wrestling / Columns

5 Misconceptions In WWE Right Now

March 4, 2019 | Posted by Justin Watry
Roman Reigns Photo Credit: WWE

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such columns as March 2012’s “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan In Less Than A Minute” and October 2016’s “WWE NXT: Bobby Roode, You’re Next.”

Backstory

I’ve been wanting to do a column like this for awhile now, so let’s get to it!

Misconceptions In Wrestling

Charlotte Flair is the chosen one behind the scenes – Not true at all. In late 2018, I wrote a column and named Charlotte Flair as the Unsung MVP of WWE for the past 12 months. It seems that everybody has suddenly forgot that she is one of the best performers in the entire company. I would argue the entire industry, but I really only follow WWE, so that statement is pretty much the same. She brought it all year and has more than lived up to her family legacy and then some. Anybody that is STILL hanging onto the “Ric Flair’s daughter” tag kinda needs to grow up and move on. I am ALL for Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey as a one on one match to headline WrestleMania 35 for the Raw Womens Championship. However, this isn’t like WWE is throwing in Naomi or Lana or something. This is Charlotte – who has a ton of history with Becky and Rousey and will only add to the situation, not take away because make no mistake, the end result will be Becky Lynch holding the title to close out WM…

…which brings me to my real point. I hate to break some news for everyone here, but since Summerslam 2018, the company has been revolving around The Man Becky Lynch. She invaded Monday nights. She had the big showdown with Ronda Rousey hyped for Survivor Series. She won the closing bout in the Charlotte feud. She had the entire blue brand built around her, even while injured. She won the Royal Rumble match and was apparently hand selected for months without any budging whatsoever by Vince McMahon. Yeah, that Vince McMahon who supposedly is all about Charlotte and is reluctantly spotlighting Becky, which is just as absurd. Oh and as mentioned, take a guess who is walking out of Met Life Stadium as the new RAW Womens Champion. Yep, Becky Lynch. No reason to poo poo on Rousey and Charlotte just to back Becky. I think all three are amazing and have said they will main event WM for months now. Just stop the nonsense about Charlotte. It is almost as if the so called ‘smart’ fans are buying into the on screen product? Huh. Shocking.

Raw television ratings suck – Before the usual suspects chime in from the 1990’s, yes. Attitude Era had way better ratings. We get it. We know it. We lived it. We have since moved on, and now WWE is a $5 billion company with a brand new $2 billion television deal still ready to kick in later this year. That being said, even with USA Network and FOX shelling out monster paydays to WWE, there is still this sense that their TV numbers are garbage. I think everyone needs to escape the wrestling bubble for a moment and let go of the internet negativity. Here is what actual TV insiders are saying about WWE in 2019:

Tell me another cable show that is on top of the rankings every single week without fail for 52 weeks out of the year and is the coveted LIVE SPORTS programming so many want. You can’t. Hence the two billion dollars this company is getting. I would trust television executives and WWE way more than I would internet tough guys without a clue.

Arn Anderson being let go was based on one incident – Look, I am sure something did go down between Arn Anderson and Vince McMahon. I am also sure Vince McMahon gets into it every single show with somebody backstage. No real surprise there. The boss disagreeing or upsetting someone on their payroll? There is no story here. Here is the true story: WWE just hired Shane Helms, Jeff Jarrett, Abyss, Sonjay Dutt and others have moved up in the company to help with producing and become agents. In with the new, out with the old. This is not a big story and will happen again soon. Believe it or not, change is inevitable. Exactly why nobody should be shocked that Bruce Pritchard is back in the fold. I mean, he did have a WWE Network show and has always been buddies with the top players in power. This isn’t rocket science.

The NXT call ups caught everybody off guard – I called BS right away. Let’s just rewind a little bit before last week’s Raw. First of all, let’s begin with Aleister Black. The dude has been rumored for a call up for months now. Heck, I would say even a year. That is how it goes with top stars. Get a big debut showcase, win the title, drop the title and leave NXT shortly after. Pretty simple stuff. Ricochet is another one in a similar situation. He gets the spotlight upon debuting. Wins the North American Title and loses said title after awhile. He is the exact kind of guy who isn’t going to stay in NXT forever. A Kevin Owens or EC3 comes to mind immediately. Admittedly, Johnny Gargano and Ciampa are a bit more tricky but all the same.

Gargano and Ciampa recently reunited (which was pay off at the last NXTTakeover for those nitpicking their Raw tag team bout). Gargano also just lost a belt at an NXT TV taping and has been up and down the card so many times. Ciampa I did not expect a call up from. I will say that. I would have had Velveteen Dream in that spot, but you have to go back a little bit now. Wasn’t there a recent ‘curtain call’ type of moment with stars from NXT? You can’t tell me that was all for nothing. Clearly, WWE was thinking about something there. Or how about the Halftime Heat thing? Felt like a farewell type of blowoff showdown to me. I know ‘plans change’ and all that junk. I get it, but there has been constant talk of a shake up on WWE TV. What better way than to highlight some of the best NXT has to offer? Gets them in front of a bigger audience (FS1 deal coming?) and lets them finish up their NXT commitments which has been teased for a long time.

Personally, I would keep them in NXT for a little bit because the WrestleMania 35 picture is likely to get real crowded real quick. We shall see how this goes.

Roman Reigns returning to Raw on Monday came out of nowhere. – It only came out of nowhere if you didn’t follow me on Twitter. Last Thursday morning…

…and then the internet exploded with news of Roman Reigns returning to RAW! Going to be a stacked show tonight (writing this Monday morning). I’m pumped.

Bottom line: Just like CM Punk returning to do some kind of wrestling in 2019, you can chalk up another one of my many BOLD predictions as being correct. Roman Reigns is back on television, and you can believe that.

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