Miz & Sandow Win The Tag Titles

Miz and Damien Sandow won the tag titles at Survivor Series. Am I supposed to call him Mizdow? I'm not going to call him Mizdow. That is Sandow's first real title reign in the WWE. Good for him. What about Miz? It wasn't too long ago that this guy was holding a title. He does not need them. Unless the WWE is out of business by then, Miz will eventually be inducted into their Hall of Fame. It isn't because he earned it. It is because they gave him a career that will obviously end up in the Hall of Fame. And part of that is all these title reigns they keep on giving him.

I have mentioned many times that the WWE had been good about giving the tag titles to teams with momentum in recent years. Giving it to Goldust and Stardust was a step back. They may have had more momentum a few months ago when Cody Rhodes first debuted the new gimmick, but they had cooled down by the time the WWE finally gave them the titles. And their short time with the titles this year was not too great. Is giving it to Miz and Sandow a step back in the right direction? I don't think so. This is not a legitimate team. This is just two guys in the midcard that were tossed together a few months ago. You can easily see them feuding with each other soon. They were pretty much at that point where they either got the tag titles or started feuding with each other. Even though Sandow is getting over with the fans with his comedy gimmick, as a team, momentum wasn't really there for them to win the tag titles as it was for many other teams in the last few years. The tag division has not really regained that momentum.

There is still a lack of contenders. A lot of the teams on the main roster do not have a lot of credibility and are obvious lower-midcarders. Enter New Day. The New Day is a stable consisting of Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods. They look to be faces. It is not hard to imagine that two of these guys might eventually be going after the tag titles. I just think the gimmick is stupid. It is a good move to give your workers gimmicks and not push them as generic characters, but the WWE is just going overboard. Creative interest goes beyond just a gimmick. What about feud and storyline development? That is where the WWE often fails these days. And you just have too many stupid gimmicks floating around and not going anywhere. What you have these days is gimmicked lower-midcard filler. Guys like Tyson Kidd and Fandango are relevant again. Are they really being pushed? Or is this just filler? Main-event depth is not the only issue in the WWE. Midcarders like Barrett and Bo Dallas have also been injured. Who takes up their spot? Adam Rose and his Bunny? A lot of the things going on right now feel like El Torito vs. Hornswoggle. The WWE obviously did not follow up on those two. That is the same feeling you should have for a lot of these gimmicks you see now. They are just rotating these gimmicks. And this might be a low point in Kofi Kingston's career in the WWE. He looked very credible at one time. He might have been better off when he was generic. What will this gimmick do with his connection with the fans? As for those other two, this is a step up from what they are typically used to. Overall, the tag division is not too great right now.

How Do You Follow Up On Survivor Series?

Raw this week got some good numbers. Viewership average was above 4 million. Ratings came in above a 3.0 for the first time in months. What do you attribute that to? Ratings are usually good the night after a PPV, especially if something big happened at that PPV. You had the debut of Sting and The Authority going out of power at Survivor Series. That is definitely a reason for many fans to want to tune in.

Let me use what I was talking about just yesterday. Where did all those extra fans come from? What type of fans? Those are your D fans and C fans. D fans are the ones you have to work for just to come in once in a while. C fans are the casuals that tune in a little more often than the D fans, but are still not that loyal. Of course, viewers started tuning out as the show went on. That is what you would expect from these type of fans. Football was on. Huge events were happening in the United States that led to many people watching the news. All that in consideration, Raw still did very well.

But how do you follow up on that? How do you keep these part-time fans coming in and possibly turn them into B fans? Sting is obviously not going to be around regularly. He wasn't on Raw this week. And the issue of who takes over now can create some interest, but they have to handle it right. They brought back Daniel Bryan this week. Good move, but I don't think his power to truly draw has ever really been determined. He has never really been in John Cena's spot. Moreover, Raw ended in a very annoying fashion. The computer GM is back. The Anonymous GM is back. Last time, it was Hornswoggle. Very disappointing. Hopefully, they do something better this time. I doubt they can do worse.

Should the new person in charge be a heel? I think so. You have no strong heels right now. I said that taking The Authority out of power might leave Seth Rollins looking less credible. And I got that feeling this week. There is nothing wrong with faces looking strong and embarrassing the heels now and then, but you have not created a lot of great heels and do not want to ruin the ones you are in the midst of creating. Some fans are expecting a heel turn because of the lack of heels. I saw some fans saying that John Cena or Dolph Ziggler would turn heel on Raw this week. Didn't happen. What about Big Show? It doesn't really matter. All your heels feel like B+ players right now. A heel GM might help things. I saw one fan say Paul Heyman should run things. Not a bad idea. It could work into Cena vs. Lesnar. There's also the idea of pushing Sting as the GM, but I think that would bury the heels even more. They need something to get their momentum back and look like big deals again. The faces got their fun this week, but now it is time for some heels to rise up in a big way.

Gail Kim: Centerpiece Or Credible Jobber For The KO Division?

In recent weeks, I have pointed out that TNA could very well try running a diva-like women's division and beat the WWE at their own game. I have talked about how they have a woman that fits the image of a diva centerpiece that is currently holding their women's title. I talked about the periphery. The third element in running a diva-like women's division are the credible jobbers. These are the women with wrestling credibility that are like the supporting players. They put over the centerpiece and get filler pushes, especially should the centerpiece go down. They really help the division to look respectable and remain efficient.

