5 Things To Expect on WWE Monday Night Raw 8/10/15

Welcome to this week's WWE Monday Night Raw preview. Tonight's show takes place from Seattle, Washington expect a rowdy crowd. We're 13 days away from the 28th annual SummerSlam PPV from Brooklyn, New York. I thought last week's show was pretty solid. Of course we got a amazing Paul Heyman promo, but last week was great when it came to in-ring action. Hopefully we'll get some announcements of matches tonight. Here's what you can expect on tonight's show from Seattle, Washington.

1.) Stephen Amell comes to Raw 

I've been very busy for the past 6 months and I've heard about the show Arrow and yea even though it's a show from CW! I always heard good things about the show Arrow and the stars of the show Stephen Amell. Amell has admitt to be a big wrestling fan and has attended numerous WWE shows over the years. It was a rumor that the WWE was interested in having Amell in a match with WWE Superstar Stardust. It looks like it could be possibility now as Amell will be a special guest for tonight's Raw. To some people it may not be a big deal, but it's cool seeing a guy like Stardust get a spotlight on tonight's show. In Michael Cole's interview with Stardust on WWE.com Stardust continues to play games and he's looking forward to his interaction with the Arrow. I don't know if the guys will get physical with each other, but if they do don't be surprise to see Amell gives Stardust a dropkick. Also this could lead to Amell being in the corner of Neville as Stardust takes on Neville at SummerSlam.

2.) Will John Cena's Respond? 

Seth Rollins killed it on Raw last week and to those people who say that Rollins isn't worthy of being a main eventer or a World Champion you're just ignorant. Rollins promo on breaking Cena's nose was excellent and also bringing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Open Challenge to Raw was a nice touch. Actually that's not a bad idea to do that again tonight and maybe someone from NXT takes the challenge or maybe Cesaro. We're two weeks away from SummerSlam and while it seems like 100% confirmed that Rollins would take on Cena at SummerSlam, but can we atleast make that announcement tonight? John Cena will be a special guest on Tough Enough tomorrow and he's already at the performance center they should have a pre-recorded promo from Cena to accept the challenge.

3.) Brock Lesnar & The Undertaker Program 

For those still questioning the logic behind this program watch this promo. I know that Brock & Taker will not be on this show tonight and that's fine because I think the guys in the mid-card, the divas and the other feuds have made these Raw's have been enjoyable. Would like to see Heyman on the show tonight I think his promo can help a show with no Cena, Taker or Lesnar in the building. It's also time for either Heyman bring up that Taker has never defeated The Beast or Undertaker cut on his epic promo vignette's.

4.) Will Rusev fight at SummerSlam? 

We've seen countless brawls with Lana and Summer Rae and Lana has cost Rusev a bevy amount of matches over the last three weeks. Something has to give here and one of the major things I'm personally paying attention to for Raw tonight is this program because is Rusev fighting at SummerSlam? Are we getting Lana vs. Summer Rae? I think for tonight we'll see the return of the showoff Dolph Ziggler.

5.) Raw Matches 

1.) Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro~ WWE World Heavyweight Championship Open Challenge 

2.) Lucha Dragons vs. The New Day~ Number One Contender's Match 

3.) Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper 

4.) PCB vs. Team BAD 

5.) King Barrett vs. Mark Henry 

6.) The Miz vs. Neville

7.) Randy Orton vs. Big Show 

8.) Paige vs. Nikki Bella 

9.) Roman Reigns vs. Rusev

I hope you guys enjoy Raw tonight. Follow me on Twitter @JoshLopezCSR.

Check out my radio show the Pro Wrestling Experience on Chicagolandsportsradio.com every Wednesday from 10am-1pm CT. I will be talking to former WWF, WCW, and TNA writer Ed Ferrara.

5 Things To Expect on WWE Monday Night Raw 6/29/15

Welcome to this week's WWE Raw preview article brought to you by Condo On The Moon. This week's Raw takes place from the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.! We're just about three weeks away from the WWE Battleground PPV. Also we're 5 days away from the "Beast in the East" Special on the WWE Network from Tokyo, Japan. Last week on Raw we found out three new matches for the Battlgeround Special Event: Ryback vs. Big Show vs. The Miz for the IC Title, New Day vs. Prime Time Players for the Tag Team Championship and Kevin Owens vs. John Cena for the US Championship. 20 days away from this big event will any more matches will be announced in these in between Raw's? Let's take a look at the five things I expect to see on tonight's Monday Night Raw.

1.) The Family is back together

Last week on Raw we saw the Authority comeback together to lay out "The Beast" Brock Lesnar. Rollins went onto SmackDown to signify that he's what he says he is and he defeated Dean Ambrose. It was announced on Saturday that tonight's main event of Raw will be: Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Kane & Seth Rollins. Here's a fun fact for you guys. Since Kane's join the Authority he's been in 48 main events of Raw's, SmackDown's and PPV's. Here's my thing I understand that you need Rollins to focus on someone while Brock will NOT be on tonight's edition of Raw, but why are you bringing back a main event of Raw that happen not only before Payback, but also the Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank? Joey Mercury severed three broken ribs due to the hands of Brock Lesnar we wish him a speedy recovery. Tonight for Raw I'll like to have Rollins stop harping on the Authority side of this angle. It's time for Rollins to put his focus on Brock Lesnar. We got it the family is back together. Rollins you have three weeks to give the WWE Universe a reason to believe that YOU can BEAT Brock Lesnar!!!! Bring up what happen at the Royal Rumble where YOU broke Lesnar's RIBS, Bring up WrestleMania where you stole the title away from Lesnar. Bring up that your are the architect and you Lesnar is playing your game. I believe that Bray Wyatt will disctrat Roman Reigns or even lay him out before the match starts, so I feel that Dean Ambrose will be left for nothing and Rollins takes out Ambrose for good. There's nothing for Ambrose to do here. Lay him out and write him off television for a month. Will Paul Heyman be on the show tonigth? If so talk about a great start to Raw with a in-ring promo segment with Rollins and Heyman.

2.) IC Three Way for Battleground 

I want you guys to check out this interview ^^. On my radio show I close out every single show with the weekly WWE.com interviews that Michael Cole conduct with the bevy of WWE Superstars, Divas and Legends. Reason being the #LittleThings! Alot of wrestling fans talk about lack of effective character development and not paying attention the "IWC" (Which I'm not part of nor can I stand.) Ever since Triple H turn heel at SummerSlam 2013 I've aired every single Michael Cole interviews since because that's where you get the major character development. Please check out this Big Show because towards the end he explains WHY he's still in the company and in high places. I may be in a island, but I love this feud with Ryback and Big Show. It works perfectly for both guys. Ryback is looking to take Big Show's spot and Show is still trying to show that he still matters and has a purpose in the company. Tonight I think we see one or two things. 1.) Big Show takes on Ryback in a match and 2.) Mark Henry vs. Big Show. If Ryback doesn't fight Big Show tonight maybe he competes against a guy like Bad News Barrett. As far as The Miz is concern, I'm not sure he's down in Orlando, Florida helping out with the Tough Enough show, so I don't get his purpose in this match. I'm guessing they can air a pre-tape with The Miz that can air after a Ryback or Big Show match, but he need a solid reason as to why Miz is in this match. Besides that I'm looking forward to what they do with this program tonight.

3.) John Cena vs. Kevin Owens III 

The battle of foregin languages happen last week on Raw! We found out that John Cena will be defending the United States Championship at Battleground against NXT Champion Kevin Owens. I expect both guys to be on the show tonight. One of the mistakes I felt the WWE made with last week's Raw was that neither guy were in a match. I know you don't want to overdue, but at the same time these open challenges and just in general the John Cena or Kevin Owens singles matches have been one of the best parts of Monday Night Raw in the past three months. There's nothing wrong with having the back and forth promos, but you have a three hour shows. There's no reason why these guys can have at least a 10-15 minute TV Match. Tonight I think John Cena gets the best of Kevin Owens. I think we'll see a John Cena US Open Challenge with Cesaro. And for Owens I think we may see a rematch with him and Dolph Ziggler. It's important tonight if Cena's going to do the Mr. USA thing tonight he gets the best of Owens.

