Turning the Paige

On the Monday 21 September episode of Monday Night RAW is WAR, TV's longest running episodic action adventure soap opera (or something), Paige cut a scathing promo. Or, if you prefer, she dropped a pipebomb. Personally I don't prefer, finding the term trite and irritating when applied to anything other than the segment which originated the phrase, CM Punk's show-closing hijacking of RAW on June 27 2011.

Paige cut her promo during the in-ring celebration of new Divas champion Charlotte (let the record show she'd defeated Nikki Bella for the title at Night of Champions the previous evening). After claiming she was the one who'd made the upturn in women's wrestling in the Fed possible, calling the interaction between Charlotte and her pa Ric patronising, and reminding everyone that she'd won the Divas title on her first night on the roster Paige laid into every member of the roster. Alicia Fox was labelled a third wheel. All three members of Team BAD were written off as all flash and no substance¹. Natalya was sarcastically referred to as MIA. Charlotte was called a placeholder champ, Lynch irrelevant, and there was heavy implication that storyline Paige believes the Bellas only got to and keep their spots because of who they're romantically linked to². It was good stuff, believable, relatable and understandable. Charlotte's response was slightly disappointing because she undersold the betrayal she should have been feeling and simply lashed out angrily. But it was at least spiritied.

Paige there, working herself into a shoot.

It's not the specifics that are important here, it's what Paige's words set up. And they set up a lot. There's the obvious Paige versus Charlotte match for the title. It also created issues between Natalya and Paige and Becky Lynch and Paige, the reasons for each being pleasantly different. Natty has been positioned as the old guard whom 'The Anti-Diva' considers irrelevant/past her prime, which Natty will clearly want to prove wrong.

Meanwhile Becky was labelled "the least relevant" woman on the roster by Paige. Since Monday she's taken the initiative (or been ordered to follow up on the verbal assault) and launched a series of pun themed insults at Paige on Twitter. The pun aspect isn't doing anybody any favours but 'The Lasskicker' firing back as opposed to meekly accepting Paige's low blow or waiting until the next TV show to assert herself is absolutely the right thing for everyone involved. It creates an issue between two wrestlers that gives them a reason to have a match that doesn't involve a championship. That's rare in WWE, especially in their women's league.

In a little under a week WWE have set the decidedly non-progressively named Divas up to have an interesting, layered division. Charlotte has a rematch with Nikki to come as well as her fresh issue with Paige to resolve. Paige has matches ready with both Natalya and Becky, which could both be run through before she gets her title shot opposite 'The Nature Girl' (no way Nikki's getting the belt back for a while). Sasha Banks has also been quietly set up for a larger role with TV wins over Paige and the emphasis on her being an established rival of Charlotte from NXT.

Whether the writing team follows through on any of this is something else. History tells us they'll mishandle things and deliver an uninspired sequence of matches revolving around the Divas title. But thanks to Paige's promo and the work that's been put into the division we can dare to get our hopes up that the MSG Network special or the Hell in a Cell PPV could feature Charlotte v Nikki and Paige v Becky, instead of the standard issue lone title match.

***

¹ The only one that could possibly apply to is Naomi, although I think it would be an unfair statement. Tamina has neither flash nor substance while Sasha Banks has both.

² The irony here is that until a few weeks ago that seemed to be a largely unfair statement. Then rumours started doing the rounds about Big Match John pulling strings to extend Nikki's title reign.

Double the Butterfly, Double the Fun

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

Potential tag team champions.

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Revolutionising the Divas Division

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

That RAW Recap 13.07.15

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally, an exciting Divas scene.

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

WWE Beast in the East review

Beast in the East is the first WWE show in sixteen-and-a-half years to be named after a specific performer. The last one was 1998's Rock themed Rock Bottom, a tag-heavy  show tied into Rock's then-recent swerve heel turn and alignment with Vince McMahon's Corporation. Beast in the East was named, obviously, after 'The Beast Incarnate' Brock Lesnar. It's also a mild alteration to Bam Bam Bigelow's 'Beast from the East' moniker (although the East there referred to the US east coast as opposed to Japan), something which WWE owns the rights to after their purchase of WCW and ECW trademarks and tape libraries well over a decade ago.

There we are. A paragraph of trivia to start! 

Despite being the only performer featured on the poster and giving the event its name Brock Lesnar didn't actually have a high profile match on this card. He wrestled slap bang in the middle of the card and his opponent was Kofi Kingston. While Kofi's a reliable hand he's not the sort of name we've become accustomed to seeing Lesnar face and the match served mostly to highlight that the card was the oddity we'd all been expecting. Basically it made clear that it was more a broadcast house show as opposed to something legitimately special.