The KO division is obviously respectable. That is the atmosphere they love to sell. They have a lot of women with wrestling credibility. They can bring in female wrestlers for one night only or for a short period. Unlike the WWE, it is unlikely TNA will ever have serious depth issues when it comes to credible jobbers. Depth issues when it comes to legitimate stars is another issue.

That brings me to Gail Kim. She is the closest thing to a centerpiece that TNA's women's division has, although TNA does not push her the same way the WWE would a centerpiece. She obviously has wrestling credibility. She was a credible jobber both times she was in the WWE. And she also was a big deal during her first TNA run. She is still pushed as a big deal, but is she still connecting with fans in the same? If she can connect with the fans in a strong way, she deserves to be the centerpiece. If she cannot, she should be a credible jobber. Don't get me wrong, I like Gail Kim. If she was more charismatic, she would be my #1 favorite female wrestler. But if TNA wants to attempt to run a diva-like women's division, Gail Kim should be in the rotation of credible jobbers.

TNA is at a better position than the WWE to run with a solid diva centerpiece. They are in a better position than them to run with a better periphery. They are in a better position than them to run with better credible jobbers. All they have to do is not make the same mistakes the WWE makes. That includes overpushing a centerpiece that cannot get over. Taryn Terrell deserves a fair shot to be the top KO of that division, not just hold a title for a while. If someone like Gail Kim can connect better with the fans than her, then she could take back that top position. But TNA should continue to maintain a good balance between featuring female wrestlers and eye-candy performers. Maintain that respectability, build real stars, and beat the WWE at what they have not been able to do in almost a decade.

Since I am on the subject of TNA, that gives me an excuse to talk about their new network. They will be moving to Destination America next year. I had never even heard of that channel. I had to check if I even get it. I do. That doesn't mean I'll necessarily watch them regularly.

How successful will they be on this new network? Their numbers in recent weeks have been horrible. The ratings may not look so bad, but they are not even going against football competition on Thursdays anymore. Moreover, viewership has dropped below a million in recent weeks. Can't blame that on Thanksgiving. They are doing that badly and they are moving to a network I have seen many fans indicate they do not have. Even though I think their product has become more stable recently, it is still not drawing. I would expect bad numbers on Destination America next year.

Since I was talking about Gail Kim, let me also mention that she was mentioned in the press release about the new partnership between TNA and their new network. When listing some of the "biggest names" on the TNA roster, she is listed alongside guys like Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle. She is obviously their top star in the KO division. I just question her overness. If you are going to develop a centerpiece, you should care about overness. There is no clear sign that TNA definitely is interested in running the type of women's division the WWE runs, but if they did want to do it, they are in a good position. They just have to make the decision to push someone else other than Gail Kim as the top star.

I'm feeling lucky. I'm going to roll the dice. I'm going to do another aside. I have used the grading system to classify what type of careers some wrestlers are getting, critique their talent and potential, assess how over they are, and even grade the WWE on how they are pushing their workers. How about grading the fans?

I have said before that there is not one level of fans. You have your hardcore fans. You have your casual fans. You have so much in between. Can you create some kind of spectrum from A+ to F? I think so. You can also differentiate fans by what draws them to pro wrestling. The actual wrestling? The storylines and drama? Hot men and/or women? Will they tune in no matter what, even if just to complain? You can break it down like that, but you cannot grade that easily. This grading system is based on how interested they are in the product.

Your A-tier fans are your hardcore fans. A+ is more hardcore than A. A is more hardcore than A-. These are the fans that are extremely dedicated to the product or a particular wrestler. They go to see the show every opportunity they get. They spend money on what they love without a second thought. Tattoos. Shaving weird stuff in their head. They will name their firstborn child after their favorite wrestler. Super fans. To varying degrees, this is the kind of things that they do.

The B-tier fans are the ones that consistently follow the product and spend money on it, but they don't go insane over it. These are the regulars.

Casual fans are your C-tier fans. They watch the product, but are not likely to spend money on it too often. If something else comes on that they would rather watch, they will change the channel. Whatever they are C fans of, that is not something they are too interested in.

D-tier fans are even worse than casuals. Casual fans are at least somewhat consistent in watching or caring about the product. D fans are the ones that only tune in once in a while if something big is going on.

F fans? How can you have that? F is failure. These are the people interested in the product for all the wrong reasons. These are the haters. Haters do exist. They are interested in the product or a performer because they dislike whatever it is. They complain about it. They want to see it fail. This is what you don't want a lot of.

Both the WWE and TNA obviously have fans that fill out the whole range. Looking at it like a range like this might help someone consider how well they really are doing and plan on what they should be doing. Does it matter? Well, one of the reasons the WWE Network is not as successful as many people thought it would be is because not enough fans cared enough to subscribe. They look at their number of viewers or Twitter followers and think they can easily get subscribers. Those numbers do not actually tell you how many A-tier and B-tier fans are interested in your product. Those are the fans likely to subscribe. Moreover, right now, I get the sense the WWE is caring too much about what those A-tier fans are saying and wanting. I'm no expert, but they are losing their overall audience. That is a loss in casual fans. You need to interest those C fans more. TNA's problem is that they do not have enough C fans and cannot consistently do enough to draw in even D fans. They have a lot of F fans that view them as a joke. The regulars are solid. A-tier TNA fans? I don't know how many of those still exist, but they need do to better just drawing in an overall audience. Bring those C fans in and give them a reason to become B or A fans.

