Ziggler, Ryback & Rowan Fired

Raw ended with a little bit of a cliffhanger last week. Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, and Erick Rowan were "fired" to further the current storyline with The Authority. It creates a bit of drama, furthers the storyline, and will likely create another situation for John Cena to look like a hero.

Great move? Pointless? Somewhere in between? Raw ended with something that might create some buzz for the following week. This week, they are going against a big college football game that might murder them. Has the WWE done something worth combating that? Although the angle itself can cause interest, I do not have too much faith in the guys involved. I am not talking about their in-ring ability and other talents. In terms of overness and how much you consider these guys stars, will running this kind of angle with them really draw interest? I am not saying they are not over. Ryback can get a reaction. Ziggler is very popular with wrestling fans. Rowan is there. But none of them have that A overness. As far as whether or not they are being pushed as stars, none of these guys are top stars. Ziggler is on the fringes of being an upper-midcarder (B+ player), Ryback is a solid midcarder (B player), and Rowan is a guy you might imagine dropping to the lower-midcard as time goes on (B- player). That averages out to a B. Some of these guys have obviously benefited from some other stars not being around. And I feel an angle like this would be bigger if it did involve those kind of guys that are pushed better on a consistent basis or might have an even stronger connection with the fans.

Go back to the Attitude Era. You had your corporate heel stables back then. You also had a rebel stable for a while called The Union. It consisted of Mankind, Ken Shamrock, Big Show, and Test. It didn't last too long and I wouldn't consider it an epic group. But it was fun while it lasted and made things more interesting for a while.

I am not saying the WWE is trying to recreate a stable like that now to go against The Authority. I am not necessarily saying they even should. I am just bringing up the idea. When The Authority was formed as a heel group, I was hoping they would get around to creating some great feuds between a strong corporate heel stable and rebel faces, besides John Cena. What happens? The stable has friction in it soon after it is formed. It doesn't seem to start to get solid until 2014. Triple H and Stephanie lose power, then regain it. You never really had time to develop that strong face front. Until now? Things got interesting around Survivor Series. Midcard faces were looking like big deals. The only issue was that storylines outside of the main feud were getting mediocre build or worse. Regardless, you are once again in a position to do something interesting with those hero rebels that helped put The Authority out of power, even though it was not for good. If all they do is use this situation to put over John Cena, it will be a giant waste.