Although the show was named after Lesnar it was made clear by the show-opening hype video that the night's real top match was Finn Bálor challenging Kevin Owens for the NXT championship. It was featured far more heavily. The identity of Lesnar's opponent wasn't even mentioned.

The opener was Chris Jericho versus Adrian Neville. It was interesting (to me at least) that Michael Cole talked about Jericho's time in FMW during the 90's but took a while to mention Neville's years in Dragon Gate. Perhaps it's because Dragon Gate's a current promotion and WWE doesn't generally do well acknowledging those. Still, at least they bothered.

The match was nothing special. Neville was left to take the majority of the big bumps and do the running about. Jericho concentrated more on pandering to the fans, running though his key spots, and teasing that he'd dive out of the ring. For a guy who wants to position himself as one of the greatest workers ever his efforts here were poor. They sped things up in the last few minutes but we got a disappointing result: 'Y2J' put his knees up as Neville hit him with the Red Arrow and immediately applied the Walls of Jericho for the tap out victory.

A ten second shot of Brock Lesnar walking into the building followed that (flouting the Company Dress Code by wearing jeans and a non-merch T-shirt). It was more enjoyable that Jericho's ego-fuelled shenanigans.

Match two saw Nikki Bella defend the Divas championship against Paige and Tamina. It should be noted that Tamina enters to some borderline racist jungle drums music. Nikki and Paige have worked against one another more than enough over the last six months to have a pretty good baseline for their matches at this point. Tamina managed to avoid dragging things down and we got a fun three-way. Nikki retained with a forearm to Tamina after a failed Superfly Splash (Paige was outside the ring after taking a super kick from Tamina as she had Nikki locked in the PTO). Yes, Nikki retained with a forearm. Because apparently main roster women's matches don't warrant proper finishes.

After a  video in which Lesnar told us he respects no one and likes hurting people Kofi Kingston clapped his way down to the ring. Like a lamb to the slaughter. What followed was an enjoyable one-sided trouncing. Kofi got some offence in but Lesnar no-sold all of it before grabbing hold of the New Day member, giving him some suplexes, and finishing him off with an F5.

After the match Lesnar gave Kofi a German suplex and another F5. Just because. Big E and Xavier Woods ran out to make the save, which naturally didn't end well for them. They each took an F5. The audience seemed particularly impressed with 'The Pain' hoisting up Big E.

In a peculiar move the NXT championship match followed that. When Lesnar v Kingston went on third I'd assumed Bálor v Owens had been granted the main event slot. Which would have made a great deal of sense considering the popularity of the NXT brand and Bálor's history in Japan. The match had a big fight feel to it and WWE tried to ramp it up by having flowers presented to the competitors. Bálor took his with good grace while Owens hilariously threw his into the crowd and shouted about hating the country. The fans did a better job of making things seem important by festooning the pair in streamers.

As the pair got things off to a wild start with an immediate shotgun drop kick and cross body to the outside from Bálor, Michael Cole did a rare bit of good work as he explained that Bálor had worked his first New Japan show at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan arena (where this show was being held) and referenced a tweet in which he'd mentioned "the return of a Prince." I continued to be astonished at his good work when he referenced Bálor's many accolades, as Prince Devitt, in New Japan.

Meanwhile Bálor and Owens had a spirited exchange in and out of the ring, Bálor controlling the pace until Owens slapped on a headlock. Bálor battled out but it was Owens who was in control after that. He threw Bálor into ring steps outside the ring and landed on him with a senton when he rolled back into the ring at the nine count. The challenger was worn down with another trip out of the ring and then trapped in another headlock.

Bálor battled out and regained momentum with a drop kick to Owens' face and a forearm from the second rope. 'Mr Wresting' fired off some punches and then ran through the set up to Cena's Five Knuckle Shuffle, and the move itself. An AA attempt failed when Bálor slipped off Owens shoulder, knocked him to the mat and double stomped him. Owens tried the AA again. Bálor escaped again and walloped the champ with a Pele kick.

Owens rolled out of the ring to try and regain his composure but was met with a tope then thrown back into the ring to take an inverted Bloody Sunday. Bálor went for the top rope double stomp again but Owens moved and through him into a corner for a cannonball. A package bomb earned the champion a two count and a "This is awesome!" chant. That prompted Owens to tell the crowd to shut up, a nice character moment in the midst of a great match.

