Roman Empire

Roman Reigns has the look WWE loves. He fits the tall, dark and handsome cliché almost perfectly. In addition to that he wrestles well enough, can provide a passable promo, and has been scripted well enough up until now to encourage audiences to invest both in him and in what he does. All of which is good news for WWE because they want him to be their next top star.

By that I don’t mean that they want to elevate him up to the prestigious status of main eventer. While the promotion needs more big names in general something more important is planned for Reigns. They want to make him their next leading man, in the tradition of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and, yes, John Cena.

Reigns is well-suited for the role. He looks, sounds, and talks the part and has so far managed to avoid the calamitous misfortune that other promising stars of the last several years have been subjected to thanks to an unambitious and generally confused creative direction. Someone high in the pecking order realised what they had in Reigns and has ensured he’s kept his shine.

The common belief is that he will be the man to take the WWE championship from Brock Lesnar at next year’s WrestleMania 31. That means that now is a pivotal time for Reigns. If he is to defeat ‘The Beast’ in the main event match of the biggest show of the year, for the company’s top title no less, he needs to be more than just well-suited for the task and fairly popular. At the moment I’m not convinced he’s being adequately prepared. For that matter I’m not convinced his mic skills and wrestling are sufficient, but we can assume he will continue to improve in both areas over time.

Is Reigns the man who'll conquer the man who conquered The Streak?

Right now Reigns is treated as just another main event guy. While it’s good that he’s presented as being at the top of the roster it’s a little uninspiring that the same approach that’s applied to every other top face is applied to him. When Reigns appears on a show it should feel like a significant moment. Neither having him wander out to kick off RAW with a promo or sticking him in a random match against Alberto Del Rio on SmackDown make him feel special. If WWE wants him to be their new leading man then an aura needs to be built up around him. Seeing him needs to be an event in and of itself.

It’s true Cena appears in RAW opening segments frequently and wrestles on SmackDown every now and then but Cena is established as the number one boy. They can afford to overexpose him and, more to the point, it’s actually that overexposure that led to much of the ill feeling that currently exists towards him. Basically, by limiting Reigns’ screen time he’s being protected from the split audience Cena treatment.

How Reigns is utilised between now and WrestleMania will in large part determine how successful he is as the top guy. In this regard WWE haven’t made things easy for themselves. There are very few bad guys of significance for Reigns to work with in the next half a year. In fact there are really only two: Randy Orton and Triple H. Seth Rollins is a possibility but as he’s got the Money in the Bank briefcase to cash in once Reigns is the champion, so it makes sense to not have the two interact before Reigns gets the gold.

Programmes with ‘The Game’ and ‘The Viper’ could go to a couple of pay-per-views each without feeling stale. That would still leave enough time free for Reigns to have to work at least one programme against someone not from the main event crew. A rivalry with someone from the Alberto Del Rio range of grapplers is not the most thrilling thought. Better would be something pitting him against fellow rising star Cesaro, although there the downside is that Cesaro has less accolades for Michael Cole to tout than ADR, making it seem like less of an accomplishment when Reigns beats him.

There’s no easy way around any of this. WWE simply doesn’t have enough top names to feed to Reigns. The best they can do is make his feuds and matches with established headliners as close to perfect as possible and make him shine in filler rivalries. Beyond that they need to make the most of every possible opportunity. Have Reigns plough through a Survivor Series team singlehanded (again). Have him enter a dominant Rumble performance (again) and get the victory by last eliminating someone who’s absolutely hated (not again… but a replay of this year’s final two). Have something meaningful for him to do at Elimination Chamber and save his first face-to-face meeting with Brock Lesnar for a RAW main event segment.

The potential is there in Reigns. WWE just have to get their presentation bang on until he’s established and he’s more comfortable in such a high profile position. Based on recent form I don’t like their chances.

Rey Mysterio's Last Stand

For the past several years Rey Mysterio's injury-inspired comings and goings have seen the star greeted with increasing indifference by the WWE faithful. At Royal Rumble it progressed into outright hostility. WWE are being sent a sign. Fans are not as keen on Rey Mysterio as they used to be.

