally made his WWE television debut on the 2004 run of Tough Enough. He was ultimately unsuccessful on the show but did well enough to be offered a developmental contract. He accepted (obviously) and spent a few years in WWE’s training companies DSW and OVW.

He was eventually chosen to be one of the contestants for the first series of NXT in 2010, playing an amiably and likeable babyface named Skip Sheffield. That stint could have easily been a disaster but Reeves made it work and got over as a fan favourite thanks to his charisma and willingness to not take himself too seriously. His ‘Cornfed Meathead’ moniker and “Yip yip yip” catchphrase caught on to the point that it wasn’t inconceivable that, given enough time, Sheffield could have made it to the top of the promotion.

That wasn’t to be. The formation of the Nexus faction ensured Sheffield appearances on RAW for several months but he was relegated to a bit part player. The real push belonged to Wade Barrett. That meant a heel turn, which halted his chances of establishing himself as a babyface. When Sheffield get to wrestle he usually lost short matches in which he wasn’t permitted to look especially dominant. He’s not a particularly bad wrestler, but with his look he needs to be booked to overpower all but the biggest of opponents.

Bad luck came his way again in August when he suffered a broken ankle on a WWE house show in Hawaii. It was a painfully long time before Reeves could resume training again, finally making it back into a WWE ring in early 2012. He’s been winning untelevised matches at RAW and SmackDown tapings, and appearing on house shows, since January. By all accounts they have been similar to what we’ve seen in his two TV bouts this year.

It may have taken a long time to get back to TV but it seems the wait has paid off. Reeves is seemingly going to receive a healthy push and has been permitted to wrestle as a more serious character than ‘The Cornfed Meathead’. While I enjoyed the gimmick I think the Ryback character is a better choice in the long run as WWE are more likely to push a less comedic wrestler to the top. The NXT persona would have been less impactful now we have the likes of Brodus Clay and Santino getting strong pushes.

It should be pointed out that this is not the first time in Reeves’ career he has gone under the Ryback name. In 2007 he was released from his developmental contract, only to be re-signed in January of 2008 (illustrating the indecisive nature of WWE management perfectly). When he showed back up in OVW he was announced as Ryback. The character was based on The Terminator, with Reeves no-selling opponents’ offence and dominating them with power moves. He was also billed as being from “the future.” Hopefully that’s an aspect the SmackDown writing team don’t revive.

Ryback could be a future world champion

We’ll be able to tell how serious WWE are about this push when Ryback graduates from squashing random indy workers to full-fledged members of the SmackDown roster. If he’s booked to defeat confirmed WWE Superstars™ in the same decisive manner it will indicate that the promotion wants the man to make it and that fans should view him as a star on the rise.

I’m hopeful that WWE are going to give him a fair chance at success. Ryback has the look, the moves and the verbal skills to be a solid part of the WWE roster. I could certainly see him being a mainstay of a rejuvinated mid-card scene and it’s not impossible to imagine him winning a world championship sometime within a couple of years. He’s also proven (as ‘The Cornfed Meathead’) that he can get over as a babyface with limited exposure. That’s a very useful skill for a newcomer to have.

Ryback may no longer be from the future but he could still be an integral part of it.

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.

End of the Beginning

What exactly will begin on RAW tomorrow night?

For weeks WWE have been airing videos of kids hanging around in a mostly unfurnished classroom and an abandoned playground with voiceovers (provided by sinister sounding children) inform us that “he” is returning. The first video cropped up on YouTube after a link appeared during one of WWE’s countless Twitter plugging sessions. That was followed by more videos appearing during TV shows, with the announce team purportedly unaware of the breaks in transmission.

To my mind there are four potential returnees for tomorrow’s RAW, only two of whom wouldn’t be a massive letdown. The first name is Brodus Clay. His re-debut has been an on and off storyline for a couple of months now, with John Laurinaitis finding reasons to push it back on an almost weekly basis.

Are the 'It Begins' videos just an elaborate way of bringing Brodus Clay back to TV?

It’s a similar situation for Skip Sheffield. He hasn’t been seen on WWE programming since August 2010. He suffered an ankle injury during a house show match in Hawaii and has been forced to undergo numerous surgeries in order to return to action. A possible hint that he may be the man behind the ‘It Begins’ hype is the fact that WWE recently registered Ryback, Sheffield’s former ring name, as a trademark.

Either of these men could be a big part of WWE’s plans for WrestleMania XXVIII and or 2012, with the video package treatment being the company’s way of ensuring their returns are seen as big deals. Both men possess qualities that would allow them to fill important roles on the roster but the implication has been that a big name is returning and neither man’s name has enough cache to provide a satisfactory climax to months of hype.

The most popular prediction seems to be Chris Jericho. I can understand why. ‘Y2J’ is 41-years-old and has a career as a rock star waiting for him outside of wrestling. WWE is desperate for established main event acts and it’s likely been accepted that Jericho will be unable or unwilling to return full-time if he stays off TV much longer. The company needs to act soon if it wants to secure his services as a regular performer again. ‘It Begins’ may signal the start of Jericho’s final run at the top.

I’ve thought since the videos began that they were signalling the return of the Undertaker. ‘The Dead Man’, who last appeared on television at WrestleMania XXVII, is expected to work a match at this year’s ‘Mania. While he could easily stay off TV for a while longer (perhaps even until the event itself if the hype for his match is strong enough) the ‘It Begins’ campaign has had the feeling of several Undertaker return videos of the past.

I’m going to stick with my original feeling and say the Undertaker will be returning on RAW. Partly because I think he will, partly because it seems realistic, and partly because I’m tired of all the Chris Jericho talk.

In all likelihood it will be ‘The Highlight of the Night’ who’s back on screens tomorrow night. Perhaps WWE could give us a twist by having Skip Sheffield or Brodus Clay credited as being the big name, running in on the main event as the final ‘It Begins’ video plays, before having Jericho run-in to make the save. That would allow two guys to benefit from one set of videos and start a feud that could run through the Royal Rumble and culminate at Elimination Chamber (or ‘Mania if it catches on with fans).

Hopefully the obvious will be resisted and we’ll get something more creative than Jericho coming out to give a generic “I’m back to change the company” speech. As good as he is it’s time for some fresh blood and fresh ideas.