Bálor pulled himself back to his feet and dropped KO with a slingblade. The challenger immediately dashed to the top rope but Owens recovered and grabbed his feet. Owens forced Bálor down onto the ring apron but got staggered with a Pele kick. Bálor went for the double stomp again. This time he hit it. But Owens kicked out.

The pair made their way to the top turnbuckle again, Bálor attempting a superplex on the champ. Owens fought him off and tried for his fisherman buster but Bálor escaped. When he returned to the corner he was scooped up for a more devastating move: an AA from the top rope. That was followed with an Owens Swanton bomb. Bálor got his knees up and gave Owens Bloody Sunday. Owens kicked out. Bálor rushed him. Owens dropped him with a super kick.

The two again their way back to their feet. Owens screamed at Bálor that he couldn't win. Bálor fired up, blasting the champion with a lariat before shotgun drop kicking him into a corner. That left Owens prone, finally, for the Coup de Grace, which Bálor hit to finally win himself the NXT championship. They easily took match of the night honours with a spirited, even performance that started strong and built to a great crescendo.

After the match Hidoe Itami was shown looking a bit moody at ringside. It's not impossible this was foreshadowing for a heel turn spurred by Bálor "stealing" his moment. Tatsumi Fujinami came out to raise the new champions hand, something which really highlighted that this was a glorified house show. Owens then refused a handshake from the man the beat him. Which is exactly what you'd expect from Owens' character.

The main event couldn't match the heady heights of the NXT championship match, not least because it featured Kane and John Cena. Bad News King Wade Barrett I and Dolph Ziggler, their respective partners, are good but they weren't enough to help outshine Bálor and Owens. They worked a basic tag main event, the sort you'll be familiar with if you've ever been to a WWE house show or watched an episode of SmackDown. It was awkward in places and had a painfully obvious outcome: Ziggler, having been isolated for around ten minutes, made a tag to Cena, who wandered in, AAed Barrett, and pinned him. As climaxes go it was poor and summed up the match as a whole.

Beast in the East was an oddity of a show. It was clearly not intended to be as big a deal as Elimination Chamber, the last Network exclusive offering, had been. While it was nice to see Lesnar squash someone it wasn't exactly a must-see match. The only thing of substance on the show was Bálor versus Owens, and that wasn't enough to make the show as a whole worthwhile. If WWE wants to use these specials as a way to attract and keep subscribers they'll need to do better than this.

***

Results summary:

Chris Jericho defeated Adrian Neville
Nikki Bella defeated Paige and Tamina to retain the Divas championship
Brock Lesnar defeated Kofi Kingston
Finn Bálor defeated Kevin Owens to win the NXT championship
John Cena and Dolph Ziggler defeated Kane and Bad News Barrett

Naomi Uso's New Look

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

Extreme Rules 2014 review

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

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

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

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

Cesaro Swing there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

POW! Right in the kisser!

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

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

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

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

Paige giving her belt a kiss there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note the phones in hands.

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

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

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

Who's next for D-Bry?

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

Survivor Series 2013 preview

Survivor Series used to be considered one of WWE’s Big Four shows. It’s difficult to say when it lost the spot. It could have been when the In Your House project began in 1995. It might have been at the 1998 edition when the elimination tag matches, the show’s original “USP”, were replaced by an unwieldy tournament to crown a new WWF champion. It may even have been as early as 1993 when King of the Ring was upgraded to pay-per-view status. Or perhaps the event’s image simply never recovered from the events of the 1997 edition.

Ultimately it doesn’t really matter. Survivor Series is an event passed its best, with a format that most are either not interested in or actively dislike.

I think there’s potential left in the ten (or eight, “tradition” varies) man elimination tag matches .It would take very little effort from WWE to create feuds amongst its mid-carders, making a reason to book one of the multi-man matches. It’s not the most wonderful format in the world but it could be used to create some interesting scenarios, much as the Royal Rumble still can.

This year’s event is not likely to be the one that sees the beginning of a new trend in this area. There are two traditional Survivors matches. The first is a stacked affair pitting Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes, Aksana, Summer Rae, Tamina and Divas champion AJ Lee against The Funkadactyls, The Bella Twins (get on board the Bella Babyface Express), Eva Marie, JoJo and Natalya. The second will see The Shield and The Real Americans take on The Usos, Cody Rhodes, Goldust and Rey Mysterio.