Let me end it on Gail Kim. I don't want to make it sound like she's not over at all. She has her fans and can help a women's division be respectable. I just do not feel she has the overness a centerpiece in a top wrestling promotion should have. Break down her overness a little. When I analyze how over someone is, I pay attention to the reactions she is getting, think about why she is getting those reactions, look at how consistently she is getting them, pay attention to what other fans are saying about her, look at polls and contests I come across, and things like that. As far as A-tier fans go,  there are some fans that look at Gail Kim highly, but not too many. I think most of her support is C-tier. And that is not enough.

Sting Debuts At Survivor Series 2014

There were some shenanigans at Survivor Series last night. That included the WWE debut of Sting. It was no secret that Sting had a relationship with the WWE. It was only a matter of time before he did debut. He helped the faces win the main event.

Was now the right time for it? You might say that around the start of Wrestlemania season in two months would be the right time. Develop something for him to do at the big PPV from there. As I said before, you want to put your best foot forward while giving away a free trial for the WWE Network. Bringing in Sting last night was a good move. It will create some interest. This is the start of some kind of hot angle. You usually get that in the summer. What was this year's hot summer angle? Brock Lesnar going after the WWE Championship. Even though it started out with great potential, it has fizzled out. It was not a bad move for the WWE to start another big angle before Wrestlemania season.

How much of an impact will Sting's debut really have? I said his debut would create some interest. Let's not overrate things. There is no one man or woman that can come into this company in the shape it is in and automatically fix everything. That might have been the case many years ago. One man or woman could have come in and the WWE could start pushing that individual as a top star to help stop the bleeding, or they could have done that with individuals already on their roster. They didn't utilize talent correctly. These days, they have depth issues, cannot maintain a proper midcard, their tag division lacks momentum, the diva division is not in a position to be efficient, and they pretty much have to rely on part-timers and celebrities to try to draw for them. Part-timers? That would be Sting. That is the category he falls in. If anything, he has really only been added into the rotation of legends the WWE brings in now and then, including The Rock and Hulk Hogan, among others. A lot of fans will be marking out simply to see Sting standing in the same ring with The Rock, The Undertaker, and so on. But it will come down to how they utilize him in storylines that determines how much of an impact he really makes. Where would the WWE be without the part-timers?

Team Cena Vs. Team Authority At Survivor Series: Final Preview

The main event for Survivor Series will be Team Cena vs. Team Authority. The Authority's reign of power is on the line. The jobs of Cena's partners are also on the line. There are a ton of different things to talk about for this match. Too many things. I am not even going to bother trying to talk about it all. Besides, there are some other things I want to also bring up.

The development for this match has been better than any other angle currently going on. It has been very good. They have done a good job creating that tension about which team various wrestlers will be a part of. Whose side is Ryback on? The Wyatts have gotten involved, but can they be trusted? The Authority has also done a good job throwing their weight around. I got the feeling they were starting to overproduce this feud near the end, but I can cut them some slack. Sheamus is injured. That obviously has an impact on things.

Who wins? I have already given my reasons why I feel The Authority should not disband. Can they lose power and still exist as a group? Would it still have the same feel? I have read rumors that Stephanie McMahon is pregnant again and that is why they want to write the stable off. That is stupid. You can run the group with Triple H as the leader. They wouldn't end the group just for that. They should not end it unless they have a great creative direction to go after doing it. On the other side, what happens if Cena's team loses and his partners get fired? Cena's job is safe. Obviously, being fired in kayfabe is nothing. Those four members of Team Cena can come back as some kind of stable of their own. John Cena does not need to turn heel for his team to lose. You can just have a situation where Cena could not overcome the situation or he gets screwed. One of his own team might screw the others to secure his own job. That is what I think is likely. There will be shenanigans. Team Authority is my pick to win.

Let me talk about the Survivor Series card in general. This is honestly the worst PPV card I have seen from the WWE since I started watching regularly in 1998. I am not talking about the names on the card and how much star power they have. I am talking about the number of matches and the build those matches have had. There are only 5 advertised matches for this year's Survivor Series. For the sake of comparison, there were 7 matches last year, not counting the pre-show. The only PPV that can get away with having so few matches is the Royal Rumble. That is because the Royal Rumble match takes up so much time and is the main draw for that PPV. The main draw for this PPV is obviously Team Cena vs. Team Authority. I doubt that match will last as long as the Royal Rumble match typically does. Moreover, I do not think it is a big enough match to sell this PPV. I have spoken about the feud between Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt, which is the top feud outside of the main angle going on, and the feud between AJ Lee and The Bellas, which is the top diva feud. I have pointed out that the storyline and feud development there has not been that great. Those other two matches added to the card recently are even worse. These are filler matches. That tag title match does not matter too much. The tag division is currently at a low it has not been in years. And that second diva match they added just screams filler. It is made up of divas that have not been doing anything major in recent weeks. It is made up of credible jobbers and eye-candy periphery divas that have nothing better to do than be treated like credible jobbers. I am not surprised they would add a diva match to the card as filler. I was also thinking they would add Adam Rose vs. The Bunny as filler. Let's see if they at least further the issues there at Survivor Series. I would expect them to still add more filler to the show in some way. I know about all the depth issues, but that is not excuse for not developing feuds better.