In one sense this is saddening. As Rey Misterio Jr he was at one time numbered among the greatest high-flying wrestlers in the world. A look at pretty much any of his work in AAA and WCW bears that out. He entered dynamic performances notable for their dazzling aerial moves and breakneck speed. Before even turning up in WWE Rey had a string of classics to his name with the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Ultimo Dragon, Psicosis, Blitzkrieg, and Dean Malenko.

Rey's move to WWE gave his career a shot in the arm after it had lagged in WCW’s final years. After sitting out the poorly received invasion angle (Rey was paid by Time Warner after WCW shut down, as were various other personalities) Rey moved to WWE just as they launched their separate rosters initiative. It was perfect timing for him: with SmackDown only having access to half of the promotion's top stars the twenty eight year old Rey (now going by the name Rey Mysterio) was immediately presented as a rising star.

Although he altered his style to be more compatible with WWE’s it was still unlike anything that had been presented by the company in years. Coupled with his natural charisma and marketable look Rey was a success almost instantly. His first few years with the company were characterised by memorable interactions with the likes of Edge, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and old foe Eddie Guerrero.

Mysterio had a good run in WWE. He was consistently presented as a top act for many years and worked opposite practically every major name in the company in meaningful programmes. He took the smart approach of altering his style as his went, phasing out things such as his springboard hurricanrana and replacing them with moves like his springboard leg drop in order to preserve his body. His merchandise continued to sell well too. Even now he's amongst the top sellers in WWE, thanks mainly to his masks.

"Come in number 619, your time is up."

But nothing lasts forever, as alluded to in the opening paragraph. Despite taking the necessary precautions Mysterio's style started to catch up to him and he became synonymous not with being an incredible high-flying attraction and top tier all-rounder but with being massively unreliable and permanently injured. When he wasn’t taking a lengthy break for surgery, "personal situations" or a general rest Rey was entering performances that would have embarrassed him a decade earlier.

The boos Rey heard at Royal Rumble, and again in his battle royal appearance at WrestleMania XXX and the April 7 RAW, was the audience's way of saying that they're tired of Rey Mysterio. I agree with them, as I've written before. Mysterio should retire while he's still capable of getting close to the high standard he set for himself throughout much of his career. The perfect time for that would be at next year's WrestleMania XXXI. It will be held in Santa Clara, California, Mysterio's home state. A man of his standing deserves to go out with a retirement match at WrestleMania, especially if it's in an area particularly meaningful to them or their career. There's no better place for Rey to retire, and enter the Hall of Fame, than California.

But right now that's still a year away. WWE could simply keep Rey off TV until early next year, bringing him back to work a two or three month story culminating in his last outing at 'Mania opposite a rising star who'd benefit from defeating him. But I'd like to see them do something different, something I first suggested years ago when I started writing this blog (read that here).

Turn Rey Mysterio heel.

As I wrote when I first suggested this it's a move that would allow Rey to wrestle a slower, less demanding style. It would also give him something different to do and a fresh batch of opponents to work against. Obviously a heel turn would have to be negated before his retirement angle in order for him to get the send-off he deserves, but that could be achieved easily enough by having him lose a feud in autumn and disappear for a few months, ensuring he could return healthy in 2015 for a face switch and a final farewell run.

One thing's for sure: if Mysterio keeps up his current comings and goings much longer he's going to risk eroding the good memories many have of the bulk of his career, which would mean being remembered as another guy who outlived his welcome and use. Retiring in the next year preserves Rey's health and legacy. Frankly, it's the only sensible option.

Global Boom

You’ve probably noticed that Jeff Jarrett has a new wrestling promotion under construction. It will be called Global Force Wrestling and it’s being created for a number of reasons. First and foremost it’s because Jeff no longer holds a position with TNA, the company he founded with his father (Jerry) in 2002. Despite selling control of the company to the Carter family’s Panda Energy Jeff kept a position with the group for a number of years, including the years after he stopped being a TV presence. That changed a few months ago when he announced he was leaving. It seems fair to assume, given his new venture, that Jarrett was tired of being a bit part player in a company he’d intended to be North America’s number two wrestling league. Jeff Jarrett wanted to be the boss again.