Let’s deal with the Divas first. Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted that the match will see besties-turned-rivals Kaitlyn and AJ Lee on the same team. This could have meant something if WWE had put some effort in. In fact it’s exactly the sort of thing I was talking about above. That this match is simply a case of cramming every woman on the roster into a match and splitting them into Total Divas stars and non-Total Divas stars shows just how little effort WWE puts into the middle of the card. This attitude is nothing new, but it’s still depressing.

The ladies have so many people in their match that’s it’s unlikely anyone will get to have a standout performance. The best booking idea would be to have Tamina dominate everyone on the Total Divas team without needing to tag out. That would keep the running time of the match low (and you know that’s going to be an issue with this match) and make Ms Snuka look fearsome. I can’t see it happening though. We’ll get a more traditional approach.

The other traditional match could be considered promising thanks to the involvement of a variety of hot acts. Cody Rhodes and Goldust are, as has been noted on this blog before, a massively popular team. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either or both of them get a lengthy showing and possibly even survive until the end. Swagger is the weak link on his team but in truth he’s not that bad. He’s simply overshadowed by everyone around him (and I’m including Zeb Colter in that).

The Usos are, unfortunately, non-entities. They get decent reactions when they enter but audiences seem to switch off during their matches. They’re not bad or boring but they are bland. Perhaps they’ll enjoy a boost in popularity thanks to the affiliations they’ll enjoy in this match. Don’t get your hopes up though: these affiliations have been going on surreptitiously for a while now and they’ve had no effect yet.

Then there’s Rey Mysterio. This is the man who’s missed huge chunks of the last two and a half years to various nagging injuries and phantom personal probs. ‘Mr 619’ stated before this most recent comeback that he wanted to prove he was better than he’s ever been and have the greatest run of his career. Rey is not only banged up after two decades of wrestling but he’s accomplished an awful lot previously. I can’t see him equalling the in-ring height of his WCW cruiserweight division heyday, recapturing imaginations as he did when he made his WWE debut, or scaling the card to become a regular in the main event picture again (he’s become too unreliable for that). I can’t see this becoming the defining run of his career.

The men’s match has several people that could stand out. I’ve already mentioned Cody and Goldy getting the star-making treatment. I could also see Rey being given time to enter a gutsy performance against long odds as a way of ham-fistedly reminding everyone that he’s an underdog that gets the job done. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Roman Reigns given the one against many shtick either: it would give him a Career Moment™ and test him out in a role where he’s not obviously a monstrous, roaring heel. I could also see it being given to Cesaro: a dominant showing here could be used to set him up as an opponent for John Cena at TLC. At the very least I can see a sequence where he performs the Big Swing on several guys in a row, or perhaps on two men at the same time.

Predicting winners for these sorts of matches is tricky because there are so many things that can happen. As far as winning teams go I’ll select the Total Divas in the ladies’ match, with Nikki, Brie, or both being among the survivors, and the heels in the guys’ match. The women’s match is inconsequential so it doesn’t really matter who wins and I think we’ll see Colter and co win their match because it allows for challengers to be set up for the tag team championship, along with possibly prepping ‘The Swiss Superman’ for something.

Meanwhile, in the main event, eight time WWE champion Randal Keith Orton will defend against former two time champion Big Show. The match itself is not that peculiar. Show and Orton have both been on the roster for a long time and have wrestled each other many times before. Their exchanges have never been spectacular or noteworthy, they’re just the sort of thing that crop up in a company like WWE from time to time.

What is peculiar is how the match came about. Big Show was drafted into the feud between The Authority (not the Warren Ellis-created supergroup, the McMahon family heel stable, obvs) as a bit part player, playing a reluctant enforcer and being humiliated by Stephanie. His role grew in prominence, seemingly by happy accident, thanks to the positive reaction of crowds around the US.

The cynic in me feels that he may have been given every chance to succeed. Having him make the save for Daniel Bryan and being presented as an incredibly sympathetic figure week after week gave him every chance to overshadow the man fans really wanted to see in main events. I got the feeling that the writing crew weren’t fully committed to Bryan, but ultimately I think that’s unfair: Bryan headlined four straight shows, won the WWE championship twice, was presented as the biggest star in the company, and has been moved into a prominent role with a hot act during WWE’s quiet months. He had his time on top and is being given a well-timed cooling off period to prevent audiences becoming bored of him.

