Wow, what a crazy week it was in wrestling, most of which was for reasons not involving anything in the ring. We saw a little bit of everything legends return, indie sensations arrive, injured wrestlers turned vigilantes, and an established promotion be possible dealt the death blow. So in an attempt to tackle all of this we will start with what makes the wrestling world go round, Monday Night Raw.
I was a little disappointed Brock Lesner wasn’t on Raw cause now assuming he’ll be there next week we will only have a few shows of face to face interaction before Summer Slam. Regardless Raw kicked off with the typical passionate “money match” speech from Cena where he tells us he’s gonna be honest with us and its gonna be the fight of his life and things like that. Typical fare whenever he is in a big time match for a cornerstone PPV. The segment got immensely better when Paul Heyman appeared (they usually do). It wasn’t necessarily anything Paul did, he too delivered a pretty standard albe it excellent promo citing how badly Brock would beat up Cena but Cena stepped up his game when he had someone to play off of. His voice got shaky and he appeared almost to be in tears as he stated “passion” and “heart” are what separate him from Brock, he even said “freaking” which seemed really darn close to sounding like the word even Cena couldn’t get away with saying. All in all it moved the story along but didn’t add much to the match we didn’t already know was implied. The most intriguing thing about this match is what the heck is the plan if Brock takes the title, as all sings seem to be pointing to. Is Brock gonna wrestle once a month now? What of Rollins, he can’t cash in on someone not there so he ends up with the brief case till most likely well beyond Mania. If Brock wins I can’t imagine him dropping the title before Mania. It isn’t a good sing when the most intriguing arc of an angle is “how the heck will WWE pull this off?” Towards the end of the segment Cesaro came out and I guess patched things up with Heyman? I don’t know they seemed to get along, he had some strong words for Cenas “Kmart” shoes and implied that Cena can’t wrestle. So we had a match! The match was decent with both men showcasing their insane power but it had one trademark I usually dislike. Whenever someone questions Cenas ability to wrestle we inevitably get a “Cena doing a bunch of mat moves and slip throughs” match. He can execute them yes but man do they look sloppy and off balance and much like a bull trying to tap dance. If he would just work some of these aspects into his normal matches as opposed to unloading them all in one match when called out it would be much better.
Without a doubt the angle getting the most attention and TV time right now is the angle with Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella. Steph fresh out of prison from her assault last week spent most of the night pleading with Brie to drop the assault charges from last week. As you might have guessed it will all end up in a match between the two at Summer Slam. It is refreshing to see new faces closing out Raw but it’s a lot on the shoulders of Brie. Stephanie is on a much higher level when it comes to promos and acting in general and will be required to carry much of the load in this angle. The best part of the developments throughout the night was when Chris Jerhoco went full on 2004 Chris and started his trademark slew of insults on Steph.
This led into a match with Jerhico and Seth Rollins that on paper should have been the best match of the night. The match was very good but to call it anymore than a tease would be generous, Bray Wyatt messed the whole thing up which is fine and moves along the story with him and Jerhico but maybe a few more minutes the match could have been excellent, hopefully these two can get in the ring again before this stint of Jerhico is over.
The other huge development on Raw was the end of the streak. One man walked into Raw and did the unthinkable, shocked the crowd and changed the world of wrestling as we know it…. R-Truth ended Bo Dallas’s undefeated streak in WWE. Much of the writers here at We The Nerdy were reportedly crying like babies as they raised their fists in the air and proclaimed that they Bolieve.
Naturally the first question after a moment like this is what’s next? Well I really don’t see it meaning any kind of meaningful push for R-Truth, what it can do is move the development of Bo Dallas along. No we can see his mean streak that has been eluded to and hinted at but until he suffers a loss it really cant be explored. This allows him to take his next step in the development of his character as we see how he responds and what new places he can go. In short it is not the end of the world or of Bo Dallas.
Paige and AJ Lee moved their story along with Paige calling AJ the C-word (crazy) and a brawl ensuing, Rusev and Jack Swagger got into a tussle setting up a match I don’t think anyone foresaw they would care about but is delivering some of the best crowd reactions over the last few weeks. Randy Orton attacked Roman Reings before and during his match with Kane setting up a match at Summer Slam. If Orton can “go to that place” and bring his intense side to this match it can be a really great intense, hard hitting match and judging by last night that is the Randy Orton we are getting.
So is that enough? Have I filled in everyone enough on Raw? Cause there is something else we need to get to. Sting!!!!! For those that didn’t see Sting made his first appearance under contract for WWE at the Mattel Panel at Comic Con. He joined the stage with Paul Heyman, Hulk Hogan and Daniel Bryan.
[Side bar real quick how awesome is it we are getting the first Mattel WWE figures for Sting and Hogan this year!] Of course now all the talk has moved to will he wrestle? If so when and against who? Sting has stated he wants to work with Taker but I have a theory for that. Don’t do it at this year’s Mania, have Sting fight someone else (HHH seems to be a early favorite) and at the end of the match or on Raw the next night the gong strikes. Taker appears and after taking a Mania off we get Sting Taker at Mania 32 in the biggest stadium on the planet. Suddenly no one would care about the streak not being alive. But for the sake of argument let’s assume Sting will never wrestle for WWE, what can he bring to the company? Well a lot, for one he’s a fresh face to throw out there at events and TV that isn’t Hogan, Flair or Hart who honestly we have seen enough it has sort of lost its luster. Sting is also in much better shape than those guys and can work the crowd and deliver promos on a high level. Don’t get me wrong it is great seeing Bret back in a WWE ring but even when he was active talking on the mic wasn’t his best thing and it’s about all he can do now. Hogan can’t remember what building he’s in and Flair is all kinds of crazy old man and you never know what you will get. Sting is reliable and capable and quite frankly crowds will lose their ever loving minds when he starts appearing in front of live crowds. Growing up during the Monday Night Wars I was a diehard Sting fan. I had my mask and my bat and was splashing all over the place. It was weird that for years and years he has been working on TV and I haven’t been watching! I was worried I wouldn’t care when he appeared on WWE TV and that it was just too late. Then that WWE 15’ promo aired and the kid inside me came down from the rafters and beat me over the head with a whiffle ball bat. I dint care about “joker” Sting or “purple red black and white” Sting I just wanted Sting!
This somewhat segways into the other big wrestling news of the week that Spike TV will be dropping TNA Impact. I doubt many were surprised by this but it was somewhat shocking to see none the less. Spike has been behind TNA for a long time even going so far as to pay majority of Stings salary when he was there. This is sad news for the workers that were there, there are many promotions that will be dying to book these guys and they will find work but in this business being on TV is something no booking can replace. It is intriguing as Jeff Jarrets new promotion Global Force is gaining steam, perhaps they’ll snatch up some of the TNA talent and end up on Spike, they have history with Jarret and I’m sure would like to keep a wrestling show. As for TNA AMC was really wanting a wrestling show when Raw’s rights were up a few months ago so maybe they can land on their feet on a new network. They seemed to be onto something with their new direction of smaller venues and featuring much of the more popular Indie talent. What does this mean for Ring of Honor who might just become the second biggest wrestling promotion in America. That’s something to talk about right there. They are certain to receive an influx of talent that had left there for TNA. Either way it will interesting to see where the chips fall.
What does it say about a crazy week in Wrestling that 1,700 words in I’m just now mentioning Daniel Bryan too down a freaking burglar in his house! Seriously he came home to two burglars in his house, detained one and the other got away! That’s all kinds of awesome but one has to say, “man this guys luck is just the worst.” The last big bit of news is the WWE finally announced the signing of Prince Devitt who will now be known as Fergal Devitt. He will be competing at NXT and will provide more incentive to check out the impressive “mini WWE” promotion going on down in Tampa. Devitt has spent the better part of his career over in New Japan. Always interesting when WWE signs an Indie darling to see what and how the develop. I suppose Kevin Steen is next.
So ends a busy week in the world of wrestling and my first week covering the wrap up hope you guys enjoyed it, if you wanna catch my thoughts on wrestling and an thing else going on be sure to follow me on twitter @RyCamN7. Till next time go out there and put someone over!
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