A Positive Spin (Well Mostly) on the WWE

This is getting difficult. It seems like every week, RAW gets worse and worse. Sure, they sprinkle in a good show here and there. However, for the most part, RAW has become “Must Not See TV.” It’s very frustrating. How many times can I write about the problems of the WWE, and how to fix them? During the Attitude Era, writing about wrestling was easy. Every week, it was easy to find a positive spin to a story. You could write about the latest surprise, the hottest angles, an update on who jumped federations, or a piece on one of the many superstars in the industry. Today, with the WWE being the only game in town, especially for someone who doesn’t get the channel Ring of Honor is on or can’t sit through an episode of TNA, it is slim picking as to what I can write about.

Instead of writing yet another negative article, because I want to be positive, I am going to try to look at what is going on that is good in the WWE. Hopefully, this is not a short endeavor.

PLANS ARE CHANGING?

On RAW, it was announced that the WWE World title match between Brock Lesnar and John Cena has been changed to a Triple Threat match between Brock, Cena, and Seth Rollins. This move adds some intrigue to not only the Rumble title match, but to the Road to WrestleMania as well. I believe that Seth Rollins addition to the WWE World title match means that the WWE is changing their WrestleMania main event plans. With adding a third participant, Brock Lesnar can now drop the title without losing the match. Thus, he will still remain strong heading into WrestleMania as the one who is the one in 21 and 1. Therefore, you can now have Brock Lesnar take on Roman Reigns at WrestleMania XXXI where Reigns gets a huge notch on his belt for beating the man that beat the Undertaker. The victory could lead to Roman Reigns gaining the momentum that he currently lacks, and leads him to becoming the top star that the power players in the WWE see him as.

Having Brock drop the belt without getting pinned could also set him up to attack someone in the Rumble match itself in order to set up his WrestleMania opponent. If it’s not Roman Reigns, Lesnar can attack Daniel Bryan, which would set up a dream match between Bryan and Lesnar. While the fans will not be happy that Bryan isn’t going for the title at WrestleMania XXXI, the backlash shouldn’t be as bad as last year, because they know Bryan would be heavily featured at Mania.

Seth Rollins addition to the match puts the winner of the Royal Rumble in doubt. If Seth leaves Philadelphia with the title, would the WWE have him face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania for the belt in a match that’s been played out many times recently? Would they have him in a match with John Cena, because Cena is the company’s go-to guy? Would the WWE have Daniel Bryan win the Royal Rumble, and go on to face the Authority’s top lieutenant? That’s a lot of intriguing possibilities. Of course, the WWE could also stay the course and have Lesnar win the Triple Threat match, and Reigns win the Rumble making the above scenarios meaningless. However, this is supposed to be a positive look at the WWE, so I am going to stick with the belief that there is an actual reason, with an actual payoff, as to why the WWE inserted Seth Rollins into the WWE World title match at the Royal Rumble.

WE APPRECIATE JOHN CENA

When I first heard that it was John Cena Appreciation Night on RAW, I admit that I didn’t have high hopes for the evening. However, I couldn’t wait for the segment, because there were rumors all day that the WWE was going be presenting a major angle for WrestleMania. Well, if this was it, than it was a failure. Although, as a stand-alone segment, it was pretty good. The Authority had to get revenge on those that went against them, which they did. Even though EVERYBODY knows that the firings will not stand, the dismissals of John Cena’s Survivor Series partners made perfect sense in the storyline. It will also allow Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, and Erik Rowan to be involved in the main storyline will they return to get their revenge against the Authority.

The segment also adds depth to his character as he now sees that his actions have negatively affected other people while he remains unscathed from the Authority’s wrath. If the WWE would allow it, that would use this as the first step in turning John Cena heel, as he shows that he truly doesn’t care about his teammates. Then you could have a heel Cena pass the torch to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. However, a heel Cena is a pipe dream that I have long given up on, so I’ll forget about that. The biggest question that I have coming out of this segment is how will Ziggler, Ryback, and Rowan get their jobs back? Will Vince McMahon show up and re-instate them? Will the eventual Sting/Triple H match at WrestleMania XXXI lead the three to get their jobs back? Too bad the WWE doesn’t have a working relationship with TNA. Dixie Carter is set to have a “major” announcement on Wednesday. How great would it be if her announcement was that Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, and Erik Rowan were now working for TNA. That would be a great way to further the storyline until the WWE “brings them back” into the company.

THE NEGATIVE

OK, so I tried to remain positive. However, I couldn’t come up with a third positive thing from this past Monday. Besides, as a columnist, I should maintain a neutral position. If something is great, I should say it is. If it sucks, I need to report that as well.

Roman Reigns:

If you are a regular reader of the column, you know my feelings on Roman Reigns. While I like him as a character, I don’t think he is ready for the top spot. When the rumors started to circulate around this time last year that Reigns will be headlining WrestleMania XXXI, I always felt that WrestleMania XXXII was a more realistic time table to insert the former Shield member as the heir apparent to John Cena. Monday’s RAW telecast did Reigns no favors. His promo where he compared himself to Superman was awful. Maybe it’s not his fault. Maybe the writing is horrible. Maybe it’s his delivery. Perhaps, it’s both. Plus, his crowd reaction was not the type of explosion that you would hear for someone that is months away from being the company’s new top star. Granted, this crowd sucked in terms of their reactions. However, he didn’t get anything close to a decent reaction.

Dean Ambrose:

When Roman Reigns was put on the shelf for a couple of months following his hernia surgery, Dean Ambrose stepped in as the #2 babyface in the company. He was on a fantastic role as the guy behind John Cena. Ambrose did such a great job that many fans were questioning whether Dean Ambrose should be put in the WrestleMania XXXI main event ahead of Roman Reigns. Since then, Bray Wyatt defeated Dean Ambrose in three major matches; Survivor Series by DQ, TLC in a TLC match, and the Ambulance match on this past RAW. I’m OK with building up Bray Wyatt. However, they shouldn’t be doing it at the expense of Dean Ambrose. Ambrose had a ton of momentum as a new main event player before his feud with Wyatt. Now, the former Shield member may need to be rebuilt. This is something that the WWE didn’t need to do, because Ambrose was one of, if not the, most over performers in the company. Hopefully, it’s not too late.

The Ascension:

UGH! What can you say about the Ascension? I actually had high hopes for them. However, in their first two weeks, it looks like I need to lower the bar. First off, their look makes them appear like an indy knock off of the Road Warriors and Demolition. Then, after acknowledging these comparisons by ripping on the two legendary tag teams during this past RAW, instead of the heel announcer putting the new duo over, JBL buried them. While the WWE had Ascension defeat both teams that they faced with ease, that will not be enough to elevate them as a top threat to the tag team champions. The announcers need to verbally put them over strong, and the WWE needs to give them a better look.With tag teams like the Usos, Gold and StarDust, and The Miz and MizDow, the tag team scene in the WWE has been putting on some very good matches for over the last year. This isn’t the tag team era of the mid 2000s where a team could come in from Ohio Valley, and on their first night would automatically be considered the best tag team in the WWE. Today, there is a lot more competition in the WWE. The Ascension needs to be built up to show that they belong in the division, and not torn down like they were this past Monday.

Since I wanted this column to be positive, I will end it with this. I haven’t seen Wrestle Kingdom yet. From the reports that I have read, it sounds like it was a really good show. If you want an alternative to the WWE, this sounds like this could be it. Check out the replay, I know that I will.