The fools I refer to in this instance are, of course, WWE
Creative. They managed to save a Wrestlemania
Main Event, where the world was braced for the crowning of Roman Reigns, by
giving us a good contest and a Seth Rollins cash-in. It played out perfectly
and left viewers with a great sense of occasion.
Only WWE Creative has the ability to quickly undo all their
good work. The slippery slope started at Extreme
Rules. In a quick defence, it has to be acknowledged such a concept is hard
to pull off in the PG era, but there are ways to get around it while providing plausible
entertainment. To keep the theme relevant the envelope has to be pushed or
shocks delivered.
There’s certainly no room for a “Kiss Me Arse” match. I’d
argue this stipulation never needs to find its way to any card, let alone one
that is supposed to be Extreme. But
it’s what we got. To make matters worse they handed the victory to Ziggler and immediately
halted Sheamus’s intimidating return. Already we know he’s not unstoppable.
The Russian Chain Match should have been renamed: Cena’s Continuing
Chain of Wins over Rusev Match. WWE Creative has worked hard at removing all
the fear surrounding the Bulgarian Brute. An extreme setting allows for an
upset. Instead the action was very PG, the result very predictable. Thankfully
we could look forward to an end of the rivalry. Oh wait, WWE wanted to drag it
out to drive home how Super Cena had the number of Mother Russia.
You know a PPV is failing when Big Show takes plaudits for
match of the night. That’s what happened at Extreme
Rules as the always excellent Seth Rollins and the Viper couldn’t save a convoluted
main event.
Payback offered
WWE Creative the chance to do just this: pay us back for dropping the ball.
Instead they further compounded certain problems and made new ones. They
restarted the campaign to bury Damien Sandow. The Macho Man act was more than
cringe. It was disrespectful to the legend that was and the man made to play “Macho
Mandow.” Aaron Steven Haddad, the man who plays Damien Sandow, must have been
caught with his pants down and in the wrong person’s wife. It could be argued
Creative are playing to his comedic strengths and re-establishing The Ascension.
But there were better ways to achieve these two aims.
Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler did provide us with a good match
with a finish that would have better suited Extreme
Rules. The two Brits, King Wade Bad News Barrett and (Adrian) Neville, had
the weakest of their recent bouts but it was a great match regardless. It shows
how good the two performers are. They have a good chemistry and fill the blanks
in one another. A perfect balance. Like how Barrett has several forenames and
Neville would be happy to be given just one. However, they shouldn’t be
fighting one another, and so often, it devalues the winning streak and prowess
of two wrestlers deserving of pushes.
Before you say Barrett has just been made King, the less we
say about the revived tournament the better. King of the Ring deserves to be one night and less rushed. Much
like Elimination Chamber which we’ll
get to in a minute.
In the “I Quit” match Cena passed out and Rusev never
actually said the words in English. But Super Cena got the rub and following
episodes of Raw have tried their best
to undermine Rusev. To make things worse Lana has now teamed with Ziggler.
Dolph must be happy that after years of always delivering he’s back to the
upper-mid card as an arm for a female object of attention.
Payback’s main
event did deliver. We saw original Shield do the Triple Power Bomb. Creative
avoided a finish that saw Ambrose take the pin for Seth. And the extra
characters, J&J and Kane, added rather than took away from the action. A
sign of hope moving to the chamber that all is not lost.
As for the Elimination
Chamber, the card itself looks very healthy. What is worrying is how this
great event (the structure always provides top matches) was removed on grounds
of cost and modern arenas unable to lower and raise the chamber. Yet, out of
the blue, it was reinstated. Not even the wrestlers knew until the eleventh
hour. I understand plans have to be fluid, always ready for change. But this isn’t
a tweak, more a complete change in programme. And the lack of time between PPVs
has harmed the effective build-up. WWE Network figures, and the constant chase
of them, shouldn’t give rise to knee-jerk reactions.
Still, this aside, as I mentioned, it is a good list of
matches they’ve produced. New Day is over in a way Creative couldn’t have dared
dream of when their original gimmick was failing so badly. The prospect of a Tag
Team Chamber match is more than mouth
watering. I suspect it will steal the show and could be a spectacle spoken
about for years to come. Hats off to each performer too. They haven’t had
months to work out the spots and the dynamic. It’s just a bunch of hungry guys
throwing it all on the line.
Another hungry guy is Kevin Owens. He has been the man in NXT and gives Cena a credible opponent
(after the more than credible Rusev). The fact he holds NXT gold means if (when) he loses to Cena at the Network exclusive
PPV he won’t go down clean. It’ll be a beating for Cena afterwards. A painful
one that could kayfabe injury him.
The Intercontinental match has a strong field. The money
seems to be on Sheamus. This is logical. I expect a Ziggler/Rusev programme to
start following this Sunday’s match, Barrett has the King moniker to carry
around, Ryback is still suffering from the strange choice to pit him against the
ever-at-loose-end Bray Wyatt, and R-Truth is just fun-filler.
The weaker matches are the Divas triple-threat match. The
only threat regarding this championship is that the main roster looks weak
compared to the female matches witnessed on NXT.
This isn’t because the main roster has worse Divas, just weaker bookings.
Neville and Bo Dallas has all the hallmarks of a clean win for Neville. It’s
about time Dallas joined his real-life brother in the Wyatt Family.
The main event will provide a great wrestling match. Rollins
and Ambrose always deliver when in the squared circle together. The questions
are around the support cast. Will Reigns accidently cost Ambrose? How will The
Authority intervene? It’s highly likely (like, 99.9%) that Rollins will keep
the gold all the way to SummerSlam, a
bout with a Beast awaits him there, but with the abilities on display in Elimination Chamber’s WWE World Heavyweight
Championship match mean a few twists can still be delivered.
Let’s hope they make us smile and not groan.
