The 8 Ball: Top 8 WWE Wrestlers in Trouble

Top 8 WWE Wrestlers in Trouble

Back for a third installment, it’s the 411Mania Wrestling Zone Magic 8-Ball Trouble Index. I know, so exciting, but try to contain yourself. This is a quarterly installment for the 8-Ball, designed to sort out who’s hit or is heading toward a dead end in the WWE. Last time around, before WrestleMania, Bad News Barrett topped the list. Poor guy had just won the Intercontinental Championship again and that never goes well for him. Meanwhile, the runner up, Roman Reigns, got saved when the WWE made the astute decision not to jam him down our throats. While he’s far from being in the position where the E theoretically wants him, he isn’t in any sort of active trouble at this time.

Now for the trouble watch list. These are the folks who could be in deeper trouble if they aren’t careful. While I like some of what the Miz is doing with Ryback and Big Show, what’s his real role here? Getting thrown around like a rag doll? He needs to find a new direction. I’d still love to see him as a manager. Big Show got his big win at WrestleMania in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and then had a surprisingly good match against Reigns at Extreme Rules, but after he’s done padding Ryback’s resume what’s left for him? Perhaps the recent death of Dusty Rhodes will remind Vince McMahon that Dusty’s son, Stardust, deserves way better than he’s been getting, but barring that you have to wonder if Stardust will be used as anything more than enhancement talent. Damien Sandow bust out as Damien Mizdow and now he’s saddled with a Macho Mandow gimmick. Hard to say he’s in trouble because it’s unclear the E ever planned to capitalize on his Mizdow flourish. In the tag ranks, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan got back together, and are doing close to nothing. Maybe there’s a plan for them. If not, trouble.

8. Ryback

What? He just won his first belt and he’s getting fed Big Show to pump up his bona fides. He’s on the upswing. Right? Nope, note the belt he’s wearing. The IC title is the Cursed Belt. Ryback probably won’t be forced to lose constantly in between defenses, but it’s no longer a stepping stone to the main event, more like rubber ceiling that sends you back down the pecking order after your forgettable title run. Yet Ryback’s trouble extends beyond the IC curse. Post-WrestleMania he looked set to feud with Bray Wyatt and they dropped that like a hot potato. Wyatt is now stalking Roman Reigns, apparently forgetting he ever had Ryback in his sites. Also, with John Cena and Kevin Owens staging epic matches, Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar topping this summer’s dance card, and a tag team division that’s been a lot of fun of late (praise be the New Day), Ryback is in danger of becoming the least interesting titleholder in the promotion. He’s not a great worker and his longer matches bog down. The Big Guy could start to feel like filler by the end of the summer.

7. Cesaro

His tag team partner, Tyson Kidd, is seriously injured (neck injury, may be out for more than a year) and it’s an open question if there’s any plan for Cesaro. The mind boggles that the WWE treats quite possibly its most talented in-ring performer like an afterthought, but apparently letting Cesaro just be the freak of nature he is hasn’t occurred to Vince. They could fix him up with another tag partner, which would at least spare him the ignominy of jobbing in the mid-card. They could give him a mini-push and then use him to make Ryback look good (if the Swiss Superman can’t pull a hot match out of the Big Guy, probably no one can). I’d love to see him come in as Seth Rollins’ new enforcer or perhaps feud with Dean Ambrose (maybe both at the same time). Yet there’s very little reason to think that when they remember he’s on the roster that he’ll get the sort of push he deserves.

6. Randy Orton

These are strange days for the Amazing Randy. He is unquestionably out of the main event picture. What does a living legend do under these circumstances? Who does he fight? What does he fight for? Booking him into something meaningful won’t be an easy task. He might make more sense getting used like Brock Lesnar. Space out his appearances and make them feel special. Orton vs. Samoa Joe probably would be a lot of fun. Yet he’s more likely going to be stalking around, getting in feuds that don’t resonate, working also-on-the-card matches. It is stunning that with five hours of primetime television each week that WWE Creative could struggle to find a direction for Orton, but here we are. Randy Orton – more total package than Lex Luger, more prototype than John Cena, more perfect than Curt Hennig – has become an afterthought. Seeing that Cesaro’s on this list too, why not pair them up and let them be the most awesome tag team on the planet?