Secondly, he feels that another wrestling boom period is imminent. While promoting his new league he’s said that now is the best time to start up a wrestling company because it’s due to shift back into the mainstream. He seems tuned in enough to realise that WWE is going to be the focal point of such a boom (should it materialise) but understands that being a new group while people are just getting interested in wrestling again (or for the first time) will help him build a fan base. A new promotion will feel fresh and new and be more capable of providing jump-in, introductory points than even WWE. There will be a certain dynamism that companies that have existed for more than a few years (basically the entire crop of meaningful indy feds) won’t be able to create.

It’s actually timing that may have doomed TNA from the very start. Wrestling’s last major period of significance started in the mid-nineties and ran through to 2001. It was characterised by the innovative ECW, the Monday Night Wars between the WWF and WCW, and the WWF’s Attitude Era. It was never going to last forever and in hindsight it was always going to wind down after either WCW or the WWF folded. The natural conclusion, basically, was always going to be an invasion of the WWF by WCW talent (or, in some alternate universe somewhere, an invasion of WCW by WWF talent).

Even if that storyline had been expertly handled and booked with no expense spared it was never going to stretch much beyond the early months of 2002. That it was so badly presented only helped to drive less enthusiastic viewers away sooner than would otherwise have been the case. By March 2002, a year after the closure of WCW, the WWF was the only game in town and it was not providing storylines anywhere near as compelling as it had two years before.

Setting up a wrestling company just a year after a hot streak had finished and while the market leader (which dictates how wrestling is perceived in general) was being particularly uninspiring was not the greatest move. But it’s the one the Jarretts made. And in fairness although it was ill-fated it did make sense. They couldn’t sit around waiting for the WWF (soon to become WWE) to get hot again. If they wanted to start a promotion they needed to do it then because there were still significant names floating around from the boom period that had only just ended, plus newcomers wanting a break that McMahon Corp weren’t going to provide.

This time it appears that Jarrett’s timing is better. While I’m not as confident as he is that wrestling’s about to explode into mainstream pop culture again, it is at least a positive sign that WWE’s doing better than when he started TNA. It creates an environment in which wrestling is taken as more acceptable. There’s also the fact that the viewing habits of fans have changed over the years. The internet has made it easier to watch wrestling from all over the world, and old footage too. People’s tastes have become more sophisticated and they understand the business better (whether the people in the business want to admit that or not). It’s easier to present a product that’s less storyline driven and more about athletic ability than it would have been ten years ago because fans at large have become more accepting of the variety of styles that make up professional wrestling.

And it seems as though that’s the approach ‘Double J’ is planning to take. We’ve heard that he’s “created a database” (a pretentious way of saying he’s got a list of names and numbers) with over five hundred entries on it. Obviously you’re not going to have five hundred main event calibre performers on any list. But equally you’re going to have a list that long and have no main event calibre names. Looking beyond the specifics of who Jarrett has and hasn’t signed we can say confidently that he will have some worthwhile talent available to him.

He’s also linked himself to a production company in California. That’s a good move in itself for the obvious reason that he’ll need to produce some sort of show to air and sell. Going with a company in California is a particularly good move. That’s the US’s entertainment mecca, making hobnobbing with other companies that could cross promote far easier than it would be if they were based in, oh, I don’t know, Baltimore, Maryland (cough, ROH, cough!). It also means that they’ll be promoting in an area that has all the technical equipment and venues (of all sizes) they could need. It also sets them up nicely to promote shows at next year’s WrestleMania weekend without going outside of what will I imagine will still be their comfort zone, although that’s more a happy coincidence than planning.

At first glance the idea of Global Force Wrestling has a lot of potential. That Jarrett appears to have worked out deals with talent from around the globe (presumably the name is intended as a literal reflection of his promotion’s scope as opposed to being an all too common bit of hollow wrestling wording) will allow him to present a variety of styles that will provide something for everyone watching. Theoretically it will help viewers discover new styles they enjoy too. As WWE only promotes the sports entertainment style (although in fairness it should be pointed out that this is far more flexible than many make out and does change with the times), DG USA and ROH don’t venture much outside their own comfort zones, and TNA are a complete shambles with no definitive style to speak of, that gives him something unique to offer anyone watching.

