The choice to have former- GMs step in until a "permanent" GM is found is an effective hook to get audiences to tune into Monday nights. It creates an acceptable level of mystique and intrigue to each show. That is, unless they promote the hell out of each one before Monday night. Case in point: i doubt one bit that promoting Mike Adamle will move the ratings needle if we heard about it on all 4 WWE shows. It will work like it did last night. We are in Long Island. The audience tunes in in the first hour to see whats gonna happen and BAM! Mick Foley gets announced as interim GM in the opening segment. GREAT! It looked like it might of worked considering the ratings spike from a 2.9 to a 3.4 this week.
Great seeing a much slimmer Foley interact with his home town crowd. My only criticism is that he was on the show for one segment. Mick is a funny guy and is known for some great backstage segments such as his series with Edge and Christian back in 2000. If the GM are effective personalities, lets enforce the importance of them by having them interact with the wrestlers just as much as Laurinaitis did throughout the show. Otherwise, a solid move by WWE.
Brock Lesnar vs Triple H at Summerslam. I will tell you now, i am not hooked at all. Even after last night's stellar performance by Paul Heyman. As JR has said numerous times: Paul Heyman is a natural Heel because he is so easy to dislike and last night was a testament to that! Having Paul Heyman goad Triple H into hitting him after he decided not to was GOLD! great, simple professional wrestling television! The past part of this week's RAW.
So why is it that I'm not into this rivalry? Firstly, not having Brock Lesnar on TV is a big part of it. I know the backstage reasons why (i.e he has limited dates and he can only be using sparingly) and i understand the storyline mentality (i.e Lesnar is a Heel, he's hiding behind lawyers/Heyman, he's a 'quitter' etc). But i guarantee you, keeping him off TV will only increase the positive reaction he will get when he finally returns. Definitely what you DON'T want from one of your biggest heels. I was there in Miami when Lesnar returned, and if he finally appears in front of a knowledgeable crowd (i.e NYC, Philly, Boston etc) hes going to get cheered like he did after WM 28 and the heel/babyface dynamic will be unbalanced. Why will such a crowd cheer for him? Well, because most fans want to see what Lesnar does best: get in the ring and KILL fools like he did with Cena at Extreme Rules (if you haven't seen that match, i suggest you stop reading and go here right now to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea7k7B7GjSA ).
Secondly, I can't stand, nor do i believe in this continual push of Lesnar being a 'Chicken Shit/Cowardly Heel'. WWE spent weeks pushing the fact that Lesnar is an ass kicker. This was accomplished via some amazing videos that i would consider some of WWE's best work to date ( such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTOLgBamCoo&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLDE2789CA50F4C2D8). Watch that video and tell me, does that guy look like a pussy? Sure, he might be a business man in real life, but wrestling fans don't give a crap about that part of Brock Lesnar!! At this point in time, ANYONE could be in Brock Lesnar's position. Any Heel, be it Del Rio, Miz ANYONE! As a result, Lesnar doesn't come off as anything special. He's just another heel that is hiding behind PAUL HEYMAN OF ALL PEOPLE so that he doesn't have to fight HHH. PFT! AS IF! If they actually protected Lesnar and kept promoting him as a big deal, HHH vs Lesnar would be a money making match. No question. It will still probably spike a few more buys for Summerslam regardless, but the storyline should be Brock Lesnar, the animal ass kicker vs The Game HHH. NOT Lesnar the Coward who quits everything vs the ever successful "not a care in the world" Triple H. Early days i know, but right now, I'm not into this AT ALL.
# 3
Is WWE confused with the definition of 'heels' and 'babyfaces' in 2012? Seemed so on this show. I hate to say it but back in the day, these dynamics were followed to a tee. Also, if someone turned it was a massive deal and it was absolutely obvious. Look at the heel turn of HHH back in 1999 at Wrestlemania 15 for example. You had HHH, the leader of DX turn his back on his best friend X-Pac when it looked like DX was back together after Chyna re-joined the group earlier in the show. He pedigreed his friend on the grandest stage of them all, then spat on him. Fans got it immediately: this guy is a heel. Then the next night on RAW, he explains that he is better than DX and is after the money. Fans now have a reason to boo him (i.e he's a betrayer, he is greedy etc). It wasn't hard at all to make an impact with this kind of stuff. These days, WWE gives talent scripts that have heels do babyface things and vice versa AND have talent turn with little or NO explanation. If there is explanations given (such as with the latest Big Show turn) its illogical and VERY weak in execution.
This week we had many examples of this stuff. Firstly, we had "heel vs heel" in Swagger v Ziggler. So, as a fan I'm thinking "ok, looks like Ziggler is going babyface" considering his mini-push. The match involves him selling like a babyface all match (esp in that ankle lock spot), crowd gets behind him and he wins. BIG POP! But, instead of continuing this turn, he immediately grabs Vicki and kisses her passionately....what?!
Secondly, we get a video promo tell us that Chris Jericho is returning to RAW next week. The same Chris Jericho who beat to death babyface Randy Orton while screaming "I'M THE BEST IN THE WORLD AT EVERYTHING I DO!!!!" Whats Jericho doing in this video? making hundreds of thousands of fans smile and dance as he performs with his band Fozzy at a music festival....huh? Should we cheer for him when he gets back? if so, WHY?
Thirdly, Primo and Epico (a heel team) got screwed by AW at No Way Out so he could side with Young/Oniel (another heel team). All of a sudden on RAW, Epico/Primo (heels) fight Young/Oniel (heels) and are doing high flying moves and flying all over the place trying to get a pop out of the crowd, which they don't. Why? Because their turn was never explained!
Finally, Big Show, the WWE's biggest heel, decides in the main event to abandon Laurinitus so he could get slaughtered by John Cena. This got big cheers from the crowd in Long Island. Why? Because we are wrestling fans at heart and we are used to seeing babyfaces NOT No. 1 heels do stuff like this.
WWE, a little consistency and explanation PLEASE!!
Match Results:
WWE Champion CM Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus
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Kane and Daniel Bryan via pinfall on Bryan
Rating: ** 1/4
Comments:
Long, but effective tag match with 4 of the best and most reliable wrestlers in the company. Both babyfaces got cut off and each of their hope spots looked great. Punk's final hot tag was especially good with Bryan. Talk about their sequences being as smooth as silk!!AJ coming out was ok in my books because we had a long match to sink our teeth into (and ive got a soft spot for her, what can i say!). My only criticism was that if Bryan is going to get hit with both Champion's finisher moves, I don't want to see him regain consciousness 30 seconds later. Let's continue the selling after the match shall we? On a side note, was also great to hear Cole put over the fact that CM Punk is the 4th longest WWE Champion in the last 15 years. Stuff like that adds to the credibility to the title and makes it seem important that Punk has had it for so long.
Dolph Ziggler
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Jack Swagger via pinfall
Rating: **
Comments:
Even though it was WAY TOO SHORT, i loved what i saw here. Ziggler's early sell of his ankle after reversing Swagger's back suplex was a great spot. What was even better was that he continued to sell throughout the match. Little things like this make the final big spot (in this case, Swagger's ankle lock) mean a whole lot more and make the audience feel as though this big spot could be the finish. The biggest downside is that this match finished just as it was starting to get good. Swagger looses, which was so overly obvious it wasn't funny. Shame, he definitely has talent in that ring.
Alberto Del Rio (With Ricardo Rodreguies)
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United States Champion Santion Marella via Submission
Rating: 1/2 *
Comments:
At this point in the show, the wrestling took a nose dive. I could rant and rave about the fact that Santino, the US Champion has been beaten by Del Rio twice before like this, but whats the point? WWE have this infatuation with establishing an obvious hierarchy amongst the talent rosters of both shows. I understand that Del Rio needs to go over strong here after his injury, but are you telling me there was NO ONE that was lower than Santino that could of taken this beating??? What's even more annoying is that, Del Rio beats Santino for the 2nd time in a row, but won't demand a US title match. We know that the WHC is much more important than the US title, but having Del Rio not even acknowledge the US Title makes the Championship even more of a waste of time. Match was over in 90 seconds, but what was there was acceptable.
Primo and Epico (with Rosa Mendez)
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No. 1 Contenders "The Prime Time Players" (With AW) via count-out
Rating: *
Comments:
I hated this match with a passion. It wasn't the "paint-by-numbers" in-ring work this 4 guys put forward. It wasn't the illogical babyface turn of Primo and Epico. It was that count-out finish. Yes WWE, i get the angle that AW told them they didn't need to win because they are the No. 1 contenders to the Tag Titles. But cmon!! Darren Young and Titus Oneil are still very VERY green! They need all the help they can get to get over with the audience. In this case wins are extremely important. Having them give up on trying to beat two guys that are a little bit above them on the WWE totem pole makes them look SO weak. Are you telling me that WWE couldn't afford to have Primo and Epico loose one more time? Seriously ridiculous.
John Cena
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John Lauintius and David Otunga via pinfall (2-on 1 Handicap Match)
Rating: *
Comments:
A nothing match. I guess there was nothing wrong with it, but Otunga wrestling is like watching paint dry. Just flat out boring! Cena was being Cena. Nothing to write home about here. The fans felt exactly the same as "WE WANT RYDER!" chants filled the arena in Long Island during the match. When i think about this match, i realized that there was such little heat for Laurintus' last appearance on RAW. Why? Because no wrestling fan on the face of this planet believes that "Big Johnny" will be gone forever. 3 FUs by Cena didn't change the fact that this was a very anti-climatic ending to a very flat edition of Monday Night RAW.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@JoelysWrestling) this Friday (Australian Time) as i will be tweet-reviewing TNA Impact Wrestling! After last week, i am thoroughly looking forward to it!
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