Of course, Survivor Series is free this month. There is that free trial for the WWE Network. When I talk about "selling" this PPV, I am really talking about creating interest in it, not talking about it financially. Why is it important to sell this PPV even when practically anyone can watch it for free? When you do this free trial thing, you want to convince fans to pay for it after the trial ends. You want to put your best foot forward during this month. Has the WWE succeeded in doing that? Well, they started out with a good move. Rusev won the United States title on the WWE Network. I will also give the WWE credit for developing Team Authority vs. Team Cena like they have. Outside of that, however, everything else has been mediocre or worse. Development for other feuds has not been great. Still a lot of filler and stupidity. I do not think this free trial will lead to more fans subscribing for $9.99, even without the 6-month commitment. Expect a lot of subscribers during Wrestlemania season, but before that and after that, poor numbers. The quality of the product needs to be hotter on a consistent basis and some of that excitement needs to be exclusively on the WWE Network if they want to draw fans in and get them interested in paying.

Bray Wyatt Vs. Dean Ambrose At Survivor Series: Final Preview

After looking like this might be something major at Hell in a Cell, this feud has really lost that heat. The feud between Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose is still the second biggest feud going on right now. These guys have unique characters. Promos could have been better, but that is more because of direction of the storyline than the promo skills of these two. The match should be entertaining.

Who wins? The WWE has not developed this feud well enough to make me give a damn about who wins. I don't feel like the outcome of this match really matters. All that being said, I'll go with Ambrose.

Does this feud continue after Survivor Series? I think it does. This feud can lead to something more than this. There is not much time between Survivor Series and TLC, so that further suggests that the WWE will just continue this feud to a more violent encounter next month. That is something to look forward to. In terms of storyline, however, what is there to look forward to? It would be nice if this was more than just a grudge feud. Dean Ambrose beats the hell out of Bray Wyatt out of revenge, then moves on. Make it more interesting than that. Let me just bring up one possibility. It seems Bray Wyatt will not be getting back his two henchmen. One of them even turned face. Unless some swerve happens or the WWE revisits the stable in the future, it is done. Why not finally have Bray Wyatt succeed in brainwashing someone to his side? Let Ambrose be the first member of a new "Wyatt Family" stable. Will the fans ruin it? If the WWE does it in a way that makes it seem they are screwing Dean Ambrose, this might turn out like Daniel Bryan. This isn't really screwing anyone. It would help Bray Wyatt look good and give Ambrose something to do.

When The Shield broke up, I felt Dean Ambrose would be the one least likely to get an A+ career. With all the depth issues and the fact that he was connecting well with the fans, I was hoping they would still push him very well. In relation to everything else going on, they are still pushing him well, but it is still pretty poor in general. That is an indicator of how bad a lot of other things must be right now. Ambrose can lose his momentum with this feud. I don't even see this as the WWE trying to bury him. They just cannot do better.

Is Bray Wyatt the Wyatt least likely to succeed? I have seen some fans bring that up. I wouldn't go that far. But he has lost his stable. And those two are involved in a PPV main event, while Wyatt is involved in a feud that is essentially easing Ambrose out of his previous main-event feud. If they want to make this feud really mean something for Bray Wyatt and keep him relevant, they have to improve the storyline. I cannot picture his former henchmen becoming legitimate A-tier players, but I can picture all of them eventually remaining B+ players.

Luke Harper Wins The Intercontinental Championship

Luke Harper won the Intercontinental Championship from Dolph Ziggler on Raw this week. Luke Harper is definitely deserving of a good push and title reign. Moreover, this title change adds some fuel to the feud between Team Authority and Team Cena.

Even though I have nothing against Luke Harper winning the title from Ziggler, did they have to do it now? Couldn't they wait for after Survivor Series? They could have had an actual feud develop between the two before Harper won it. You need good midcard feuds. The way they handled it, this was more of an extension of the main-event feud going on, not a true midcard feud. Did they do this to make Harper look more credible for the main event at Survivor Series? I wouldn't say that. His size and dangerous character give him credibility. As I mentioned before, this serves more to add some fuel to the storyline. You can let the lack of feud development slide, but the WWE better not make a habit out of it. They did this kind of thing when Dean Ambrose dropped the United States title to Sheamus. That was also more of an extension of another feud than an actual feud between Sheamus and Ambrose.

Should they toss the title back to Ziggler? Ziggler lost the title to Miz a little while ago and won it right back. Should Harper's title reign be that short, or close to it? I don't think so. I don't think fans should be upset about Ziggler not getting title reigns for a while. He had some title runs this year. Besides, this is a guy that should not need a title to be relevant. Keep him revolving near the main spotlight. Push him as an A player. With all the injuries and other issues, he should be promoted. Let Harper enter a midcard feud with some other face. 

AJ Lee Vs. Nikki Bella At Survivor Series

Nikki Bella has her sister as her servant for the month. At Survivor Series, Nikki Bella will get a title shot against AJ Lee. As you might imagine, the story here is whether or not Brie will help her sister successfully win the Diva's Championship.

Let me go back a little. At Hell in a Cell, Nikki beat Brie to get her to be her slave. AJ Lee retained the title against Paige. It didn't take long for the WWE to go the likely path of Nikki vs. AJ. But I wouldn't have gone there so fast. I would have spent another week or week and a half just having Nikki torment her sister to really sell the angle. Let AJ continue her feud against Paige and Alicia Fox a little longer. Maybe even have a 3-way match on a Raw or Smackdown between them for the title. You would still have time to develop a feud with Nikki and AJ, with Brie in the middle. It isn't like the WWE has been developing this feud every show as it is. The development has been pretty mediocre. It isn't a very good feud, although storyline potential was there.

