The Power Of Positivity: Hit Slater’s Music!

It’s that time of year when seemingly every writer of professional wrestling is looking back on the year that was. As for me and my weekly opinion piece, I have absolutely no time for that because did hear that great pop that Heath Slater got on Raw?! That was incredible!

This isn’t a full article solely devoted to Slater appreciation, but he does get more than plenty of that from me. What this article is – and it’s only the second edition of The Power of Positivity, so I’ll explain- is a roundup of many of the things that I feel are right in the current landscape of this business. It’s so easy to focus on the negatives, like a 70-year-old freaking billionaire getting arrested in an awkwardly acted segment, so I vow to have as little of that as possible in the piece.

Sit back, get a sip of what’s left of the egg nog, and enjoy the good vibes. If you aren’t in a positive mood just yet, let this .gif change your spirits…

Heath Slater Baby!

I am a mark for the One Man Rock Band so I was happy that he got such a strong ovation on Monday night. Sure, that Brooklyn crowd gave strange reactions throughout most of the episode of Raw but I choose to believe that they were 100% spot on when it came to Heath Slater.

Is it so wrong to wish for this man to get more on screen time? He’s got a fun energy that can surely be put to use somewhere and for crying out loud, he’s getting a WWE paycheck anyway. Let him be another comedy guy alongside R-Truth, who’s isn’t lighting the world on fire either but at least he gives us some funny moments from time to time. Who knows, a guy like Heath Slater might accidentally spout out a funny catchphrase and sell a little merch for his company. None of this will ever happen, however, if his Raw appearances are limited to only a few fleeting moments once every few months.

Maybe I’m just biased because I’m a West Virginia native as well, but I do recall one night in August of 2014 in which Heath Slater took on the then-Money In The Bank briefcase holder and future WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins. While the outcome was completely thanks to a Dean Ambrose distraction, he pinned Rollins in the middle of the ring to thunderous approval from the crowd. Here’s that moment again if you’d like to relive its glory with me…

It was earlier this year that Daniel Bryan even brought up Slater in an interview as someone he thought of as being “tremendous.” Bryan speculated on a rivalry for the sake of seeing what could be done with a guy who knows how to get a reaction but doesn’t get too many chances. A feud that high profile is probably wishful thinking, but how about WWE gives him a feud of any kind? Maybe he can finally answer a U.S. Open Challenge if Cena regains that title?

Big Show At #1?

It was probably due to still being in a Heath Slater markout hangover, but I was one of the people that interpreted Big Show’s comments about the Royal Rumble to mean that he was entering himself into the number 1 spot. Even the announcers debated his intentions because who would voluntarily choose the first (or second, for that matter) spot? It’s literally the worst one. After a few days of head scratching, it appears that Big Show must’ve simply flubbed up a line slightly. That number 1 spot is still up for grabs.

Since that clarification, it seems like Big Show might want to go ahead and claim the first spot after all. Betting odds have been released and it shows that “the favorites to win are the #1 entrant (+600) and #30 (450).” I’m sure he’d still rather have the last spot, but that first one isn’t looking so bad now. The other odds that have been making news is that both John Cena and Brock Lesnar seem to be early favorites for the 30-man contest. My pick between those two is Lesnar because I’d rather see a rematch between him and Reigns from the previous WrestleMania. I wouldn’t hate having Cena in that spot, it just interests me way less.

All this Big Show and betting odds talk is simply because we’re in the buildup to the Royal Rumble and it’s hard not to get excited about it. The Rumble has been a real downer over the past few years but I’m crossing my fingers that WWE gets it a little more right in 2016. Surely they can’t put on yet another poorly received Royal Rumble, can they? Actually, don’t answer that – I know the likely answer but am choosing to hang out in my realm of most likely misguided hope instead.

My Favorite Video Package Of The Year

Even though I wrote in the intro that I’m not doing any year-end stuff in this article, that’s sort of a fib. While watching NXT’s look back on some of the most memorable stuff they’ve done this year I was able to rewatch the final five minutes of the Bayley vs. Sasha Banks 30 Minute Ironman Match for the NXT Women’s Championship. It was incredible. I keep wanting to place that match in the shadow of their Brooklyn encounter, but might need to give a proper reviewing of both of them to make sure.

While watching all of this I was reminded of the hype video that WWE put together in preparation for the Ironman match. I looked it up and invite you to watch it, at least until around the 1:41 mark. That part ALWAYS gives me chills…

NXT has consistently riveting rivalries and characters and has the benefit of WWE’s insanely good production abilitites. They knocked it out of the park with this Bayley/Sasha video. I also remember some very well done documentary-style pieces that were down for Finn Balor and Apollo Crews as well. NXT knows how to present their product effectively and I’m stoked to see what this brand does in 2016.

One Thing To Complain About

I would’ve picked the Brooklyn Raw crowd for crapping all over a perfectly fine Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch match as my one thing to complain about, but they did also pop big for Heath Slater. They get a pass. The one thing I’ll complain about this week is the bad acting from the opening segment on Raw. I might’ve been able to live with the strange Mr. McMahon/angry police officers interactions by itself, especially since it resulted in that Vince mugshot…

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag42/pack291/122915-vince-mcmahon-mug-4_zpsmienlzjb.jpg

…but then I’m reminded of Stephanie screaming for her dad over and over as the police car drove off. I think those screams will be seared into my brain for months.

Final Ramblings And Plugs

This is still that part of the year in which the wrestling world is sort of held hostage by the holidays. There’s not a ton of new material getting put out there. TNA, Ring of Honor, and NXT all were in “look back on 2015′ mode. I’m looking forward to when everything gets back into the grind. Lucha Underground is also returning in January so there’s plenty of things to get hyped about (shoutout to Mojo) on the horizon.

If you want to keep with all that I do, just follow me on Twitter @MitchNickelson.

I normally close with a shill of Wrestling Date Night, the podcast that I do with my wife, but not this week. We had too much fun with Christmas and family to make that happen. We’ll be back next week, though.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to banter in the comments below. I hope to see comments that passionately agree with my Slater love but I’ll still read all the other stuff, too.