4.) The Beast in the East Special on the WWE Network Preview 

Here's the card we know about now when it comes to the upcoming WWE "Beast In The East" Special on the WWE Network on 4th of July.

-NXT Championship Match~ Kevin Owens (c) vs. Finn Balor

-Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston

-John Cena & Dolph Ziggler vs. King Barrett & Kane

-Chris Jericho vs. Neville

-WWE Divas Championship Match~ Nikki Bella (c) vs. Naomi vs. Paige

-Lucha Dragons vs. New Day

I'm interested in seeing if the WWE does any or zero promotion for this event on tonight's show and also who else will be on this show? I'm sure we'll some type of promotional video package, but it would be nice to see Kevin Owens or any talk about the Special this Saturday.

5.) The New Day 

That's it enjoy the comedic nature of this amazing trio.

I hope you enjoy tonight's Raw! Try to sit back and not be a Roger Ebert wannabe. Watch the show for what it is and then make your thoughts be apparent. We effective our "expertise" dictate our moods towards a show. I promise you if you sit back and not OVER THINK every single mi-nute points of the show you'll enjoy it.

Make sure to check me out on my radio show the Pro Wrestling Experience every Wednesday from 10am-1pm CT! I will be speaking to former TNA Wrestler Gunner.

Follow me on Twitter @JoshLopezCSR

5 Things To Expect on WWE Monday Night Raw 2/9/15

Welcome to this week's Raw preview for Monday February 9th, 2015 from Ohio State University. We're two weeks away from the inaugural WWE Fast Lane PPV. We have three matches announced so far and this week what I wanted to do with this week Raw preview is to not only take a look back at the top storylines from last week, but also give you guys a look at the undercard for the Fast Lane PPV. Roman Reigns will be taking on Daniel Bryan for the right to take on Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 31. John Cena and Rusev are in a collision course. What does The Authority have in store for us this week? Here's five things to expect on tonight's edition of WWE Monday Night RAW!!!!!!! 

1.) Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan 

If you checked out last week's preview for Raw you'll see that I said that Triple H announcement was going to be Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan at Fast Lane. I think it's the best choice right now especially with the fact that the WWE Network is for free right now, so having a match like Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan not only makes storylines sense, but also business sense. Last week Daniel Bryan had a wonderful match with Seth Rollins for the right to take on Reigns at Fast Lane. I thought Roman looked "stronger" than he has in the last couple of weeks and I don't think this hatered for Reigns is going to last long. People will try to force upon the label of Cena 2.0 on Reigns cause the IWC needs somebody new to complain about once Cena retires, but Reigns and Cena are two different individuals. Roman Reigns surprsingly had a solid match with The Miz on last week's SmackDown. Daniel Bryan defeated Seth Rollins and J&J Security, but was taken out by The Authority after the match was over, so we have a interesting scenario going on for tonight. You probably see Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins & Big Show in the main event of Raw. If that doesn't happen the only thing I ask is that we don't see another Reigns/Big Show match. You can also do Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins & Kane due to the fact that Kane won't let Daniel Bryan alone. 

2.) The Authority & Brock Lesnar 

This is going to be a big week for The Authority. I think over the last couple of weeks The Authority has constantly had someone make them look bad whether it's Sting, The Rock, John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns or even Brock Lesnar. The Authority hasn't made an impactful statement since they return. Seth Rollins for whatever reason feels that he deserves to be in every single title feud since he is the "future of the WWE". I don't know what's taking the writers so long to bring back Randy Orton it's a perfect storyline with him getting his revenge on Seth Rollins & The Authority. You see Orton at these live events why keep stalling his return for a four week build to mania. I don't know what Seth Rollins is doing at Fast Lane I'm guessing two options here. 1.) Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler. 2.) Seth Rollins, Kane, Big Show vs. Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Erick Rowan. I don't think we're going to see another Rollins/Bryan match on free TV, but that's my opinion. I think for Raw tonight you'll most likely see The Authority start off the show with a promo. I'm getting sick and tired of the complaints about promo starting the show it's been going on since 1999 get over it. What caught me by surprise was the fact that Brock Lesnar the WWE World Heavyweight Champion is advertised for Raw tonight. So maybe while The Authority talks about Fast Lane, tonight's Raw, etc, Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman could come out and interrupt The Authority and complain about The Authority trying to pull a fast one on Brock Lesnar for not only swtiching the Royal Rumble Match to a Triple Threat Match, but now possibly switiching the main event of WrestleMania once again. 

3.) Bray Wyatt 

Check out this promo! I think anybody with a good recollection of the history of the wrestling knows that this Bray Wyatt/Undertaker is bound to happen at WrestleMania. I've been loving the promos from Bray Wyatt recently these are better than the promo's he cut on John Cena before WrestleMania 30 last year. If this match indeeds happen with Bray Wyatt and The Undertaker this match seriously needs a gimmicky style match ie Buried Alive or Casket Match. Wyatt had a really good match with Dolph Ziggler on last week's edition of Raw. I do think we'll see another backstage promo or maybe something to mix things up you can Bray Wyatt cut a in-ring promo this time. What's Bray Wyatt doing at Fast Lane? Does Bray Wyatt need to be at Fast Lane? As far as tonight is concern I'm going throw this out there as a wild card for tonight's show. You can possibly see Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena tonight. You can also see Bray Wyatt vs Daniel Bryan! Either way if Wyatt is not involved at Fast Lane I won't lose sleep about it. There's already so many things right now that needs to be set in place for WrestleMania, you can keep Wyatt off this PPV and it wouldn't effect him. I heard rumors of him vs. Boogeyman, but I don't see that happening it would be cool, but the match would probably be a squatch match. 

4.) John Cena & Rusev 

Is this match for the WWE United States Championship? For as little of a build that this feud has had so far I've enjoyed what I've been seeing so far with John Cena & Rusev. Where are we going with this feud? Is this a one match program? Are Rusev & John Cena fighting at WrestleMania? I think tonight is very important for the WWE to make us care and gives us a reason as to why these two guys are feuding with each other. Tonight you'll probably see a in-ring promo segment with John Cena & Rusev. It would be nice to see both of these guys in ring action tonight. 

5.) Fast Lane Under-Card 

As of now we know that Paige will be taking on Nikki Bella for the WWE Divas Championship. I think that's cool as far as tonight is concern I think we'll see Paige vs. Brie Bella or you probably see Nikki Bella vs. Natalya. Dean Ambrose challenged Bad News Barrett for the WWE Intercontinental Championship I think that would be cool as far as tonight is concern I think you'll probably see Dean Ambrose vs. Curtis Axel again or you can possibly see Bad News Barrett vs. Sin Cara or Zack Ryder. Do you consider John Cena vs. Rusev as the mid-card for FastLane? As far as the WWE Tag Team Championship Match at Fast Lane I think it will be The Usos vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro. Just looking at what happen on SmackDown you will see either Cesaro vs. Jimmy Uso or a six intergender tag team match with The Usos & Naomi vs. Tyson Kidd, Cesaro & Natalya. We may see the official splits of both Miz & Mizdow and Gold & Stardust with you will possibly see both of these teams lose to The New Day & The Ascension. Many possibilities, but the mid-card for Fast Lane should be pretty good from a wrestling perspective.

Reminder: 

If you're a first time reader of this Raw preview, what you'll see is a forecast as to what you'll probably see on this week's edition of Raw. This preview includes a take at current storylines, and what's the most realistic options for those particular storylines to progress in the positive direction. Take a look back at our previous Raw previews, and what you'll see here on Condo On The Moon is the home for the most accurate Raw previews that you can't find anywhere else. These previews don't represent the personal taste of I Joshua Lopez. My goal here is to not only showcase my expertise if you will on the WWE product, but also to show you why these storylines are happening and how we can turn negatives to positives. 

Tonight WWE is advertising a new Hall of Fame member for the Class of 2015. I think it may be legendary professional wrestler Ray Stevens. Also don't forget just like every NXT Special don't be surprised if you see Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks on Raw tonight. 