You also have the issue of AJ Lee's character. As I have brought up before, she has a character that just seems aloof to things at times. It is why I never bought into the storyline between AJ Lee and Paige. I never bought they were friends. Do they want AJ Lee to play that type of psycho character? Or do they want to turn her generic? A generic character might work better for these kind of storylines. If you want to keep her character strong, keep her getting storylines in the periphery that let her character shine. The current situation just isn't working out.

Some fans might not even care. There will be fans talking about AJ Lee and this current storyline. What's the problem? Just because fans are talking about a certain storyline or performer, that does not mean the storyline is good or the performer is over. People were talking about Michelle McCool at one time. It wasn't because she was over. It was because the WWE booked her hard. At one time, there was literally nothing else going on in the diva division aside from whatever McCool was doing. If they do not actually push AJ Lee in a proper manner, that might hurt her overall overness. If the WWE wants to maximize how much they get out of AJ Lee, they have to put her in a better position. Not holding a title does not mean you are going to be pushed badly.

Who wins between AJ Lee and Nikki Bella? If they are going to have a title change with this current storyline, it has to happen this month. Brie Bella is not going to be her sister's servant longer than that. And I think a title change is likely. That can transition to Bella vs. Bella for the title. If AJ does retain, there is nothing else for her to do. They have already fed her the entire division. Will they debut a new credible jobber just for her? I don't think they will go there just yet. Next year is more likely. How about Brie? Will she "reluctantly" help her sister? Quotation marks of doom? Well, how reluctant is Brie supposed to be? I am not talking from a kayfabe standpoint. In the storyline, Brie obviously has issues with her sister and would not want to help her. In terms of how the feud has been developed, I don't see it as a big deal. You have seen Shawn Michaels and John Cena in Brie's position in similar storylines. JBL tried to get HBK to help him beat John Cena for the title. Wade Barrett tried to get Cena to help him beat Randy Orton for the title. The face playing the servant to the heel is usually a respectable figure. There might be some mutual respect between the two faces involved. I don't feel that in this diva storyline. I don't buy Brie Bella as that kind of character. There is no legitimate mutual respect between AJ Lee and Brie. They have never really been friends. You can blame The Bellas' bad acting, but AJ Lee's character isn't helping matters, as I pointed out before. Match quality probably will not be amazing, especially with the storyline that will play a role in it, but they might as well have Brie help her sister win the title.

What Are They Doing With The Wyatts?

What are they doing with The Wyatts? They are all doing their own thing, which is not shocking, but how they are utilizing them is interesting. And I don't mean that in a good way.

Rowan just seems completely lost. He is just there. He randomly pops up. You can make the argument that this fits his crazy character. He is lost and directionless. In kayfabe, that may be the case. Problem is, that also seems to be the case in terms of his booking. He is not a priority. I don't feel too bad for him. A lot of fans have said that he was the weakest link of the stable.

Harper was said to be the best member of The Wyatts by many fans. Where is he? It seems he is in the main event of Survivor Series. He has joined Team Authority. I just have a feeling this would not be happening if depth was not as bad as it was. I think Harper should get pushed well in the midcard. That will likely still come after Survivor Series. But putting him in this match? He is a big man and dangerous, but you already have guys like that on the heel team. You have Kane, Mark Henry, and Rusev. Seth Rollins is in there, as well. He is being groomed to be a top star. If not Harper, who should be that last member of Team Authority? What kind of person should it be? I don't think it needs to be muscle. How about some credibility? Miz is a heel with no legitimate direction. Or is he too much of a joke these days? Why not Triple H himself? Many fans have pointed out that it is ridiculous that Triple H would not be in this match. His position of power is on the line. This is supposed to be the main event of one of the biggest WWE PPVs of the year. You would think they would put some real main-eventers in it. They already have guys to represent the "future" of the company involved in this match.

How about the leader of the group? Bray Wyatt has his feud with Dean Ambrose. It is disappointing. It is even more disappointing than Bray's feud against Jericho. Team Cena vs. Team Authority is the top feud going on right now. The #2 feud would be Wyatt vs. Ambrose. And the development for it is just so poor. For months, they have sold Dean Ambrose as this lunatic determined to get revenge on Seth Rollins. Bray Wyatt screwed him. You would think Ambrose would show that same determination against Bray Wyatt. It isn't there. Focus on this feud just isn't there. I don't think you can use the excuse that all that time needs to be spent on The Authority and the faces out to put an end to them. You still have a lot of time and can make better use of the time being used on Wyatt/Ambrose. How many people had high hopes when Ambrose and Rollins main-evented the last PPV? Bray Wyatt getting involved disappointed some, but did it give anyone hope that the feud between him and Ambrose might be good? That is why you never make too much out of one moment. Nevertheless, I was expecting better than what they have done since Hell in a Cell.

Not to give the WWE credit for thinking ahead, but can they be planning something big for The Wyatts? Could what they are doing with Harper lead to The Wyatts getting more involved with The Authority? You can have some kind of demented power struggle between Bray Wyatt and The Authority. I don't think they will go in that direction. Even if they did, they would find some way to ruin it with John Cena. If they did, however, it could make for a great storyline. It would really make Bray Wyatt look like a legitimate top player, if only for a few months.