I think it’s safe to assume he’ll get some working arrangements sorted out with other promotions too. Jarrett was the man credited with getting TNA deals with AAA and Wrestle-1. As soon as whatever contracts are in place with TNA expire it’s entirely possible Jarrett will be able to swoop in and negotiate something for GFW in their place. In fact TNA itself is on shaky legs: should they go under Jarrett would have access to a wide selection of reasonably well-known names to feature on his shows.

Not everything about GFW inspires confidence. While Jarrett has been involved in wrestling for his entire adult life he’s not exactly got a string of successes to his name. I’ve already mentioned TNA, which is the closest thing we’ve got to a track record for Jarrett as an owner-operator-booker, is not in a good way. While the absence of former WWE, WCW and TNA stars will be a blessing for the most part it also means Jarrett will have to work that bit harder to get people interested. Modern fans may see quality wrestling as a reason to watch in and of itself but a significant name doesn’t hurt. And it may sound like nitpicking but the name Global Force Wrestling doesn’t roll off the tongue no matter how well it may reflect Jarrett’s international desires.

But the biggest problem I can see is that there’s not a particularly compelling advertising campaign attached to the group. Look back and see how it started: pictures of Karen Jarrett and the question of whether you missed her. She, at first glance, was the star of the group. While that no longer appears to be the case it’s still strange that they went with her in the first place. Yes, she’s an attractive woman who’d been an on-screen presence in TNA but if you’re trying to build interest in a wrestling company wouldn’t it be a good idea to start out by announcing you’ve got a significant wrestler on board? Perhaps the trouble there is that they didn’t and don’t have such a name interested and Karen Jarrett was their second best option (in such a scenario Jeff would be the top choice, although he doesn’t look as good lying around a beach) for presenting a big name from the business that could draw people in.

Social media (Twitter, basically) is likely to play an important part of GFW. If Jarrett’s going to be using a fraction of his purportedly five hundred strong roster (database, call it what you will) my assumption is that he’s going to be looking at social media response just as much, if not more than, the reactions of live crowds. So far I’ve seen nothing that makes me think he has anybody particularly ‘net savvy working for him in this department. The entire campaign has been based around posting pictures of the Jarrett and sometimes Karen posing with various wrestlers, everyone from Carlito to Jay Lethal to Gregory Helms to Bad Influence. Nobody interesting that they’ve shown pictures of (Nash and Bret Hart are about the only proven draws) is going to sign a contract, and the Lethals and Bad Influences of the world, as good as they may be, are not the stuff from which a dynamic new wrestling product can be fashioned.

The Avenging Viper

It seems fairly likely that the months following WrestleMania XXX are going to see Daniel Bryan as a babyface champion. It seems almost as likely that Batista is going to officially ascend to lead heel status, quite possibly by officially aligning with The Authority as their new chosen one. Whether or not he will gain the on-screen epithet ‘Face of the Company’ is anyone’s guess at this point.  

These are developments which would leave Randy Orton strangely out of the loop. He could challenge Bryan in a rematch, but that would almost certainly have to be the end of their feud as they’ve been going at it on and off since August. There are no noteworthy gimmick matches left to put them through. Batista would be a fresher opponent for D-Bry and would make more sense in storyline terms, especially if he were The Authority’s new centrepiece.

It’s hard to tell what ‘The Viper’ will be given to do. The thing I keep imagining is WWE continuing with him in the title scene which, as already pointed out, would be a poor move. But luckily for WWE I’ve come up with an alternative they’re free to acquisition and use.

Have Orton lose the title at WrestleMania to either Bryan or Batista. For the purposes of this plan it really doesn’t matter which, all that matters is that Orton loses it. Between ‘Mania and Extreme Rules his relationship with The Authority would become strained, but they’d all still be aligned. Or as aligned as they already are, which is tenuously.

At Extreme Rules Orton would face Bryan and Batista again in a three-way rematch. He’d lose there too. And that loss would be the impetus for Orton to be kicked out of the group by Triple H on the May 5 post-Rules RAW. ‘The Game’ could cite Orton’s continued losses as a reason, as well as his inability to live up to his potential and a wish to go in a new direction with Batista.

From there ‘The Apex Predator’ could be presented as a neutral figure, not aligned with the lead heels but not liked by fans either. Over the course of a couple of months Orty could realise that he would have been better off embracing the fans rather than throwing in his lot with the McMahons to form The Authority. He could cut promos to that effect and say he wants to earn back respect by competing fairly and helping to bring down The Authority.

What does the summer have in store for Randy Orton?

During his realisation period Orton could be booked against mid-card wrestlers, the idea being that he’s being held back or punished by The Authority. In non-kayfabe terms this would be a nice chance to get some different matches on TV and give some people lower down the card the chance to raise their profile by competing with a main event name.

After cutting his babyface promo (assuming the fans accepted him trying to mend his mistakes) Orton could begin interfering in Batista matches and targeting, perhaps getting physical with Triple H too. Hinting at an Orton v Batista singles match should be avoided though. The last few months have taught anyone paying attention that WWE fans do not want to see Orton and Batista wrestle one another.

Orton would need to cost The Authority at least a couple of key victories in order to demonstrate that he really is against them and that he wants to see them fail. A good example would be Orton interfering in a Money in the Bank match to stop ‘The Animal’ winning, but it doesn’t have to specifically be that. Just any matches that in storyline terms The Authority need to win to regain control of the WWE championship.

The standard beatdowns from Kane, the Outlaws and Triple H himself could follow, with Orton always coming back for more the next week. Finally driven to his wits end, probably after the second key loss, Triple H could cut a promo talking about Orton not learning the easy way and needing to do things the hard way. The hard way would be revealed as a singles match between Orton and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.

That would be a fresh match with a logical reason for happening. Orton would (probably) be established as face again with fans being encouraged to boo Lesnar for siding with The Authority and effectively acting as their hired gun. It’s an ideal number two match for a big event like SummerSlam.

‘The Pain’ could be used to keep Orty occupied for a further one or two shows after SummerSlam, and from there Orton could be moved into a role similar to Cena in which he’s used to help establish new stars. It could also be used as a launching point for a Lesnar face turn: it could be revealed (via Paul Heyman) when Lesnar returns for SummerSlam that he’s agreed to take out Orton in exchange for the WWE championship match he’s felt he’s deserved all year but hasn’t received because WWE have been trying to get the title on to Batista or Triple H.

Next year’s ‘Mania season could see Lesnar go full on face and oppose The Authority after being double crossed out of his title match. By this point the title could be on Batista and Bryan could be doing something else before slotting back into the title scene in the summer of 2015. Lesnar versus Batista is another fresh (albeit potentially hideous) bout and I think fans would rally behind ‘The Beast’ because they’d want to see his aura of legitimacy directed at Batista.

I’d love to watch all of the above. It doesn’t seem likely though.

Mr Retirement

March 28^th 2010. WrestleMania XXVI. Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker faced each other in a career versus Streak match. Michaels lost. He hasn't wrestled since.

This is an incredibly rare example of a wrestler honouring a retirement stipulation after losing. The norm is for the retirement stip to be used as a way of writing people off of television to undergo operations or to take a break. It’s also not unknown for retirement angles to be tacked on to lengthy feuds to heighten drama and tension with no intention of either party genuinely retiring. See Mick Foley, Ric Flair, Terry Funk and some of the ludicrous stipulations implemented by Vince Russo in WCW for all the examples you could need on wrestlers and retirement.

While he's managed to adhere to the terms of his loss to 'The Dead Man' Michaels hasn't disappeared completely. He's come and gone from television over the last three and a half years. For the most part he's made one off appearances but that changed a couple of months ago when he was made the guest referee of Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton's WWE championship Hell in a Cell match (at the imaginatively titled Hell in a Cell). Before the show Michaels had stated he'd be fair and call the match impartially. On the night that was proven to be a lie when he super kicked Bryan, billed as his protégé¹, and allowed 'The Viper' to leave as champion.

The Slammy Award-winning Shawn Michaels

It wasn’t an immediate heel turn for Michaels. He received a mixed reaction on the following evening's RAW, which saw him trapped in the Yes Lock by an angry Bryan (a moment which showed that retirement hasn’t diminished his ability to make you believe he’s in pain one bit). Since then the mixed reactions have continued and he's stuck with playing a character of blurred alignment as opposed to an out and out heel. He'll support lead bad guy Triple H but act in a relatively humble manner when accepting a (prestigious) Slammy. It's the logical way to play it. Not being on the active roster means he has to be presented differently. It’s a reflection of his standing within the company.