I hope you enjoyed this week's Raw preview. Enjoy Raw. Follow me on Twitter @VoiceOfTruth94 

WWE Monday Night Raw Preview

Tonight is going to be one of the most interesting nights in sports entertainment since the night after the Montreal Screwjob. With former WWE Superstar CM Punk coming out and speaking about his depature from the WWE, there's alot of interested in the live "Stone Cold" Steve Austin podcast with Vince McMahon. WWE didn't follow up the debut of Sting on last week's Raw, and with WWE TLC coming up in two weeks, What new matches will be announced for the annual gimmick PPV? Here's five things that I think people should look out for tonights show.

1.) The next step for John Cena and Seth Rollins 

Coming off last week's Raw, I think it's pretty obvious that Cena will be taking on Seth Rollins at TLC. Brock Lesnar is advertised for the 2014 Slammy Awards next week which is the go-home show for WWE TLC. I don't think that Lesnar will be competing at TLC, so where does John Cena and Seth Rollins go? I heard some people throw out this idea where Dolph Ziggler takes on Seth Rollins with Rollins Money in the Bank breifcase on the line. I think that would be a cool match especially for this type of PPV, but I don't see that happening. With tonight's show we may see something where it's John Cena, Dolph Ziggler and Ryback vs. Seth Rollins, Kane and Luke Harper in the main event or John Cena will take on J&J Security in a handicap match. Now are these matches that I want to see, I don't know, but being a pretty good observer of WWE programming I wouldn't be surprised if either of these matches happen. Cena vs. Rollins is the logical step with the Royal Rumble coming up. Despite Rollins taking a loss to Cena, I think to make a "statement" to Brock Lesnar, Cena defeats the top heel in the company at WWE TLC.

2.) The Anonymous Raw General Manager

Like you guys, I used to DESPISE the Anonymous Raw General Manager in 2010-2011. Now these days as I got more in tuned with the product and wrestling in general, I've come to appreciate the Anonymous Raw General Manager. I'll tell you why? Well, maybe the main reason why the Anonymous Raw General Manager doesn't bother me anymore is because it's gives people "HEAT" aka Michael Cole. Every time we here "May I have your attention please?" people cringe and boo and you don't really see alot of people these days on the WWE Roster get the type of "Real Heat" like Cole does when he reads those emails "And I Quote!" I'm just going to get a good laugh out of it because yea it may not be the best on thing on the show, but anything to get the crowd to boo the worst announce team in the history of wrestling is a pretty good day for yours truly. I can of hope that maybe since he's going to be there in Tulsa, Oklahoma, would WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin make a LIVE appearance on Raw and mess the computer and Michael Cole up? I think that would be fantastic.

3.) Ambrose/Wyatt Program 

I'll tell you what guys, I think more than anything on this show tonigth, I'm looking forward to see what they do with Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose the most. Bro (Vince Russo), I think what they've been doing with Wyatt/Ambrose is great because this feud is turning into war and it was supposed to be like that since the beginning of this feud. Will we get a in-ring Wyatt promo I think so, but Wyatt will have to bring up something different in his promo instead of continuing to bring up Ambrose's daddy issues. Wyatt has been getting the better of Ambrose since this feud has started. I think Ambrose will be in a match with Cesaro or Mark Henry and than after the match he will stack Tables, Ladders and Chairs on either man. Wyatt will come up and try to attack Dean again, but this time Ambrose gets some revenge as Wyatt escpaes and runs up the ramp. I think it would be nice to see Bray Wyatt compete in the match, but who do you have him go against? With two weeks away to TLC I think WWE needs to bring their A game tonight when it comes to this feud.

4.) A New Day Is Here 

I was really happy to see Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E debut their "New Day" gimmick on SmackDown this past Friday Night. I'm happy for them because they're trying something different and at the same time entertain the WWE audience. Yes the music and pomps and circumstances of this gimmick will reminds you of Flash Funks, The Oddities, The Tons of Funks of the world, but I think we got something here with this new gimmick and it will sure add some vareity in this stagnant WWE Tag Team division. Give it a chance people, maybe it will grown on you, maybe it won't if you're a natural cynical person. A New Day is Here and as far as tonight is concern, I think we maybe seeing a run-in between with The New Day and The Dust Brothers. I wonder if they do come out with all Red thought for Monday Night Raw as opposed to SmackDown where they came out with the powder blue. Either way this a fun gimmick there's too many heels on this roster as it is, let's have some fun and enjoy a new stable on WWE television.

5.) WWE TLC's Mid-Card 

Here's the thing, if you haven't seen my previous column where I predicted the entire match card for WWE TLC, I advise you to check it out it's really cool and I think you may like it. I think tonight with the Raw Anonymouys General Manager we'll get some matches announced for TLC. With the feud between AJ Lee/Nikki Bella I WANT TO SEE A IN-RING BACK AND FORTH PROMO BETWEEN THESE TWO LADIES. Give me a reason to care about this match, I enjoyed what little of a promo Nikki had on SmackDown and I enjoyed the attempt of CM Punk AJ displayed on last week's Raw. Let them talk gives us a reason as to why this match matters. I think we'll Big Show vs. Erick Rowan tonight on Raw, but ultimately this will lead to their upcoming match at TLC. I think we'll already have the announced Ryback/Kane match, I will like to see if they announce Rusev vs Swagger at TLC, also possibly Ziggler/Harper for the IC Title would be nice and that's that for now. I think what's going to make WWE TLC a success is the mid-card for this show.

*With the live "Stone Cold" Steve Austin Podcast with Mr. McMahon, I don't think he should ask Vince about CM Punk. Don't bring more attention to somebody that continues to bring the company down in a negative light. I think it would be more important for Austin to grill McMahon about the direction of the company, maybe ask a couple of school questions like "Who came up with the idea to have Austin job to Lesnar on Raw in 2002?" stuff like that. This will be in my opinion the biggest interview in the WWE this year. DON'T MISS OUT AND WHAT CAN BE SOMETHING VERY VERY SPECIAL.

I hope you guys enjoy Raw tonight, try not to be like a Roger Ebert/Dave Meltzer wannabe and be so nit picky and try to enjoy the show as fan. That's the advise I give to people before watching Raw. I hope you guys enjoyed this preview. Let me know what you think about this article? And what would you guys like to see happen on Raw tonight?

Follow Me on Twitter @JoshLopezCSR

Randy Orton Written Off WWE T.V with Injury

 

 As we referred to in our Raw talking points, Randy Orton is being written of WWE television to film a movie a sequel to “The Condemned” will begin production. WWE is reporting that Orton sustained a concussion based on the attack from Seth Rollins and The Authority at the end of Raw. It is believed to be just a storyline unlike the actual cut to the head Orton suffered in the attack. Orton was not the only one to have gotten bloody. Cesaro suffered a cut to back of his head in a match with Dean Ambrose. He needed five staples to close the gash in his head.

As far as a return date for Orton, it remains up in the air. He will definitely not be on the WWE’s tour of Europe that is set to start this week. Survivor Series is in St Louis and as we reported, Orton was pulled from advertising prior to Monday night. It would make sense to have Orton appear and perhaps WWE will set up a mystery member for one of the team’s in the main event as a means to do.

In any case, Orton is expected to return in a babyface role. Where was John Cena Monday? It is being speculated that he missed Raw for some type of movie work for him. He tweeted about traveling from his home in Tampa and made stops in Syracuse for a WWE house show, New York City and L.A before traveling to London. 

The WWE's roster is very thin and these movie commitments come at a bad time. When you consider the lack of success of WWE Studios films you have to question if the is "Best for Business," at this stage. Although no one can deny Dean Ambrose came back off filming a movie hotter than ever. The injury list seems to keep growing as Bo Dallas was the latest to be added to the injured list with a foot injury over the weekend and is expected to be out 6-8 weeks. 

Hell In A Cell Was Pretty Underwhelming Holograms And All

It was overall a disappointing effort from the WWE last night in Dallas for Hell in a Cell. Not much lived up to expectations that were already fairly low for this show to begin with heading into this show. Realistically this show was built on two matches and was only clearly defined two weeks out from the show. We will break it down match by match with some thoughts on it all.

Opening Match: Ziggler vs. Cesaro 2 out of 3 falls for I-C Title.

When you pictured these two guys in a match of this nature, you expected something that would resemble matches between Cesaro and Sami Zayn. In the end, the two fell far short of those lofty expectations and had what could be termed as a good match by overall standards. Still with the pairing of these two great athletes, you expected something far more exceptional from these two. In the end, the biggest shock was that Ziggler won the match in two straight falls. It will lead to speculation of what the hell Cesaro has done wrong to deserve that. I actually thought the two straight falls finish was the most interesting thing of the match to be honest.

Bella vs. Bella

It was far from a mat classic but in ring, it was not a complete train wreck. The Bella twins love them or hate them are making an effort to be more skilled in the ring. This said the audience investment in them is next to nothing. It could not have been more than 2 minutes before JBL chants rang out in the Dallas crowd. Brie clearly other than stealing stuff from her husband has no clue how to be a babyface in this program. I feel no sympathy what so ever in an angle that on paper is begging me to have some. In the end, Nikki wins and now with the stipulation Brie must be Nikki’s servant/personal assistant for a month. We got the first of what I am sure will be a month long of awful Bella segments with this angle. It was standard stuff with Nikki after confirming Brie had this protein shake correct dumped it on her head. It is going to be a long month with this stuff.

John Cena vs. Randy Orton: Hell in a Cell #1 Contender’s Match.

My first thought is this match was to damn long. It apparently went over 27 minutes according to people that time these things. In the end, this Hell in the Cell match was worked fairly safely in comparison to match we would see later. It was hard to feel invested in this match even with the stipulation of the winner getting a shot at the WWE Heavyweight Championship. We have seen both have far too many chances to be champion for us to care. The match had a number of false finishes with finishing moves. Your typical big star match as we have seen in past with Rock and Austin. The match ends with a John Cena super attitude adjustment through a table. This leads us to the unfortunate prospect of yet another Lesnar against John Cena match for the title. In the end, at least this match was not the main event so give the WWE credit for that.

Rusev vs. Big Show

We had a vignette with Mark Henry pumping up the Big Show, in the same manner Show did for Henry in the previous pay-per-view. Henry would come out during the match and shockingly enough did not turn on Big Show that seemed destined to happen. It did not and Rusev ended up hooking up his version of the Camel Clutch and made the Big Show humble. It was what it was ad Rusev looked good coming out of the match. Lana wearing Pink for breast cancer was a little bit strange that the Russian heel female manager is supporting a U.S based Cancer fund is a bit strange in terms of being a heel. Likely being a nit picky somewhat nerdy wrestling fan on that one. Maybe, though the bad guys should not ever be doing good things for the world right. Anyway, Rusev wins clean and we wonder what is next for him.

Sheamus vs. Miz: United States Title

This match was hi-jacked by Damien Sandow doing literally everything that happened to The Miz in this contest. Crowd was totally into Sandow and could care less about the Miz or Sheamus. In the end, Sheamus won and used the Miz as a voodoo doll to make Damien Sandow do Y-M-C-A, which was somewhat amusing. Bottom line is no one cares about these two or this title.


Usos vs. Dust Brothers:  Tag Team Championship

This was yet another match in the best out of 100 series with the Usos and Stardust and Goldust. It in the end felt like that and we have seen better from both of these teams. I have started to lose interest in the Usos, as they have just become the typical babyfaces. I just have lost a ton of interest in them since they dropped the titles. I am not into the crazy Dust Brothers either. This match was what it was and much like many matches on the night was ok but nothing outstanding.

A.J Lee vs. Paige: Diva’s Title Match

Much like the match with Tag-Team Championship, this was a match in which I have seen far too much of at this point. People thought this would be a fantastic feud and at the end of the day, it has not been much of a pairing. The storyline of both being crazy has not worked and in-ring. A.J also deals with the fact that she is the lightning rod for C.M Punk fans to use. A.J defends her title in a match that really was not much of anything. Paige who came out with Alicia Fox turned on Fox when she lost the match and A.J skips away still with her title.

Main Event: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins

It started much like the famous Undertaker vs. Mankind match with Ambrose deciding to climb to the top of the Cell to start the match. Noble and Mercury the stooges 2.0 were directed to climb up and go after Dean. He would go to town with kendo stick on both on top of cage. Rollins would try a sneak attack and the three would get the advantage. Eventually Ambrose would follow Rollins down the cage half way and Ambrose would head butt Rollins and both would fall through announce tables. Ambrose would eventually get off a stretcher and attack Rollins throwing him in the cell to start the match officially. I enjoyed this match had some great spots highlighted by and elbow drop by Ambrose on Rollins through a table that wad jammed between the cell and the ring ropes. Ambrose looks to be on the way to victory when the lights go out and Bray Wyatt’s voice with Undertaker like chants is heard. The lights return and a lantern is in the ring but fans also have phones light up making the cut to black look really fake. Smoke rises from a hole in the ring and a hologram of a ghost appears. Ambrose is fascinated by this and Bray Wyatt appears and charges through the smoke and ghost and attack Ambrose. He hit his Sister Abigail finisher and helps Rollins win the match. Most people hating this ending I was in the minority that was ok with it. The Ambrose and Rollins feud some feel is over but I feel this is just a pit stop and it will continue. Time will tell if that is the case.


This show was underwhelming and left many people feeling they did not get their 9.99 out of it. We will see how many people are giving the WWE their 9.99 later this week. This show just did not deliver and was just kind of there.

Heading into Raw the explanation of why Wyatt went after Ambrose is the big question to be answered. In addition, will we find out when Cena will Brock Lesnar? You can also look forward to sore awful Bella promos on tonight’s Raw.

This show is thumbs down for this show from me.

The Perfect Storm Creating WWE's Lack of Depth in 2014

 Everyone would readily admit the WWE is lacking depth at the time. This is in direct contrast to this belief that the WWE has perhaps their best crop of talent for the future in years. The WWE to their credit is not pressing the panic button and rushing people to the main stage. In reality, the WWE is kind of paying for their lack of protecting their mid-card talent. Guys like Dolph Ziggler, Csearo and others have been mismanaged to the point we can’t take them seriously as top talent. Which when all is going well is not a huge issue. When injures as those to Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns happen it becomes an issue.

Dean Ambrose as we noted on this past Raw has taken it as his opportunity. He is afforded that opportunity because all of the former members of The Shield have been protected fairly well since arriving in the WWE. They are likely at the top of that list of the future of the WWE. The recent special they did on the WWE Network leading into Summerslam based on Ambrose, Rollins and Roman Reigns. It outlined them as the future of this company that they very much have become and earned. In essence, they are the first products of Paul Lévesque guys out of developmental.

They have not been subject to the normal typical WWE booking of trading wins and becoming irrelevant to some extent. You can always tell what the WWE thinks of certain talents if they are exempted from the typical booking style. It is that booking style that leaves them looking very short handed in terms of top stars.

Injuries have really been the story of 2014, having had a huge impact on the WWE product, and influenced the direction of the company. It is easy to blame the WWE and they do deserve a lot of blame for some of the awful content they have produced. You have to wonder what things would be like if Daniel Bryan had not been injured. So much would likely be different.

Would Brock Lesnar be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion? How much more compelling would a Daniel Bryan loss to Lesnar have been followed by rematch had been? That was the assumed direction had Bryan remained healthy. Would we have such a microscope on Roman Reigns and rush to push him to be the next face of this company? Is Dean Ambrose even in the main event scene at all had both not been injured? This is probably not the case at all. In fact would we have even seen The Shield break-up happening at all by this point.

We still likely would have pointless Total Divas driven stories but likely, not with the major emphasis they have had as we do with this whole Bella vs. Bella feud. It all makes you wonder what might have been.

That is the thing though wrestling doesn’t always follow the intended path and we have many famous examples of it. One not based on injuries but a famous change of direction happened in the build-up to Wrestlemania 4. Randy Savage was going to regain the Intercontinental Championship and defeat the Honky Tonk Man. He was not willing to lose the belt to Savage. This would see Savage become the WWF Champion instead and defeat Ted DiBiase who was originally planned to win the title. No Mega Powers exploding the following year and perhaps the greatest year-long build to a match in wrestling history.