The Offensive Line

When you talk about football, the stars are usually the quarterback, the running back, and the receivers. Even the kicker might look like a hero at times. You have stars on the defense. One element of the team that some fans might take for granted is the offensive line. These are the five guys whose main purpose is to protect the quarterback and help the running back get a path to run. They hold back the oncoming defensive players. "The Great Wall of Dallas" is a nickname for the offensive line that helped the Dallas Cowboys be very successful many years ago, and it is the nickname being used to describe the offensive line now by some fans. That offensive line is said by many to be the reason the Cowboys are so successful this season. DeMarco Murray, their running back, leads the NFL in rushing. Tony Romo, their quarterback, currently has the highest completion percentage for any starting quarterback this season. And these two star players know they owe the offensive line a lot. These players are not the ones that typically score, but they help the players that do score be put in that position to succeed. That is the supporting cast.

I have compared credible jobbers in the diva division to positions on a football team before. These are the women with wrestling credibility not being pushed to be the stars that are used to put over the stars or being used as filler. From the time the diva division started to where we are today, no woman pushed in this manner has ever gotten over and moved on to a better position in the diva division. The most over diva to be pushed in this manner was Mickie James, who was even more over than the women they attempted to develop to be the new centerpiece after Trish Stratus. To say that credible jobbers are the "offensive line" of the diva division might be the best analogy to football to describe the role these women have in the diva division.

When you go back to the golden age you had with Trish and Lita, those two women might just get too much of the credit. Add Finlay to that list of those that get too much credit. I am not saying they did nothing and lacked talent. They are all great workers that had a hand in making things efficient and productive. But there are two other things you should also credit. Credit the WWE for running things more efficiently than they have in recent years. They made the right decisions. Problem is, their overall agenda is not one of efficiency and putting all their workers in a position to succeed to give the fans what they want. As the diva division stopped working the way they wanted it to, they started making bad decisions, started to lose interest, and have allowed things to collapse. The other thing you should credit for the success of the diva division back then was the credible jobbers. Wrestling fans respect them. They got thanked when Trish and Lita got inducted in the Hall of Fame. But I wonder if fans really understand how women like that helped the diva division to be golden back then. These days, eye-candy divas that become solid in the ring are being used to serve the purposes that those women with better wrestling credibility served back then. Even though these eye-candy divas have potential, matches are still not regularly as respectable as they were back then. Moreover, the WWE does not always show that they have confidence in these women. Divas get less time in the ring these days.

Which credible jobbers would I say made up the "Great Wall" you had during the golden age with Trish and Lita? Jazz, Molly Holly, Victoria, Jacqueline, and Ivory. All these women have held the Women's Championship at least twice during their runs in the WWE. None of them were pushed as centerpiece or had a rich career in the periphery. Ivory was interim centerpiece during the first dark age, but never touched the title again during the actual golden age. Jacqueline held the Cruiserweight Championship, but soon found herself in TNA not too long after that. All these women were rotated around, working with Trish and Lita, as well as facing themselves. All these women were solid in the ring. In terms of overness, none of them went beyond a B-tier connection with the fans. If these women were not there, could you imagine the diva division? Lita would still be getting her periphery angles. Would she be more likely to get injured working with inexperienced eye-candy performers? Would she be more likely to injure them? How great would Trish Stratus look without them? Would she be the greatest diva of a crappy women's division? Depth started to be an issue during the end of that golden age. Victoria was at one time the only credible jobber on Raw. No one ever really complains about the last year or two of Trish and Lita's time in the WWE, but issues that have led to the collapse you now have were starting even then. The "Great Wall" was falling apart and the WWE was not doing too much to maintain it.

People might act like Trish, Lita, and Finlay controlled the diva division. The system being run then was the same system being run when the diva division started. You had Sable as the centerpiece and Chyna as the top periphery diva. Who was your offensive line? Jacqueline, Ivory, Luna, and Tori. What are the odds that Lita would have been a credible jobber and the fifth woman in that line if Sable was still there when she debuted? But Sable left. And the dark age came. If Sable had not left, do I think they could have gotten a golden age out of her and those other divas back then? I think so. Sable was becoming solid in the ring. She had some solid credible jobbers around her. Chyna was a unique character.

I talked about the golden age. I talked about what you had prior to the golden age. How about the stuff you have going on since the golden age? Depth has been horrible. During the brand split, there was a time when you had only one face credible jobber and centerpieces failing to work out on Raw. Smackdown also had some horrible depth issues. What kind of diva division can you run with only two or three credible jobbers overall? Things are going to get stale fast. Injuries will also screw you over. When they ended the brand split, you would think that would make things easier. Depth is still an issue. After Beth Phoenix left, they arguably didn't get around to filling her void until Paige came along this year. And her and Natalya are pretty much it for your traditional credible jobbers. Aside from them, you have eye-candy divas being used to serve those purposes. That is a weak offensive line. AJ Lee is not a part of that. She is a periphery diva. That is like being the running back. No centerpiece right now. No quarterback. The WWE is one-dimensional right now. And it is hurting them. And even if they do decide to start pushing someone as centerpiece, they do not have the supporting players to help that woman really work out and get this division golden again.

That is the kind of system the WWE runs. I do not agree with it, but that is what they do. Those women being pushed as credible jobbers do not get a fair chance to get over and earn that better career. Can you imagine an offensive-lineman stealing the starting quarterback's job? How can he? They play different positions! But in that diva division, you would think that women with wrestling credibility that have not been pushed as eye-candy periphery divas would get a fair shot to earn a career the WWE wants to give to eye-candy periphery divas that develop wrestling credibility after already debuting. If they had given Mickie James that type of career she earned, that diva division would probably not have fallen to pieces. You have a centerpiece that is working out. Next, develop your periphery and credible jobbers. If you have a great quarterback, you still need a good run game and offensive line to help support him, as well as receivers.

All Eyes On Ryback

The WWE continues to put good focus on various superstars as they develop the main event for Survivor Series. Focus was on Ryback on Raw this week. He started off as a member of Team Authority. Tension between him and Kane led to Ryback attacking the heel team by the end of the night. Although it was not made official right there, Ryback is now obviously joining Team Cena.

Whose side should Ryback be on? To put it another way, should he be face or heel? He can get a great reaction from the fans. That is a reason for him to be a face. The Authority can always use someone like him as some added muscle. That is reason for him to be a heel. If he does join The Authority, he is guaranteed to be featured well for as long as he is in the group. If he stays face, how long until he is lost in the shuffle again? Even though logic says being a heel in The Authority might be the best option for Ryback, he has momentum as a face right now. I would have him join Team Cena and continue to be pushed as a face.

Will there be a swerve at Survivor Series? You have already had a swerve once with Ryback. Will he turn his back on the faces at Survivor Series and help the heels win? Although I am thinking some kind of betrayal is likely at the PPV, I don't think it is likely to be Ryback turning. You are more likely to see him enter a feud with Kane.

So Many Legends, So Little Impact

The WWE has been bringing in legends on a regular basis this year. Seems to be a monthly thing. You have Hulk Hogan always plugging the WWE Network. You have guys like Ric Flair and Mick Foley coming back for no other reason than to give a promo and prediction for an upcoming PPV match. It usually isn't anything major. Just an isolated appearance.

I like old people. I like Ric Flair and Mick Foley. They are two of my favorites. But I just see this trend as a waste of time. If you are going to incorporate these guys in the show, incorporate them in a more meaningful, long-term manner or don't bother doing it at all. What is the WWE hoping for? A ratings spike? As I have said before, the WWE will not be able to stop the bleeding enough to see Raw's annual ratings average not drop below a 3.0. You can say that these legends come back to give a rub to stars currently being developed. I think the best way of doing that is to have those guys be treated as stars or work with stars you have now in a proper manner. You can talk about it being meant to add more to some of these feuds, like when Hogan, Flair, and Shawn Michaels returned to talk about Cena vs. Lesnar, but that feud already seems to be dragging on. These prediction promos just seem like filler.

What can you be doing with this time? How about giving it to your midcarders? Treat a few more of those lower-midcarders as legitimate midcarders. Tyson Kidd is getting a push now, but it seems like nothing more than filler. Kofi Kingston should be pushed again. R-Truth is still there. You can even use that time to treat other upper-midcarders better. The WWE has done fine in previous years without having these monthly legend visits, so why can't they make things work with guys on the main roster? Even with all the injuries and issues, they have a lot of talent.

While The "A" Players Are Away, Dolph Ziggler Will Play

There are depth issues in the WWE. They are missing a lot of top stars and a lot of the top stars they have now do not really bring awesome results. This is especially a terrible time due to certain top faces being out with injuries. You have some top faces going away now and then to make movies for the WWE. It does not help that the WWE is developing a multi-man main event for Survivor Series. And through this whole mess, Dolph Ziggler seems to be getting some great focus.

I have seen some fans say that Dolph Ziggler looks like an A+ player with how the WWE has been treating him recently. I wouldn't go that far, but he has been treated very well recently with so many A-tier faces not around or other issues. Dean Ambrose has taken a slight depush from feuding with The Authority. John Cena needs guys to team with him. You need to make these guy look credible. How about the Intercontinental Champion? Dolph Ziggler has been getting the B+ treatment ever since his last World title reign ended. He is over. He should be getting better than that. This current storyline with The Authority is the kind of thing I imagined them doing last year. I might have gotten a little bit annoying when I was complaining about Miz being wasted on a feud with Fandango back then. He should have been feuding against The Authority. Dolph Ziggler also has the credibility from having been a World Champion. If you are looking for faces to push in a main storyline, Dolph Ziggler is a good choice to get this focus.

Just how much of a push can you expect for him right now? It is not unusual for the WWE to push certain guys very well around this time of year. You need to develop guys for those elimination tag matches at Survivor Series. You need to develop guys to make people believe a lot of entrants in the Royal Rumble really have a legitimate shot to win it. Wrestlemania isn't too far after that. Dolph Ziggler is no stranger to being pushed well around this time of year. He had a feud against John Cena around this time of year a while ago. The WWE has just not been consistent with him. Unless he turns heel, screws his team, and joins The Authority, or the WWE goes the path of Cena turning heel, screwing Ziggler, and Ziggler gets pushed as top face for a while, this will most likely be one of those pushes that does not lead to anything lasting for Ziggler. And if the WWE is not consistent with you in that major focus, you are not an A or A+ player. Until then, pushing Ziggler like this is at least refreshing.

Is It Over For The Authority?

Vince McMahon came back on Raw this week. He dropped a bombshell, and I am not talking about the WWE Network announcement. The elimination tag match at Survivor Series was taken to another level. If The Authority's team loses, they are out of power. With no Brock Lesnar around, it is good to raise the stakes for the matches they will have main-eventing PPVs. But will they actually put an end to The Authority?

Let me start out by talking about why it might be a good idea to end the stable. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon have been running the show for over a year now. They have dominated main-event matters. I sometimes like it when authority figures get involved like that in the storylines. Nevertheless, it can get stale after a while. It gets annoying. Get rid of The Authority. Bring in a GM to change the pace of things. It might even be some legend that they bring in. Let the main feuds involve just the wrestlers, not Triple H and Stephanie.

Why might it be a good idea to keep the stable in power? For one thing, it can give a rub to a lot of workers. A lot of people being groomed to be stars are getting rubs from the likes of Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. Stephanie McMahon even returned to the ring this year to feud with Brie Bella. If the group does break up, will that stunt the development of Seth Rollins? Without the stooges and The Authority backing him, will he still look like a top heel? Aside from what the stable means for other workers, how about Triple H and Stephanie themselves? They have worth in the roles they play. Triple H can deliver on the mic. He has lost a lot the few times he has wrestled in the last year. He put over other guys. Some people say the character Stephanie McMahon plays right now is her best work ever. And she's still hot. Male fans can be interested in her. You can pick a new GM and most of your available choices probably will not deliver as well as Stephanie and Triple H can.

Looking at both sides, I personally think the group should stay in power. Despite how overbearing it can get at times, the stable still helps a lot of workers and makes for some great promos and segments. Is the WWE likely to keep them together? They just lost Randy Orton. You can say that is the beginning of the end for the group. You can also say that paves the way for someone on Team Cena to screw the faces and help The Authority, joining the group officially. I think the latter option is likely to happen. A new member will be a great way to refresh the stable.

Rusev Wins The United States Championship

That was a pretty good episode of Raw last night. But one of the major segments of the night happened on the WWE Network. Rusev won the United States Championship from Sheamus.

It was a basic title feud. It was one that seemed likely to involve a title change. I wasn't even going to bother talking about it again as the feud progressed. Well, the title change happened just like that. What now? They can do some interesting things with Rusev holding this particular title. You can imagine a lot of great segments. On Raw, however, they already went in the direction of The Authority trying to recruit Rusev for their team at Survivor Series. Nothing wrong with having him in that match, but don't start treating him as a henchman for The Authority now. Rusev's character has potential away from just being another heel henchman for the top heel stable. Back when I was bringing up names to replace Randy Orton in The Authority, I did not bring up Rusev. He doesn't need to be in the group to be relevant.

The other thing worth talking about is that this happened on the WWE Network. They had multiple opportunities this year to have a title change happen on the WWE Network. I think it is a good idea to do it. Make people believe big things happen on the WWE Network. Of course, they are giving a month-long free trial right now. You would think the WWE would do their best this month to bring those subscribers in. Not to make too much of one night, but they did pretty well so far.

How about that WWE Network? I came across a graph last week that illustrates how it has been doing in terms of subscriptions.

It is still not at that 1,000,000-subscriber benchmark. They have spread out to more countries, although not their main international markets, but it is still very weak numbers. It is a smart move to offer a free trial for a month and get rid of the 6-month commitment. In general, however, this has not been a good investment. Keep in mind that they alienated a lot of their PPV partners. $9.99 is just too cheap for a PPV and all that other content subscribers get every month. Don't even bring up giving away November for free. Everyone can say that it will take time for the WWE to make a profit off of this venture, but they have not started off on a good note. First, I believe they were saying they would get 1,000,000 subscribers around Wrestlemania. Didn't happen. Next, they will get it by the end of 2014. Doesn't look like that will happen. And with all these other issues coming up, getting a million subscribers is really just a ceremonial benchmark. When do they start getting a real profit?

What A Smackdown Main Event Looks Like

It was a Halloween-themed edition of Smackdown. Nevertheless, that was a garbage main event between Cesaro and Dean Ambrose. Cesaro is a B player. Ambrose is an A- player. That somehow averages out to a Smackdown main event. A comedy match like this might make it to the undercard on Raw, but it shouldn't be ending one of the main shows. I could imagine it ending Main Event. Ambrose should be involved in a heated feud with Bray Wyatt.

If you look at a lot of the main-event matches they have booked on Smackdown in recent years, what they did last week wasn't even that unusual. Even when there were still two World titles, the WWE had become comfortable not featuring the World's Heavyweight Champion well on Smackdown. Without that second top title and the WWE Champion rarely being a part of Smackdown, the WWE utilizes a lot of upper-midcarders to close the show. You can say that doing this is great and it helps to groom future main-eventers. Personally, I think you do that by having these guys you are developing to be stars work properly with actual stars. Don't just develop someone to feed to Cena, then toss them back down. And don't have a lot of filler matches on Smackdown.

I have seen a lot of fans complain about Smackdown. That is one of the reasons I bring this up. As fans, they have a right to complain about it. As critics, I would agree with them the quality of the show is poor. If you analyze the ratings, however, Smackdown is around the same spot it has been in recent years. No World Champion. A frequent lack of true stars. Smackdown's annual average this year so far is around a 1.9. The average for Raw is at a 3.0, and it will drop under that by the end of the year. While Raw, the show that features the WWE Champion more often, features John Cena regularly, and is treated as the main show, is declining to a horrible depth, Smackdown is remaining consistent. What incentive is there for the WWE to really try harder with Smackdown? They can put out a crappy product and still maintain their numbers.