Look, I didn’t expect Vince McMahon and company to pull a hail mary after Double or Nothing has been highly praised by fans and critics. I’m not delusional. WWE has nothing to worry about anytime soon. However, I was hoping that Vinnie K would’ve said, “We’re gonna show those [frick]ers why we’re the king of professional wrestling” and pulled out all the stops to have an awesome episode of RAW and Smackdown.
But no, it was just business as usual. Matches with no substance, pay offs that went nowhere, and comedy that only Vince McMahon loves. There were some good parts on RAW and Smackdown. But very few.
Cesaro and Ricochet had a very good match. Don’t get me wrong, it annoys me that Ricochet is just Balor 2.0 and Cesaro is simply there to have good matches, but these two have great chemistry in the ring. However, the 50/50 booking doesn’t do either man any favors.
There’s also nothing at stake in these matches. Why should I care about Ricochet or Cesaro winning when it won’t have any impact on their standings on the flagship brand? Again, this match had no substance, but it was a joy to watch regardless.
I continue to be fascinated with the Firefly Funhouse segments. I wish WWE storylines were as nuanced, complex, fresh, and compelling as the Firefly Funhouse. My only complaint is that Bray needs to start signaling who his potential rival will be when he returns. Perhaps Wyatt has been giving tiny easter eggs throughout each segment, but now it’s time to speed it up and indicate his motivation for returning to the WWE.
To be honest, I would’ve booked Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt as his first feud, with Wyatt winning the championship on his first try. Bray needs to be booked strong this time around. If WWE made the same mistake as they did with Wyatt last time, then these brilliant segments are simply a waste of time.
I don’t get Sami Zayn. The former NXT Champion is doing the best mic work of his career; however, Zayn keeps losing his matches, thus negating the hard work he’s doing by his stellar promos. He’s not a threat to anyone at this point and he’s becoming the old Bray Wyatt, in that his words feel like a bunch of nothing.
When you really examine it, Sami has no motivation to be there. Yes, I understand why he’s annoying the hell out of everyone each week, but he’s saying the same things over and over and over again. Sami needs a feud so he can finally branch out to new material; And more importantly, he needs to win.
Baron Corbin just isn’t a main eventer. The guy is by no means terrible at anything, but he doesn’t have the charisma to be a top star and his matches tend to range from decent to blah. WWE has done a solid job of building him up and he does genuinely get heel heat; however, other than Brock Lesnar, Baron Corbin is the only other main event threat.
Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley are damaged goods, Drew McIntyre is everyone’s lackey, and WWE simply hasn’t invested in other heel characters who could stand up to Seth Rollins. Samoa Joe is no longer a main event threat. He was unable to topple AJ Styles last year and him holding the United States title did more harm than good for him.
That sadly leaves Baron Corbin, and what if the former RAW GM does win the Universal title? There’s nobody interesting on the face side to counter Corbin’s blandness. There’s Seth Rollins and AJ Styles - who aren’t that compelling at the moment - and everyone else. Maybe Miz, but I have a hard time buying Miz as an ass kicker because his face turn wasn’t properly built up.
Then we have Brock Lesnar. I have a bad feeling that Mr. MITB is going to cash-in and win at Super ShowDown. I like ‘The Beast Incarnate’, but I have no desire to see him be the WWE Universal Champion again. We’ve been dealing with a Lesnar title reign for the last four years, it’s time to start building new stars in the main event scene.
Kofi Kingston coming out and throwing pancakes on RAW and Smackdown annoyed me to no end. Ziggler has been beating the holy crap out of Kingston and his friends, but the WWE champion comes out clapping, smiling, and dancing, then decides to get serious because the script told him too. That’s not the way it should work. Immediately, I stopped viewing Ziggler as a threat because Kingston wasn’t taking him seriously.
Had Kingston come out solemn or pissed off then it would’ve instantly put over how serious the feud is, Dolph Ziggler, and a nice dimension for Kingston would’ve been added to his character. Little nuances and moments like this strengthen a story.
WWE has also effectively killed the women’s tag team division and it hasn’t been a full five months. This doesn’t surprise me, based off the way the men’s division is treated, along with the rushed way they introduced the straps. Now the titles are on two women who are essentially glorified jobbers.
This not only makes the IIconics look bad, but the division as a whole as well. The fact that these are the champions sends the message that the other teams in the division are weak. It also doesn’t help that the WWE isn’t spending time building up multiple teams both character and in-ring wise. At the moment, the Women’s Tag Team belts are meaningless, and that’s not the talent’s fault.
Last but not least, the Roman Reigns problem. The company continues to miss the point on why Reigns was such a hated figure in the first place. Roman Reigns is TOO STRONG; He’s a perfect character, thus a bland one. Everyone else feels inferior to Reigns because he rarely struggles to overcome anything. It’s ok for heroes to fall down as it’s the journey of getting back up that will rally the fans behind him. Instead, it’s just Reigns wins LOL.
I didn’t expect a drastic change to RAW and Smackdown because I understand that WWE is still in a good place business wise despite the declining ratings. But I thought maybe Double or Nothing would’ve lit a fire under Vince’s ass to try and pull out all the stops to put on a better show. Instead, we got the normal status quo. I only scratched the surface of the problems on both shows this week. What a disappointing RAW and Smackdown this past week.