Obviously, Dean Ambrose is still in the picture against AJ Styles, while Cena takes his break. James Ellsworth is not going to win the WWE Championship. No need to spend too much time previewing this match.
What about how they have been using James Ellsworth? I think it is a sign of how desperate the WWE has become. Ellsworth is not a quality performer. He's not a guy that got over from spending years in the indies. He's just a guy that caused a little buzz from how he looks.
Despite how the WWE has treated him, Jim Ross frequently defends the company. If I remember correctly, back when the mistreatment of Zack Ryder was still an issue, I believe Jim Ross said Ryder only had a "cult following". He was downplaying his overness. I can agree that Ryder wasn't really A+ over. No one said he needed to be pushed as a main-eventer. But going by that logic and using Ryder as some kind of standard, what can you say about James Ellsworth? He's not even over like Ryder was. I wouldn't even say he has a cult following. He's just someone that got attention for looking and acting awkward. And he's getting a title shot at the most important title on Smackdown? If Zack Ryder had gotten over on his own in this era like he did years ago, the WWE probably would have had no problem handing him an amazing push.
What really annoys me about the situation is that you have a roster full of guys that need to be featured better. It is one thing for full-time talent to take a back seat to part-timers like The Rock and Brock Lesnar. But to sit in the back and watch a guy that was only supposed to be a local jobber get used in multiple segments for a few weeks like this? The WWE needs to do better with what they have. A guy like Apollo Crews flopped. Instead of the WWE spending some time trying to give him a proper opportunity, since this is still only his rookie year, a jobber that just got over for his lack of a chin and awkwardness is getting a push. The WWE didn't even help this guy to get over. But they are just treating him like he's a hit.
Will he draw? Of course not. He's not a star. The WWE shouldn't even bother signing him to a contract. They have proven that they can get workers like him to connect with smarks very easily. Sandow did it. Slater did it. It is not that hard to get Internet fans hooked on something. And it will get chants at live events. Those fans just don't exist in front of their computers. When your full-time workers go through a process to earn that overness, then they deserve at least a fair push. James Ellsworth, as I have said before, only caused some buzz for being awkward. The WWE should spend time developing quality stars. Get to a point where they don't have to rely on high-priced part-timers. Will promoting a title match for next week at least draw? Maybe. It at least stands a better chance than just promoting James Ellsworth.
Since I am on the subject of Smackdown and the WWE Championship, go back to No Mercy. A controversial decision from that PPV was having the WWE Championship match go on first. Many fans speculated why they did that. Would there be some kind of rematch later in the show? Would Ziggler vs. Miz, a heated feud with Ziggler's career on the line, close the show? They went with Orton vs. Wyatt closing the show. I like that feud, but it didn't deserve to main event No Mercy. It seems the WWE really did do that awkward booking because of the presidential debate that same night.
To me, that is just the ultimate act of cowardice. It is obvious the WWE sometimes doesn't put the segment that deserves to close the show in the main-event slot of Raw, especially during football season. That third hour almost always loses viewers. If the WWE wants people to watch a certain segment, it is better off not at the end of the show.
But this is a PPV we are talking about. Ratings do not matter. What matters is if you got people interested enough to pay to see it. Thanks to the WWE Network, fans can go back whenever they want to watch it. As long as fans are interested in the WWE Championship match, Ziggler/Miz, Orton/Wyatt, or whatever else on the card, they will watch. And if they are already paying the $9.99 for a Raw PPV this month or just a few weeks ago, they are already giving the WWE their money.
It reminds me of December to Dismember a decade ago. It was a flop. Funny thing is, fans were chanting "Change the channel!" at points. For those fans that paid for the PPV, it doesn't really matter. They already paid for the PPV, whether they decide to watch every minute or not.
The WWE just did not need to do it at all. They could have booked the WWE Championship match where it belonged, in the main event. Or they could have went with Ziggler vs. Miz to close the show. It would have at least looked more respectable. The WWE just had to worry about creating hype prior to the PPV. They had all those weeks to do it. And if the little stunt did get a few more people to hand over $9.99, they are also getting Hell in a Cell. The WWE doesn't need to go overboard to try to sell that PPV with any cheap tricks. It being a specialty PPV should be enough. Nevertheless, it was stupid of the WWE to allow the presidential debate to shake them like this. I doubt they really gained much, if anything at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment