Irish Intercontinental

WWE currently has a great opportunity to declutter their title scene a little bit. Knowing the way the company works I don’t think they’ll have realised it or that they’ll care about it if they have. But the opportunity’s there regardless.

The Intercontinental championship was vacated a few weeks ago after champion Bad News Barrett suffered an arm injury. A new champion will be crowned at the Battleground pay-per-view in a thirty man battle royal. Yeah, thirty. That number seems a bit high considering how few legitimately over wrestlers are on the roster and that (apparently) nobody involved will wrestle in a second match on the show. But that’s what they’re going for.

One of the thirty men in the match is current United States champion Sheamus. That’s a championship that means even less than the Intercontinental title. If either the IC or the US belt was dropped then the remaining one would mean more. The fewer prizes there are on offer the greater an accomplishment it is to win one.

Give Sheamus the Intercontinental championship.

I’m not a fan of former world champions winning mid-card titles. Nor am I a fan of Sheamus. But even so I wouldn’t mind seeing ‘The Celtic Warrior’ leave Battleground as a double champion. It would allow him to appear on RAW the next night and officially combine the two titles, quietly dropping the US belt after a few weeks (or then and there on RAW). Or he could knock the US strap and the country it represents and cast it aside, providing the spark for a heel turn.

Naturally I’d much rather see the uber-talented Cesaro or Dolph Ziggler win the Intercontinental title. Or the recently revived Fandango. Or the slowly catching on Bo Dallas. Any of them would be a great choice to construct meaningful mid-card storylines around. But in Sheamus WWE has the option to finish the tidy-up started last December with the world title unification, and that’s something I’ve wanted to see them do for years.

Of course for the Intercontinental championship to truly become the star-making tool it used to be more needs to be done than unifying it with or keeping it in favour of the United States championship. It needs to be presented as a title worth winning and wrestled for in lively matches featuring performers people care about. But getting rid of the US title isn’t a bad first step.

KENTA in the Land of Sports Entertainment

So WWE’s signed KENTA to a developmental contract. This is kind of a big deal.

Kenta Kobayashi (he wisely chose to stylize his ring name KENTA in part to avoid confusion with his real life mentor and fellow wrestler Kenta Kobashi) previously worked for Pro Wrestling NOAH and had been their biggest name and most reliable wrestler for several years. He is (or was) the most significant name in puroresu not to be working for New Japan. That company, along with WWE, TNA, All Japan and NOAH, had all made their interest in him known but KENTA opted to go with WWE’s offer. Perhaps he’s always dreamt of being a WWE Superstar™.

The KENTA signing is all thanks to Hulk you know.

KENTA will start out stationed in NXT. He may have been the top star of NOAH and wrestled a variety of styles around the world but that doesn’t matter. In modern WWE everyone starts the same way. Which makes perfect sense. KENTA needs to familiarise himself with the WWE ring, learn how to interact with a WWE crowd, and get used to wrestling alongside the WWE camera setup, amongst dozens of other intricacies.

And, of course, he needs to improve his English. He’s not fluent. WWE won’t want him to be but they will want him to be passable before they promote him to the main roster, and understandably so. He needs to be able to have basic interactions with fans outside arenas and in airports, and have a decent enough understanding of the language to read an audience and interact with fellow wrestlers. It’s all as much a part of the job as kicking people really hard.

This is not to say that KENTA needs perfect English to succeed in WWE. I don’t think that’s the case. Many wrestlers have made it to positions of prominence with limited verbal skills. The most obvious example is Brock Lesnar. During his initial run with the company he developed into a decent, if unspectacular, talker. Since returning he’s barely uttered a word, instead being paired up with premier chat man Paul Heyman.

Outside of WWE Sabu exhibited drawing power as a crazed madman that never spoke in both the US and Japan in the 90s. Goldberg was about the only star WCW created for themselves, and he was never one for long promos. Vader, Taz, and Rob Van Dam were all star attractions for various promotions without speaking. Back in WWE Undertaker initially became a star without really doing much beyond wrestling slowly and looming as managers nattered about him.