5. Rusev

In the span of few months Rusev’s gone from Vladimir Putin’s chosen man to demoralize western civilization to a hobbled dude stalking his ex-girlfriend. He’d have ranked higher here, but the injury has turned out to be a saving grace. At least we haven’t seen the rest of the roster picking his carcass after the Cena Express turned him into roadkill. Obviously Rusev is angling toward a clash with Dolph Ziggler, possibly for SummerSlam. Summer Rae apparently is being thrown into the mix, and having her by your side guarantees a rocket ride to the top … just ask Fandango. It doesn’t seem like fans are invested in it. Mind you, after Cena spanked him, it’s hard to see the Bulgarian brute as a legitimate threat. If Ziggler wins, it’s because Rusev’s been exposed. If Rusev wins, then Dolph looks like a pretender. Restoring Rusev’s dignity and in-ring viability will require a long-term, consistent, concerted effort from WWE Creative … and this is where we all fall over laughing at how preposterous it is to think WWE Creative would even attempt something like that let alone do it.

4. The WWE

First, the good news for the WWE: the company actually made money during the first quarter of the year, $9.8 million to be exact. That’s a fairly modest number, but it beats losing money. Lots of attention has been paid to the WWE Network finally topping a million subscribers, but buried deeper in those numbers is the average ticket price for WWE events jumped almost 50% during the past year. At $61.86 a ticket, you’ve got to wonder if that’s going to cut into the family market over the long haul. That is an expensive night out with the kids. More power to them if they can keep filling venues at that price point. However, the 8-Ball is skeptical. More than that, the weekly television product continues to drag. People aren’t engaged. This week’s Raw drew 3.67 million viewers. That’s a WCW Nitro circa 2000 sort of number. Raw got soundly beaten by the U.S. women playing Colombia in the World Cup, which drew 4.72 million viewers. Let that settle in if you will. The WWE lost out to women’s team sports (for the record, I watched the soccer game). That is not the shape of a world in which Vince McMahon wants to live.

3. Dolph Ziggler

Much as I love Dolph Ziggler, his post-Survivor Series push never materialized. That show was his big moment, and then he stole the show with Luke Harper at TLC, and then it’s just been a lot of dicking around in the mid-card. He still works his tail off and fans still show support for his cause, but you get the distinct impression his ship is never coming in (at least as far as the WWE is concerned). Some intrigue has been thrown into the mix with the rumor that maybe Zig won’t re-sign with the E when his contract expires later this year. Supposedly he wants a meaningful push or he’s going to try life outside the WWE. The 8-Ball is 100% convinced Ziggler would have a prosperous and successful post-WWE existence. The 8-Ball also is mostly convinced he’s never getting that push in the WWE. So we could be watching his final few months with the promotion. Maybe not, I’m sure the WWE will offer him a healthy sum of money even it makes no creative promises (and it probably would be right not to make many creative promises). Yet as more NXT talents graduate to the WWE, Dolph is likely to find himself sliding down the pecking order if he stays. If they’re scratching their heads over what to do with Randy Orton, what chance does Ziggler stand?

2. Divas Division

Originally this list was chock full of divas. Don’t know if you noticed, but Nikki Bella is pulling off face/heel turns at a quantum level. She’s like Schrödinger’s cat. Paige’s attempts at breaking the Bellas’ hold on the division have gone for nought. She may have given the worst rally-the-troops speech in history two Raws ago. Naomi committed the great sin of making sense in promos and that went nowhere. Alicia Fox, who last summer suffered from the compulsion to pour super-sized cups of soda over her cleavage, is now buds with the Bellas because … reasons you don’t need to know. The divas matches are as flimsy as ever. No one can defend against a rollup or small package. With those two moves you can dominate the WWE Divas Division. It keeps getting worse. The women in the WWE have been reduced to a screeching, incoherent, unwatchable mess. Honestly, what’s the point of having matches and a belt if this is what you’re going to do?

1. King Bad News

According to the spoilers, the WWE’s recently crowned King of the Ring wrestled a dark match prior to Smackdown this week in which he LOST to Jack Swagger. At this point you have to wonder if Vince McMahon is performing some sort of mindscrew experiment on Barrett where every time the guy wins something, he then gets treated like dirt. One of these days Vince is going to offer him the WWE title and Barrett’s response will be: “No. I beg you. Not that. Anything but that.” This king gimmick has gone nowhere. It’s actually taken away from his “bad news” persona. Why the E won’t get behind a legitimately tough, outrageously fit guy with mic skills makes no sense. Forget about getting to main event level, he’s now working as an extra. King of the Ring may be the last bone he gets thrown, and it’s turned him fully into a pompous windbag who can’t beat any meaningful face on the roster. Possibly he could find a spot in the tag ranks, but it’s looking like Barrett’s entered the decline phase of his WWE career. It’s a shame to see that much talent go to waste.

I take requests.. The purpose of this column is to look forward. What could be? What should be? What is and what should never be? What would make more sense? 411 has plenty of columns that count down and rank things that happened in the past. This is not one of those columns. The Magic 8-Ball is here to gaze into the future. If there’s someone or something you think should be given the 8-Ball treatment, mention it in the comments section. I might pick it up for future weeks.