As much as we can be critical of the WWE’s lack of long-term vision these days, you can see why they might have a more liquid formula. Injuries can happen and things can be turned upside down in an instant. This is what has happened a lot in the WWE in 2014.

Still the WWE is growing a massive stable of talent it is just about making sure they use it all correctly. It is our lack of faith in them to do so that makes these times and situations times to feel a sense of panic. After all, we have a man in a bunny suit as now an excepted member of the main roster. What on earth kind of a WWE has this become.

Likely one searching for answers and in a desperate situation with their network, failing and their top talent depleted.

Here is another what if situation for you that led to the most successful wrestler in the company’s history emerging. If not for the MSG Curtain Call, it would have been Triple H and not Stone Cold Steve Austin winning the King of the Ring. Stone Cold never wins maybe never says Austin 3:16 and goes on from there to be the biggest star in the company.

This is not to say Dean Ambrose or anyone else could take this time to reach such levels. It is however a time where opportunity is clearly knocking and some guys like Ambrose, Ziggler and Cesaro are clearly aware of that and it is showing in their work going to an even higher level. Ambrose has the biggest canvas of the three to paint on given his position at this point.  It also makes you wonder if Bray Wyatt had been more successful in his runs with Cena and Jericho where he could have been positioned in this time period. Instead, he is kind of going back to square one to some degree.

These are interesting times despite the WWE struggling to come up with solutions for a lack of depth. This is the result of their poor booking and injuries coming together in this perfect storm. You have a Champion that only makes limited appearances in Lesnar. While John Cena by most reports is pretty banged up himself is now deemed as vital to keeping this ship a float even if he is over exposed and the crowd is tired of him.

These dark times for the WWE in the past have always been times we have seen new stars emerge and perhaps the same will be true of this time period when history looks back on it. Time will tell as we head down the road.

Raw Has Fallen And It Can't Get Up

Dean Ambrose came back and for five minutes, it looked like he had saved Raw from the abyss that it had fallen into in his absence. Not even Dean can be on the screen for three hours straight. Raw is really suffering and adding another member to the long-term injury list in Roman Reigns is not helping it get better. Despite many thinking, it might be a massive chance for Dean himself to get to a different level. While we can debate about the individual players for days the team as a whole is getting a butt kicking the last five weeks.

Brian Fritz my colleague at Between the Ropes wrote an excellent piece on some ideas the fix what is wrong with the WWE. One of the points he made was about the WWE commentary team that I think almost everyone agrees with at this point. Michael Cole gets more passionate about a man in a bunny costume wrestling than an I-C title match. While the man himself defends Cole, you have to believe Jim Ross deep down knows Cole couldn’t hold his jock strap. Meantime you have Jerry Lawler who we all were concerned when he had a heart attack live on air a few years ago. Has the statue of limitations ended on this yet, because I challenge anyone to come up with a night since returning from that where Lawler has been even passable in his role? Let’s state the obvious, Jerry Lawler does not watch Smackdown and would not know a NXT superstar if he ran into them at a mall. He does not watch the product other than when he is on the air for Raw or a special event/pay-per-view. Some may question if he even does that. However, perhaps the most annoying of the lot of them is JBL. He is loud, bombastic, and more interested in cutting jokes on his buddy Michael Cole than doing his job. He seems to wander between being a heel announcer to neutral and even at times a babyface with no really reason for it.

While commentary is a major problem it is only the most obvious and in your face one on a weekly basis consistently. Lack of consistency hurts building fan bases for your various wrestlers and that has been obvious. Take a guy like Cesaro that fans have been rallying behind or trying for last year to 6 months. He seemed primed to be launched to the next level coming out of Wrestlemania only to have him play a secondary role to Brock Lesnar who was not even on the roster. If you look at all the ups and downs for Cesaro just as a fan, you feel frustrated. Imagine how that actual man that is Cesaro feels. You can just sense his desire to move up the ladder and I challenge anyone to give a solid reason why he should not.

Bray Wyatt has gone from working a program with John Cena and being the hottest thing in the WWE to forgotten  in the shuffle with no real program to speak of. We had a group of Xavier Woods, Big E and Kofi Kingston appear for a week and disappear the next. You have this idea of 50/50 booking in many feuds like the one with Dolph Ziggler and The Miz that has seen the Intercontinental Title change hands like it is an unwanted stepchild. Dean Ambrose may not be dead the fans caring about the Intercontinental Championship is on life support. This is not even mentioning the U.S title that even the most hardcore fan has to struggle to remember whom that champion is at the moment. The answer is Sheamus for the moment if you were struggling to remember.

There is also a lack of faith in the performers in 2014 that needs to change. We need to get away from the scripted promo for most of the roster and go back to the point form ways of the past. If you want a couple scripted lines this is fine. Is it always going to work and will you sometimes have a Nikki Bella I wish you died in the womb moment? Sure that is going to happen from time to time but more often than not you will get a better promo and performance overall. If you did not know the womb line, was an ad-lib by Nikki Bella.

I think if you allow this to happen than it will cause guys and gals to feel who their character is not just simply reading a script of someone else telling them who they are. The people that were great in this business did not have to be told who they were. At some point, they understood who they were and reacted as such in ever situation they would find themselves. Dean Ambrose is perhaps the one person on this roster that fully grasps this concept. He is the same guy every time we see him on our television screen.

Austin had the famous and perhaps over used line, about the best wrestling characters being an extension of who these people were in real life, just turning the volume up to like 10. Which is somewhat lacking in the current WWE.

Now let us talk about some women’s wrestling shall we. I will start with a simple statement that with opportunity it comes with responsibility. This simple statement applies to all of the ladies but specifically to the Total Divas crew. If the WWE is going to use you on its programming, based on Total Divas and not really anything else you need to step up.  It is on you to take these segments and matches and prove you are worthy of this valuable real estate that is television time. The gaffs we have seen in matches and the lack of being able to get across promos and angles is clearly evident.

While I love women’s wrestling, if the ladies are not going to step up to the plate, I can’t honestly defend them nor should I. They need to be held just as accountable as their male counterparts are and I question if that is really done.

What else can we say that has not been said so far? Here is a point about booking and predictability with in that.  Predictable booking is fine in the long-term but it isn’t in the short term. What I mean by this is simple I am fine with already having a clear idea where the company wants to head for Wrestlemania next year but not for Raw next week. The true success for Raw is when it embraces that old WWE slogan where the WWE was where anything can happen. That does not mean exactly having a bunny wrestling in a tag-team match. It means that I never really am 100% sure what could happen next. I am not going to the point of Vince Russo where I need to be treated like a kid with the patience level of a 6-year old in my viewing habits. I am just saying in the sense of needing to wonder what could happen from segment to segment as we go through the show. If I am wondering about what might happen next, that is less time I am looking at the clock wondering if this is over yet?

What also seems painfully clear even as an outsider is that Vince McMahon and his son-in-law Paul Lévesque (Triple H) seem to be at odds over a great number of talents and their futures. This validates why we have seen this wild inconsistencies in the booking of people. You only need to watch NXT to see that Paul seems to be much closer to understand what this generation of fans want in comparison to Vince. You can say C.M Punk might understand it better than both might combined still he isn’t concerned with how you have to implement that change in a corporate setting. Paul Levesque does as he has created the entire brand and developmental system that hardcore fans love. He is the guy that has brought in guys like Sami Zayn, Kevin Steen, Kenta, Prince Devitt and Adrian Neville along with others.

At the end of the day, the biggest problem might just be Vince McMahon himself. Think about it, he has been the guy behind the John Cena build we saw to the re-match with Lesnar, which no one really thought was believable. Vince McMahon might be too distracted, too old or just to out of touch to make this work as he has in the past. There is little question the WWE Network has been a huge distraction and is taking Vince out of the mix in terms of his normal hands on role with creative. I just wonder if it is BEST FOR BUSINESS to have Paul takeover creative until Vince is able to stabilize this network. If there, is not a split focus maybe that can lead to both having better success? This $9.99 campaign is about as successful as the show has been recently. Least it looks that way on the surface.

So what happened on Raw? Ambrose is back and Cena is trying to ride the coat tails of his popularity and a man in a bunny suit wrestled on Monday Night Raw. This was not a banner moment or episode in the longest running episodic program in television history.  

Raw has fallen and it can’t get up.

Night of Wrestling and Questionable Booking for WWE

Night of Champions seems to have had some really mixed results in terms of reaction to it. While in ring, the show seemed to come off reasonably well, the booking of the show caused people some headaches. Those that just wanted to see some good in-ring action were able to ignore the lack of logic to the booking and enjoy the show. Those who could not ignore those mistakes were unable to see past it and enjoy some good wrestling overall. 

A great example of this divide was in the match between Sheamus versus Cesaro. Everyone expected this to be a hard-hitting stiff affair. The end result with Cesaro losing left a bad taste in fans mouths that have been unhappy with how he has been booked since Wrestlemania.

If you looked at last night’s show in a vacuum not looking back or forward it is hard to debate, it was not a decent show at the very least. When you get into the long-term nature of these events is where issues arise. Like this feud with the Miz and Dolph Ziggler that has gone on to long with ridiculous side characters in Sandow and R-Truth. The commentary on the match was an infomercial for some hick country brand Florida Georgia Line that didn’t have the common business sense to know the name of the event they signed to appear at in December. This made the Intercontinental Championship match seemingly less important.  The constant flip-flopping of the title also doesn’t help matters. This could be just getting the belt back on The Miz prior to losing to a returning Wade Barrett who was the champion prior to him being injured. This ultimately would be acceptable in the grand scheme of things.

This was one of three titles that changed hands as the Uso’s losing to the Dust Brothers. Which realistically seemed to be coming with the Uso’s having long title run. Does this change my interest level in the tag-team division at all? It does not have me more interested in the division in the slightest.

The Diva’s title swaps hands again as A.J gets the title back winning the three-way title match. The match was decent even Nikki Bella pulled her weight in the match. The booking about having Nikki in the match made zero sense as Brie was at Night of Champions, but only cut an interview and had zero involvement in the match. Again, another case of a decent match with flawed booking that does not make sense.

One match that for my money failed on both levels was Chris Jericho and Randy Orton. The build to this match including a useless segment on the pre-show on the “Peep Show” that was pointless. While many will say this was a good match between to vets, I am sorry but that finish to this match was so poor it wiped away anything that happened prior to it. We had Jericho waiting forever on the top rope only to get “RKOed” when he jumped off for the finishing spot to the match. The catch RKO when we first saw it was an amazing move. It was anything but in this case as you could see it coming a mile away

Roman Reigns was rushed to hospital over the weekend legitimately and the WWE did the expected but welcomed segment as a result. Rollins took a win by forfeit over Reign who could be out anywhere from 6-12 weeks based on his recovery. Rollins issues an open challenge and out of a cab in the back that he did not pay for comes Dean Ambrose returning to the WWE after a month.  In storyline curb stomped through cement blocks, while in reality he was off filming a WWE films movie in which he plays a cop. Ambrose takes justice into his own hands and attacks Rollins all over the arena and security along with Triple H and Stephanie come out. Eventually security drags off Ambrose. One of the suits along with security was Jamie Noble who had quite the scuffle with Ambrose. There is irony in the one segment that was not pre-planned and came off as one of the best things on the show.

It is now time to move onto our main event with Brock Lesnar and John Cena in their re-match from Summerslam. We saw the predictable more aggressive Cena going after Brock but still not able to finish him whoever thought it was a good idea to have John Cena using the “STF” is headshaking. Cena has always made that hold look terrible and Brock breaking out of it only emphasized that.Steve Austin has also been a long time critic of Cena doing this hold badly. Rollins come up, breaks-up yet another “STF” attempt, and causes a DQ win by attacking Cena. He “Curb Stomped” the downed Lesnar and went to cash in his Money in the Bank contract only to be cut off by Cena negating his cash in as the bell never rang to start the match. Sadly, this is looking like we are heading to yet another Cena vs. Lesnar match. It seems clear the WWE has little confidence in booking Brock with anyone else. I have very little interest in seeing this match for a third time.

Perhaps Raw can sell me on this being interesting and this would have to put some strain between the relationship with Paul Heyman and Brock with the Authority and Seth Rollins.

In the end for me, this show taught me an example of why you need good booking to go along with good wrestling to make a show enjoyable. This was booked at times as an episode of Raw and at other times like it was a pay-per-view. It just did not get me excited for what is to come and the title changes that happened all seemed very flat and uneventful in nature for me.

Night of Champions is rapidly becoming the show you skip and just wait for Hell in the Cell to get the blow offs to main event feuds. This was all similar to how the Bryan and Orton feud was dragged out last year to get it to Hell in the Cell and a blow-off cell match; this also might speak to the need of having so many gimmick themed pay-per-views. While ones like the Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank seem to work things like Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber clearly do not. The need for a long feud to end in these structures is likely part of the reason they don’t and making it predictable that feuds will peak at this event. Elimination Chamber is a dangerous match that always seems to be a holdover to Wrestlemania with little drama attached to it.

In the end a show that really seemed to have some mixed reaction from the WWE’s core audience while a Lesnar vs. Cena re-match, I would venture to guess did little to expand the WWE audience with casual fans. WWE had really gotten some attention with the initial Lesnar win only to fail badly in the follow-up to it.

Just like they have failed to sell a network to the mass population outside of it's hardcore audience. 

Brock Lesnar Directly Or Indirectly Could Lead WWE To Change They Need

The build to Night of Champions and the re-match to John Cena and Brock Lesnar will be interesting to say the least. Lesnar says he is going to end John Cena in the match that is great wrestling hype for sure. However, news that John Cena from his own lips that his shoulder has been injured and he has been battling through it makes this take on a different meaning. News since that Cena may in fact have neck issues as well makes you wonder a few things. First on my list would be, if people were aware of this, who exactly came up with the brilliant idea of Cena taking 16 German Suplexs in the match? Is this further injury, because of that match would be another question to be asked. You can also wonder if these are in fact, legit injures or just brilliant selling that Cena physically might not be fit for this match. This would create some concern and vulnerability for the former 15-time champion heading into this re-match.

Working with Brock Lesnar is never the easiest thing to do physically in a legit sense. Brock is a monster in a real sense and does not have a history of being the safest worker for not only his opposition but also himself at times. Just minutes into one of his matches with Triple H it was said that Lesnar had rang his bell and might have suffered a concussion. If memory serves me this was at their match at Wrestlemania 29. In any case booking a less than 100% Cena in a match with Brock Lesnar with shoulder and neck issues assuming they are legit injuries is just tempting fate.

This is the best argument for why the WWE booking Cena stronger than everyone else has never been a great idea. When Cena in effect makes opposition look weak and takes away from them while building him up it does them no favors. The latest example the beating he put on Bray Wyatt to restore Cena after the royal ass whipping he took at Summerslam. Bray might be in some hot water, as it seems his feud with Jericho may in fact not go to a third match and more and more people are starting to question his ability to have good matches and get himself over beyond his promos and entrance.

We had a glimpse of the WWE without John Cena when he was forced to walk away for what was at the time expected to be 6 months after losing to Daniel Bryan at Summerslam. After which the company seemed unwilling to legitimize him as the top guy in Cena’s absence. Cena would make one of his miraculous recoveries and be back in about 2 and half months from injury. He would win the World Championship and have a unification match with Randy Orton to close out 2013. Bryan it appears may have avoided a second surgery and could be on the road to a return sooner than it was originally feared. WWE might need him if Cena is taken out of the game after this re-match with Brock Lesnar.

It is going to be interesting if we end up with Brock as champion and Cena potentially out with an injury coming out of Night of Champions. Many already wonder how the WWE will adjust without having a Champion on T.V all the time and not at all on house shows. Now add losing the face of the company in John Cena to that, it could be a one-two punch that would not be best for business at all.

Dean Ambrose who many would argue is the most "over" superstar is off doing a movie but should be back if not for Night of Champions soon after. Even though in storyline, Dean is portrayed as being out indefinitely. Roman Reigns is still trying to deal with the weight of expectations about him being deemed the next one to replace Cena. He is not ready to handle that at this point in the view of majority of wrestling journalists and fans as well. Seth Rollins has the Money in the Bank briefcase but as long as Brock is champion it makes the concept of him cashing in and winning seem highly unlikely.