Of course, there are arguments for why none of this applies to KENTA. Sabu, Goldberg and anyone else who became a star without talking outside of WWE were all working in different systems with different expectations and requirements. Undertaker had a very specific gimmick that didn’t lend itself to lengthy promos. And Brock Lesnar is Brock Lesnar, a proven box office draw with a star aura whose limitations WWE will work around because of the wealth of positive attributes he possesses.

But, really, none of this matters. If KENTA’s English is deemed not good enough it needn’t stop him becoming a star. He could be introduced as an “international superstar” Heyman Guy. He could be introduced as a member of The Authority, handpicked by Triple H as another star of tomorrow. WWE could even get their act together and cast another manager to pair KENTA with. Ultimately an inability to cut lengthy promos will only hinder KENTA (under whatever ring name he ends up with) as much as WWE allows it to. It’s his ability to interact with crowds and the quality of his matches that will determine whether KENTA becomes a star or not.

Total Nonstop reDRagon

If rumours are to be believed (and they often are) TNA is interested in signing Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. The pair, known collectively as reDRagon, are best known for their work in Ring of Honor. They’ve been teaming there, and elsewhere, for the last year and a half and have been a reliable, entertaining duo producing good matches and good promos.

Fish and O’Reilly are currently without ROH contracts, leaving us to presume that they’re working on what is colloquially known as a “handshake deal” until they either sign new contracts or lose the company’s tag team titles and move on. This leaves them with a choice of staying with their current employers or moving over to TNA. Both have their positives and negatives.

If reDRagon stay with ROH they’ll retain their relatively high spot on the card. They’ll perform in front of crowds who know and appreciate them and their work. And they will have further opportunities to work with New Japan talent visiting the US via ROH and also make trips over to New Japan themselves. All very satisfying for a pro wrestler.

ROH will want to hang on to reDRagon.

But staying with ROH is limiting. They’ve faced every regular combo in the company. That includes Bad Influence, who debuted as a pair less than a month ago. There are things that further O’Reilly and Fish versus Daniels and Kazarian matches could offer and accomplish that the first didn’t, but no rematch can feel as significant or accomplish as much as the first meeting.

Short of ROH signing or creating some new pairings, which isn’t beyond them but doesn’t appear to be a priority at the moment, reDRagon will basically be treading water. They can lose and regain the titles to keep them occupied but they’ve already enjoyed three reigns. What will more accomplish without a deeper roster to work with?

In TNA reDRagon would have some new opposition as a team but not as much as could be assumed by a “jumping to a new company” headline. The only regular teams on the Total Nonstop roster that reDRagon haven’t clashed with are The BroMans and The Menagerie. Those matches could be good but it’s not guaranteed, and they’re not the sorts of collisions that could be billed as dream matches. reDRagon versus either of those teams would be nothing more than a generic TV bout.

Having The Wolves on the roster is not the great boon it might appear either. Fish and O’Reilly faced Edwards and Richards many times in Ring of Honor. Anyone desperate to see those teams wrestle can see them do so easily enough via the interweb or a DVD purchase. They could put some new spots together and I’m sure the first meeting could give TNA’s TV tallies a spike but it’s not a feud that’s going to engage everyone watching. Crucially it’s not a feud that’s going to fully engage any of the four men involved, because they’ve been through it before.

But what TNA can offer Fish and O’Reilly is a new platform with new viewers and the promise that they’re trying to expand. The former would allow the pair to win over new people, meaning potential T-shirt and assorted merch sales for the future, while the latter could result in new teams to work with in the future. Plus there’s the fact that TNA would probably offer more money than ROH.

Personally I’d like to see reDRagon stay in Ring of Honor. TNA has done nothing over the last twelve months to make me think they’d do anything interesting with a talented team like Fish and O’Reilly. The fact that they rushed the tag championships on to the not dissimilar Wolves practically confirms they wouldn’t. Short of Fish and O’Reilly getting the chance to move over to NXT (which isn’t inconceivable) I’m fine watching them in ROH.

Black Hat, Bad Guy

The play-by-play commentator is an important figure in wrestling. When done properly the role is filled by someone who not only has an extensive knowledge of wrestling moves, holds and tropes but also someone how knows how to help tell the story the wrestlers in any given match are telling, understands how to get over characters and significant plot points that will be relevant at a later date, and someone who can lead a broadcast. It’s not an easy job because there are so many aspects to it, so it’s no wonder that there are very few really good play-by-play guys out there.