He’s also found himself at odds with CM Punk. During the excellent show-closing segment of the pre-TLC RAW Punk manhandled ‘The Game’ and got Sweet Chin Music for his trouble. Michaels in turn was floored with Bryan’s running knee strike. The following week Michaels confronted Punk to tell him that he should be worrying about him, not Tripper. They didn’t come to blows, but Punk did say that if he was kicked by HBK again he’d be kicking him back.

So as 2013 draws to a close Shawn Michaels has established disputes with two of WWE’s most popular wrestlers. It feels very much like a Michaels match against one or both of the former indy stalwarts is being teased.

But teasing and promoting are two different things. I don’t think Michaels will return to the ring for an official match. I’m sure he’d be physically able to, his appearances over the last couple of months have made it clear that he can still throw his finishing move and is just as good at drawing fans in as he ever was (and he was among the best). I just don’t think he’d want to. One thing motivated Michaels throughout his entire career, and that was being seen as the best. It manifested in different ways, the nineties saw him playing some cutthroat political games to ensure the spotlight was always on him, while from his return in 2002 until his retirement eight years later he was more about putting on the best match of the night no matter who he was facing. The latter was a far more admirable approach but it had the same motivation. Michaels wanted to outperform everybody else².

When he retired Michaels was the best. He was WWE’s top in-ring performer. His last match was the best match of the biggest show of the year and it went on last. There is no finer send-off a wrestler could receive than that, and Michaels would know that. I can’t imagine that he’d come back to have another match and run the risk of it not being quite as good as the masterpiece of a last stand he had with The Undertaker. Even a very good match would be a comedown from what is currently his last outing. Not that he’d have a less than satisfying match. I just don’t think he’d want to run that risk. Seconding Triple H in his matches opposite Punk and Bryan (and I think ‘The Cerebral Assassin’ will be going up against both men next year) seems more likely.

This isn’t to say WWE wouldn’t try to tempt the guy. Michaels versus Punk and Michaels versus Bryan are both fresh matches and would be a great addition to the WrestleMania XXX card. Almost as appealing would be the “dream match” (that’s definitely how they’d promote it) pitting CM Punk and Shawn Michaels against D-Generation X. It’s not the sort of thing that would be added to ‘Mania but it would certainly be a boon to Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber. Planned right WWE could probably find a way to stretch the current disputes out to include Michaels matches at SummerSlam 2014 and WrestleMania XXXI.

I’d love to see another Michaels match. He’s one of the best wrestlers ever and his involvement would benefit WrestleMania XXX in ways that nobody else’s would. That said I’m equally happy not seeing him wrestle again. He went out on top after having one of the most amazing careers the business has ever seen. There are loads of highlights we can look back on. Nothing new is needed.

***

¹ I feel I should clarify this. When Michaels had his four year lay off from 1998 to 2002 (due to what was originally believed to be a career ending back injury) he handpicked a small number of young guys to teach at a wrestling school in Texas. Bryan ‘Daniel Bryan’ Danielson was one of the guys there. How much Bryan learnt from Michaels is impossible to say without speaking to either man (which I haven’t done, obviously) but we can take a guess from the amount of time Bryan stayed there (less than a year) that it wouldn’t have been that much.

Daniel Bryan made a point of travelling all over the world to learn how to be a professional wrestler. His style is not especially influenced by ‘The Heartbreak Kid’, it’s more in line with Japanese wrestling and technical mat wrestling. Bryan’s been much more heavily influenced by KENTA, whom he faced many times before signing with WWE, and William Regal, whom he trained with while under his first WWF developmental contract in the first few years of the millennium. The reason he wears maroon trunks is as a tribute to Regal. No broken heart emblems there!

All of this said I can completely understand why WWE presents the Bryan and Michaels relationship in this fashion. Being the former student of Hall of Famer and ‘Mr WrestleMania’ Shawn Michaels does more for Bryan’s standing with the average fan than an open admission of the same relationship with an NXT commentator would.

² There is absolutely nothing wrong with this attitude. More wrestlers should attempt to have the match of the night more often. It would contribute significantly to making the output of many wrestling companies more enjoyable.