There is a theory John Cena would beat Lesnar, but be so beaten down that Rollins would cash in on him and win the championship.  I find that hard to believe, it would take away the whole idea of Brock being the man that ended Undertaker’s streak and someone by beating him getting something out of that. This is what most feel is something they want for Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 31. If Reigns is not ready to be champion, I have a hard time making the case for Seth Rollins to be. No question as far as an in-ring worker is concerned he is ready. That said his performance in promos still leaves a great deal to be desired. I can’t see this idea having any merit. However, WWE has done stupider things its history.

There is never a good time to have injuries let alone to the guy you have built the company around for last 12 years more or less.  You add in the WWE still struggling to get this WWE Network to a place where it can be profitable it becomes an even bigger issue.

No one should be crying tears for the folks at WWE though as they have made choices that have put themselves in this position. How many times have we said over the past several years that various guys were on a path to be main event level stars only to have the WWE’s booking take it all away? Cesaro is an example of a guy that was positioned to make that step up the ladder coming out of Wrestlemania only to have him taken back down the ladder. He is just one of many examples you could point too.

There has been a lot of talk in recent months of internal struggle between Paul Lévesque and Vince McMahon over creative. At some point Vince is going to have to trust in the future that Paul Levesque as created for this company. If he fails to do so and longer he continues to rely on the old guard the more difficult the transition will be to a new era for the company beyond John Cena and the stars left from the past like Randy Orton, Big Show and Kane.

It is vital and trick to make this transition at the same time this company is trying to redefine how it does business for the next generation at the very same time. Making the transition from the pay-per-view era to this bold new Network era that may be an idea that is a little ahead of it’s time. Regardless, the WWE can’t turn back now and must stay committed to this bold new business model. While at the same time, have faith in the investment they have made in their developmental system with the performance center and their partnership with Full Sail University.  This is the first steps in seeing the investment in the NXT brand coming to the main stage. Not showing faith in that system and the talent it is creating would be a massive mistake and one this company can’t afford to make.

There is a lot at stake and regardless of what the plan is on paper the signs in reality are starting to show that John Cena does not have many days left on top on the WWE Mountain. At least not in the current position, he holds now as the main attraction and face of the company.   Be it the company’s choice, Cena’s, or both the idea of not having him transition to a heel character is also limiting his longevity to being a draw for the product even if they fail to see that. The WWE is a company that can come up with ideas like the WWE Network that are truly revolutionary despite the lack of success they have had no one debates it is the future for content. While at the same time, they seem to cling to nostalgia and end up being stuck in the past in terms of creative. It is time for the WWE roster to represent that same forward thinking that their business model truly is. Even if it might take a hit of the start as the WWE Network has, it is worth it for the long term and overall growth and future of the product.

Cena’s time is no longer now it is time for change in fact that change is long overdue. This is not to say that anyone should want to wish ill will to Cena and his heath and well-being.  If he were to take the time and heal up it might be the best thing forever one including him and his own longevity at the end of the day.

 

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Cesaro: Latest Example Of WWE Missing The Boat?

So is it to early to sound the alarm of concern for Cesaro? Would anyone hear it over his horrible theme music?  It doesn’t seem all that long ago that Cesaro was on the verge of a major push to the main event scene. Something happened on the way to the top and your guess is as good as mine as to what. After coming out of Wrestlemania looking like a stud slamming the Big Show out of the Andre the Giant Battle Royal to become the first ever winner of the event. Next night on Raw he dumps Zeb and Jack Swagger to become the NEXT Paul Heyman guy and he seemed to be on a rocket ship to success.

Here in July it appears Heyman is out of the picture as Brock is set to return and Cesaro has just been stuck in the mid-card without really any major feuds of note. He was paired with Sheamus for a minor feud that produced decent matches but clearly no one cared about.

Where things might have gone off track for him was he was supposed to be the winner of a tournament to challenge Big E who was the current I-C Champion at the time. A script got in the hands of the internet that revealed this fact and in typical WWE reactionary fashion they changed to Wade Barrett who would go on to defeat Big E. Which of course he would soon after be injured and is currently out and requires shoulder surgery leading to the battle royal for the vacant title this Sunday.

What also in my opinion aside from awful theme music has not been working is the pairing with Paul Heyman. I like so many thought, the night after Wrestlemania this was the perfect marriage for the rising Swiss star and Heyman, who with Brock on his annual break to Summerslam was in need of something to do. Cesaro has suffered from Heyman promoting the fact his client that is not around beat the Undertaker’s streak and Paul Heyman just can’t help mentioning it every chance he gets. Cesaro with Heyman has been made to feel like second fiddle to Brock Lesnar without Lesnar even being around. This would have been fine if it was leading to Cesaro against Brock match, but that is clearly not the direction the WWE took or plans to take anytime soon.

Even if Cesaro were to walk away the Intercontinental Champion Sunday, I don’t think it repairs the damage done to him in the last few months. He isn’t even my pick in that match for the record as I picked Bo Dallas in the staff picks at Between the Ropes.

It wasn’t the disaster Curtis Axel being paired with Heyman was, but it wasn’t that much better to be honest. Cesaro was a guy being put over by Cena and had a great television match with him heading into Wrestlemania. Fans were primed to accept him as a babyface and the WWE decided to go in the complete opposite direction.

The level of concern for Cesaro is not as big as it might be for others, because he does have a lot of skills the WWE will always value. His ability to speak several languages, while used as part of his gimmick, does make him a value when touring the world. His in ring work is on an elite level and he is a machine in the gym which is something both Triple H and Vince McMahon will always respect.

Still you feel like the WWE missed a moment with this guy to get him "over" and make him a bigger star. This is something that becomes all too common these days with the WWE. They need to start listing to their audience and giving  them some things they want, if you expect them to be buying into your network and investing into the company with their wallets. C.M Punk once ranted fans don’t get to win in his feud with the Rock. In context of being a Cesaro fan, you have to feel like you have lost, after a great set up for a major push at Wrestlemania 30 that has failed to ever get started.  


 

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Raw Notebook: Best Raw In Recent Memory

It didn’t start out as a Raw to remember, but by the end of the night it might have been one of the best Raw’s in the past 5 years. I wanted a night of sleep to consider it and not just scream out this is the best Raw ever, when I know it would be just said in excitement. It really was a good show and one of the best in a long time. That has little to do with the opening segment in which John Cena tried to play babyface to The Authority with Stephanie and Triple H. It was revealed as part of the segment that Cena will appear on the cover of WWE 2k15. Rather than give a whole rundown of the show I will speak more to some general themes that made it great.

Surprise Returns:

This show featured three big returns and two of them came within the same segment of Raw. The other was the new wife of one C.M Punk the lovely and talented A.J Lee. I went into great detail about her return last night and what it all means which is up on site for you to check out if you missed it.

The WWE promised a returning Champion that was a social media star and basically a global icon. The word on the street was The Miz was in waiting to return and the description fit him well. He would come out to basically crickets and this looked like a case of the WWE over hyping something and failing to deliver. Some had speculated close to Raw hitting the air it would be Chris Jericho returning, so when the Miz showed up it was underwhelming to say the least. Yet Chris Jericho would come out and interrupt the Miz’s horrible promo on how he was this big star that he clearly isn’t. Jericho before saying a word would eventually hit a code breaker on Miz and lay him out and start a promo of his own. That alone seemed like a fantastic segment for Raw. Jericho would be cut off by the famous noise that means the Wyatt’s are coming and the lights went out which is the name of the new Fozzy track ironically and Wyatt’s were all in the ring when the lights came back on. They attacked Jericho and laid him out. It was perhaps one of the best segments of Raw in quite some time and really had a feel of the much beloved attitude era.

It was brilliant and had twitter exploding through out it. A.J Lee did return later and interrupt Paige as the two flipped roles with A.J as the baby face and Paige as the heel and A.J would skip away as your new Diva’s Champion. That might have been the most significant women’s match in some time. It was very short but what it lacked in length and over skill it made up for in shock value.