At this point I’ll note that Michael Cole describes himself, and is described by WWE and his colleagues Jerry Lawler and John Bradshaw Layfield, as a broadcast analyst. The reason for this is so that Cole has a get out clause whenever he’s accused of not being as good as other lead announcers. Basically he has a different job. And yes, WWE cares about giving key employees ways to get out of niggling arguments.

Michael Cole isn’t my point though. I just thought his job title was something worth mentioning. Due to the nature of the role play-by-play announcers have almost always been faces. It’s tough to have a heel perform many of the explanatory functions of the play-by-play gig because their prime function when wearing a headset is to be antagonistic. A villain explaining why fans are (or should be) rooting for a babyface simply doesn’t work within the confines of wrestling logic. There’s also the fact that play-by-play guys are essentially the narrators of wrestling shows. Having someone you can’t properly empathise with as the person explaining things to your audience really doesn’t work.

With all this said I’d like to remind you of something. In 1996 the WWF turned Jim Ross heel. He cut a worked shoot promo in which he described himself as the best play-by-play man in the business, buried the decision to put him in a toga, and knocked Vince McMahon for firing him in February ’94, shortly after he’d suffered his first bout of Bell’s Palsy.

Jim Ross is not a heel.

Yes, likeable, cuddly old JR was turned heel by talking about things which most people could fully empathise with. He was one of the best commentators in the business at that point (I’d argue Joey Styles was the best but I’m sure many would disagree in favour of Ross). The decision to put him (and other WWF personalities) in togas at WrestleMania IX was a bad one. And Vince taking the decision to fire him after he’d been struck with an illness was a low move even by shady wrestling promoter standards.

Ross was turned heel to introduce the short-lived replacements for Razor Ramon and Diesel. The reason they were around is a whole other story. Basically the WWF was being petty and trying to bury the opposition at the same time and it backfired. JR was selected for the role because of his role as head of talent relations (apparently) but it would have made far more sense to use a more experienced on-screen character like Jerry Lawler or Jim Cornette.  Ross hadn’t been linked to either of the originals on-screen and said nothing in his promo that explained his actions.

It was a dumb move turning a popular, talented face announcer heel. And they did it twice!

In early 1999, when he returned after time off with another bout of Bell’s Palsy (he’d been rehired after his firing), JR was reintroduced to TV as a petty, spiteful man unable to handle the fact that Michael Cole had replaced him at the announce booth. His answer to the problem was to have his own desk constructed in front of the regular desk, complete with his initials in place of the WWF logo. He called a single match while taking cheap shots at Cole before his table was (partially) destroyed and deemed inoperable.

In actuality it was pretty funny. JR referred to Cole as “the boy” and was so ill-suited to the antagonist role that he ventured into so-bad-it’s-good territory. On top of that he had ‘Doctor Death’ Steve Williams with him as a bodyguard. That was made all the funnier by the fact that Williams by this point hated his former pal Ross, blaming him for the embarrassing loss he’d suffered in the Brawl For All tournament ¹ the previous year which had obliterated the tough guy aura he’d cultivated with years of working stiff in Japan.

But as funny as it was it was a completely stupid decision. Ross was clearly not cut out to play such a character either in 1996 or in 1999. And really, that’s all I had to say here. My work is done. I simply wanted to remind people that Jim Ross heel turns were things that happened and they were as ludicrous and painfully bad as you’d expect.

***

¹ You may be unaware of Brawl For All. If so, count yourself lucky. All you need to know here is that it was a tournament featuring WWF wrestlers wearing boxing gloves in real fights which were broadcast on RAW. It failed to create any new stars and inflected a multitude of injuries on the roster. Everyone involved thinks it was a daft idea and, going on available evidence, it’s hard to understand how it happened in the first place.

That RAW Recap 07.07.14

Two things stood out as being good on Monday’s RAW.