Big Show v ‘The Viper’ is unlikely to be the best match on the card but I don’t think it’s going to be bad. Usually I’d be remarking that Show is the man likely to hold a match down but here I don’t think that’s the case: he’s been very reliable throughout the year (and for much of last year too). It’s ‘The Apex Predator’s’ involvement that concerns me. The guy’s practically a charisma vacuum. He has little real heat and hasn’t put on a truly excellent match with someone of lesser ability than him (which Show, technically, is) for a long time.

I’ll be surprised if ‘The Giant’ wins the championship. Popular as he is I don’t think WWE are interested in taking the championship off of Orton. Now that he’s finished with Bryan I think he’s going to be champion until Royal Rumble at the earliest.

The John Cena v Alberto Del Rio World Heavyweight championship rematch is viewed by most as predictable. I find it hard to disagree. Cena losing the title back to Del Rio after only four weeks just doesn’t seem like something that will happen. Beyond keeping the feud alive it would serve no purpose, and the feud can be kept alive without it.

It’s tough to know what’s coming up for both men after SS. Their feud could continue until TLC although that’s unlikely. Cena won the first match of the programme clean and so Del Rio would need to in the second, either clean or by disqualification, to set up a third. That doesn’t seem likely. The rivalry could continue with Damien Sandow added to proceedings, but he’s done nothing of note since the week he unsuccessfully cashed in. That failure could have been used as the beginning of a push but the chance has already gone.

The final idea is one I’ve already touched on. That’s to move Cena into a feud with Antonio Cesaro. That would continue the trend of TLC being a show where WWE experiment with new guys in headline spots and would give us something interesting to watch for the next month. It would keep Cena busy into the New Year (because the payoff would probably come in early January) and would give Cesaro a chance to prove his worth. The only bad point is that it would leave ADR without anything obvious to do. Perhaps that’s a price that WWE are willing to pay.

Cena and Del Rio will undoubtedly base the match around Cena’s injured elbow again. That worked well last time and if they can come up with a fresh spin to accompany their proven success story I think they could be one of the highlights of the show. Cena to retain.

The final announced match is CM Punk and Daniel Bryan taking on Erick Rowan and Luke Harper of the Wyatt Family. If there’s one match likelier than the rest to steal the show this is it. Bryan’s popularity may have diminished ever so slightly over the last few months but he remains immensely over. As does Punk, despite a string of below average pay-per-view outings during his much ballyhooed breakup with Paul Heyman.

Erick Rowan is still a bit of an unknown quantity. He’s wrestled few televised singles matches and I’m not at all familiar with the work he apparently did in Japan before heading to NXT. Luke Harper, on the other hand, I think is great. He throws a mean clothesline and has nailed the WWE requirement of selecting an interesting move, the alligator roll, as a match signature.

I think this match will be fun. I’d love to say that Bray’s boys will go over but I don’t expect it to happen. I think they’ll get some close calls but it will ultimately go to the two former WWE champions. I get the feeling that their pairing could be a long term thing or the start of a lengthy storyline so giving them a loss on their first pay-per-view  together would be peculiar.

All this and there are still plenty of names left without announced matches. Dolph Ziggler and Damien Sandow are the obvious names to mention because they have, at one time or another, been on the cusp of big things this year. Their standings have taken a tumble but with space left on the card they’re both still prime candidates to make “unscheduled” appearances.

While they’re not quite on the same level as ‘The Show Off’ and ‘The Duke of Decency’ 3MB have consistently grabbed screen time over the last couple of months. Their recent gimmick of changing their ring attire and altering their name (The Union Jacks and The Rhinestone Cowboys) has been amusing and they seem like ideal candidates for a filler Survival match. As do Los Matadores. R-Truth and his newly introduced partner Xavier Woods, Ryback, Curtis Axel and new Intercontinental champion Big E Langston. Some or all could be chucked into a ten man tag match or they could be spread out across a few singles matches. I’m convinced we’ll see some of these guys wrestling.

Survivor Series does not look like the most appealing WWE pay-per-view of the year. But it does have some pretty stiff competition in that area, and nothing about it makes me think it will be dreadful. If the show is used as a means of making guys like Rhodes, Harper, Reigns, Cesaro and Big E look like stars I think it’ll be on the right track.

Predictions summar:

Randy Orton to defeat Big Show
John Cena to defeat Alberto Del Rio
CM Punk and Daniel Bryan to defeat The Wyatt Family
The Real Americans and The Shield to outlast Cody Rhodes, Goldust, The Usos, and Rey Mysterio
Team Bella to outlast Team AJ Lee
The Miz to defeat Kofi Kingston