More Character Development beyond the Main Event Angles:

We saw a few examples of some honest to good story building for guys that are not in the top angles. Fandango and Dolph Ziggler have been paired together as Summer Rae came out and laid a lip lock on Dolph in the middle of his match with Fandango. He seemed to like it and when all was said and done he had a win over Fandango and Summer Rae’s gum in his mouth.

Naomi and Cameron’s break-up is now on as the two were booked in a handicap match against Nikki Bella as she was put in there by Stephanie McMahon as a form of punishment for her sister Bri’s appearance on Money in the Bank and insulting her.

Bo Dallas came out and cut a promo complete with Tebowing and asking for the Crowd to be silent for injured superstars Daniel Bryan and Wade Barrett as a way to honor them.

Damien Sandow was in the Role of Vince McMahon. This led to Stephanie coming on screen furious with him and booking him in a match with Khali he ended him with one chop. You may see this as a poor Sandow moment and it might be but the fact Stephanie was involved might actually be something that will advance his storyline of goofy gimmicks.

A Wild Final Segment:

The Main Event was booked as Cena and Reigns vs. Orton and Kane. Cena would get laid out while Reigns and Orton ended up brawling to the back. Kane would lay out Cena and Seth Rollins would come from the back with briefcase in hand ready to cash in on Cena. This was all being directed by Triple H who was at ringside for the match. Before the cash in could go down Ambrose came storming in and he and Rollins would brawl out into the crowd. Triple H upset his plan had backfired order Kane to get a chair and as he waited poised to lay out Cena, Roman Reigns would return and spear Kane saving Cena. Talk about a role reversal their not often Batman saves Superman’s butt. After that, he would lock eyes with Triple H who had made his way up to the apron. This will be in the package when Reigns and Triple H meet at Summerslam which is almost a lock at this point.

All in all it was a show that still had its low moments like Adam Rose and Santino doing a terrible obvious ad segment for Twisted Ice Tea. It still was a vast improvement from what Raw has been giving up definitely since Wrestlemania and honestly maybe even beyond that. The elements I focused on are a big reason why that was the case.

Some notes from my colleges at Between the Ropes:

Emma was arrested

Cesaro injured his eye (Cesaro laid a vicious beat down on Kofi Kingston that I failed to mention on Raw)

Wade Barrett is out and requires Surgery on his shoulder.  




Condo on the Moon is on Twitter and Facebook and check out our weekly podcasts Every Friday! You can find us now at Condoonthemoon.com

WWE's Uncertain Future Continues Heading To Summerslam

What a difference a few months can make in wrestling and in the WWE specifically. It was a long battle, but Daniel Bryan got his Wrestlemania moment. A bad program with Kane and neck injury and WWE in a sense was turned on its ear.

While it is easy to cast stones at the WWE you have to admit there has been a ton of turmoil surrounding this company. It started after the Royal Rumble where fans revolted and demanded Bryan to be placed in the title picture. At the same time CM Punk angry over a number of issues decides to go back to Chicago and call it a day. After months of silence he finally came out and declared himself retired. He was also getting married as we would learn to the top woman in company A.J Lee. She beat the odds only to lose the title the next night to Paige and fade away with Punk

First it was to move to Chicago to live with him, than an announcement of a wedding that took place somewhere in Chicago last weekend. The latest is the A.J is expecting and thus will not be back for sometime if at all. It will definitely not be before July in which C.M Punk’s deal is supposed to end if the pregnancy talk is true. Punk's deal coming to an end is even is in doubt with the WWE’s recent actions with Rey Mysterio’s contract, as they rolled it over stated that Rey owed the company time based on injuries. In theory with Punk walking out they could use the same clause to keep Punk under contract assuming this language was in his deal as well. It has all led to a lot of fans picking sides and some turning their back on Punk stating that he did the same to them. While others were just happy for a guy that seemed miserable when he left, finding some happiness since that time even if it didn’t include wrestling.  

There was recent speculation that WWE tried to get Punk to return for Payback in Chicago once they had learned of the injury to Bryan but were unsuccessful. Who knows and at this point who really cares. I am convinced that Punk will not make a move until his current deal expires so he can craft and entirely new deal from scratch.  There is also the off chance that Punk is serious about being retired and done with wrestling. He had always said he would be gone long before anyone expected him to be. About the only thing not on his resume that might interest him is a Wrestlemania Main Event. I could see that being something Punk might be interested in.

I maintain the Main Event for Wrestlemania 32 in Cowboy’s Stadium needs to be Austin vs. CM Punk. It’s a year and half away but this would be the WWE attempting to have the largest crowd in their history for this event should it be the venue for Wrestlemania 32 as it has long been speculated to be.

WWE have much more short term concerns to deal with. Mainly the lack of success for the WWE Network in the early stages, not drawing as big of numbers domestically as they would have hoped. In addition to losing staff over at the network, the WWE also fired their head writer in creative. In addition to the releases of talent last Thursday. Changes are happening all over the place it seems. From the outside looking in it looks like some organized chaos, but at the end of the day still chaos. This likely all sparked by the huge negative reaction to the WWE’s new T.V deal that was expected to double if not triple and even had a personal guarantee from Vince McMahon himself. It didn’t happen while the WWE did get a bump up it was not to the level promised. The low network numbers combined with this news sent the WWE Stock that once had climbed above 30 dollar mark down to below 10 before stabilizing slightly above that number. It closed this past Friday at 11.66 cents in U.S funds.

The one group that has so far seem to navigate all the land mines and benefit in this time of Chaos has been The Shield. They now have been broken up into 3 separate acts as individuals which given the WWE’s lack of people the crowd is invested in makes some great sense.

What originally was thought of has trying to put a band-aid on the situation of Daniel Bryan’s injury may not be anymore. WWE has pulled him from all shows in July and now they are hoping he can be back for Summerslam. Who ends up winning the WWE Title at Money in the Bank might tell you more about Daniel Bryan’s health status than anything.

If it is not one of the old guard and it is in fact a Roman Reigns, Cesaro or a Bray Wyatt it might be an indication that Bryan is not doing so well on his road to recovery. If the Belt were to go on Cena or Orton it might be a sign Bryan is looking on schedule to come back. Losing a title for ether at this stage of the game is not a big deal.

Brock Lesnar seems to be the "wildcard" in all of this, as he was suppose to be taking on the WWE World Champion at Summerslam and that was suppose to Daniel Bryan. Now what happens with Brock? Do they flip his dates around and we see him show up next Sunday? It is possible, but Brock’s original plan was to return for Summerslam and the PPV after that. Brock is very set in only doing his required dates and anything beyond that you are going to have to pay. Given the sweet deal that he already has who can really blame him.

If Roman Reigns were to become the Champion does he face Brock or does he face Triple H as the storyline has been leading us to believe? Cesaro seems the likely fit to face Brock in a feud with Heyman as his manger. It could be the launching point to turn Cesaro baby face finally. Some will say it is too soon and do you really want him to beat Brock which he almost has too in this situation if not at Summerslam definitely on the next PPV.

Bray Wyatt could be the best option as if Daniel Bryan is ready they have some history already and if not a final battle in an “I Quit Match” with Cena wouldn’t be a horrible option for the Title. This despite the two having a long feud, that we all have grown kinda sick of, but if Bray could make Cena quit in a title match that would be worth it. Although the chances we get that finish are probably slim.

In any case if you thought the road to Wrestlemania was a rocky bumpy and unpredictable ride, this one to Summerslam might be even more interesting. Having some lasting impact on the immediate future of the company in the short term and perhaps long term, depending on how it all shakes out.

It is ironic in the predetermined world that is pro wrestling, so many things that could not have been predetermined have impacted on this company in major ways in 2014. WWE has had to endure a lot of shots in 2014 the difference between them and everyone else in the wrestling business is they have more than enough money to take the shots and move forward.

It is not to say this isn’t a pretty vital time for the company because it really is as they are being stretched to their limits in a lot of ways.  

Condo on the Moon is on Twitter and Facebook and check out our weekly podcasts Every Friday! You can find us now at Condoonthemoon.com