The first was the presentation of Roman Reigns. A few weeks ago he was a fun-lovin’ prankster, spiking coffees being carried by Vickie Guerrero so he could sneak his way into a pay-per-view main event. That wasn’t the sort of approach that was going to turn Reigns from a man with potential coming off a run as part of a popular trio into the leading man WWE needed. It didn’t play to his strengths. Worse, it made him look like every other WWE babyface.

Thankfully someone involved in the creative process seems to have realised that was a mistake. Monday’s RAW opened with Reigns striding through the crowd, to a reaction only reserved for top stars, and cutting a promo in which he displayed charisma and the ability to hit bullet points that further storylines (both necessary skills for those at the top of the WWE ladder). The response he got when addressing Kane, Randy Orton, John Cena and Triple H was a very good sign.

I don't want to know what Joey Mercury's grabbing for.

The good booking continued when Kane showed up and Reigns left the ring to battle him in the aisle. That he was keen to fight ‘The Big Red Monster’ made him look like the tough guy WWE needs. That he speared Finlay and then knocked Kane off the apron with a Superman punch ensured that RAW’s first segment ended with Reigns looking like a man who doesn’t back down. That’s the kind of star the promotion needs.

The show ended in a similarly positive manner. After Cena had defeated Rollins (in a non-title match) Orton and Kane appeared to duff up the world champ. Reigns showed up and immediately KOed both men with Superman punches, establishing that the move is incredibly effective. After briefly being dazed by a thump from Rollins’ briefcase (again protecting him by showing that Rollins needed to use a weapon to stun him) Reigns returned to the ring to save Cena from a choke slam by spearing Kane.

The episode went off the air with Cena and Reigns raising one another’s hands. When Reigns held up Cena’s hand the crowd booed. When Cena held up Roman’s hand the fans cheered. It was confirmation that Reigns is becoming accepted as a top guy and that he’s already preferable in the eyes of many to Cena. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Cena’s been on top for near enough a decade and WWE have done a terrible job of creating new stars over the last few years. Reigns is new and looks the part, so people will back him. They want change and Reigns represents it.

The second thing that stood out as being good was the booking of the non-main event names. This is something I’ve mentioned in a variety of articles over the last couple of months, my feeling being that giving people outside of main event plots something to do is what’s needed to make WWE’s weekly programming more watchable and to create new stars.

Please note that Fandango has "Girls" written on his tights.

The best example was Fandango. He followed up his enjoyable Money in the Bank performance with a stint as guest commentator during a Dolph Ziggler v Alberto Del Rio match. He was fun and got his character over before he leapt up on to the announce table for the planned finish: distracting Dolph with his dance moves.

But this wasn’t just promising because it gave Fandango something to do. It was clear that Fanners had a problem with ‘The Show Off’ giving Summer Rae (Fandango’s ex) a kiss and that that was his motivation for causing a disturbance. It’s not the ideal starting point for a Ziggler v Fandango rivalry but it’s at least a step in the right direction, and the involvement of Summer and Layla could allow for some tag matches to keep things interesting.

Similarly the idea of having The Miz read out fan mail was a nice touch. It got over his new wannabe movie star vibe, as did the Tom Cruise shades. I could have done without the return of his awful leather trenchcoat though. That things needs to be retired.

The Divas division was well served too. AJ Lee and Paige were paired up as a babyface team to defeat The Funkadactyls. Cameron opted to apply lip gloss instead of tagging into the match at a critical moment and was immediately pinned with a Paige Turner when she did eventually ta in. She and Naomi then had a shoving match followed by a fight. It was not impressive or multi-layered but it did get a surprisingly strong reaction, indicating audiences may be more into the Funkadactyl v Funkadactyl feud than I’d assumed. If so that’s good news. It means people can be pleased by a storyline involving performers who have only been half-heartedly pushed as long as it develops naturally.

Of course, the Paige and AJ thing was underplayed. There were no signs of jealousy or bitterness from the former champ. The closest they came was AJ flaunting the title belt a little too much, but it wasn’t pushed by the commentary crew and Paige didn’t really react to it. The long approach is being with their rivalry. That’s good.

While RAW as a whole was nothing spectacular it did several things right and indicated that the roster as a whole is being given attention. It’s a step in the right direction and I hope WWE sticks with it.