There was some teasing since last week that this match would be the main event of the PPV. That has since turned into this match being a part of one of those "triple main-event" deals. I would say there is at least some chance this match might still be the true main event. That is to say, the match that closes the show.
Should it be? No. The WWE just cannot force this women's revolution to be a thing. They have to let it be organic. They are not giving it a chance to work out. They are treating it like it is working out. And who are they going to listen to to see if fans are approving? The same fans that were all for women being treated this much better? Want to guess whether those fans will give a thumbs up or thumbs down? There are still a lot of fans out there not liking this. There are fans that have not really gotten the chance to connect with some of these women before they have been rushed to the top. Slow down, WWE.
The Universal Championship match between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens should be the main event. It has had some issues and is not even the real feud fans should be interested in for Seth Rollins. That would be Seth vs. Triple H. Nevertheless, this match is for Raw's top title. This match will be used to further the top storyline going on. This match is the match I will be talking about on Friday.
If the WWE did put the women in the top spot this Sunday, will it really be that much of an honor? Look at what they did a few weeks ago at Smackdown's last PPV. The triple threat for the WWE Championship, the match that should have closed the show, went on first. Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton was the main event. I have said that I like this feud, but it did not deserve to close the PPV. That looks like just cowardice on the part of the WWE because of the presidential debate. What is the WWE scared of this Sunday? The Dallas Cowboys vs. the Philadelphia Eagles? They should be scared of the Dallas Cowboys. Is this just going to become a theme for even PPVs now? The WWE Network era cheapens the value of PPVs already, especially with the brand split back. If the WWE did choose to put this match on last, it wouldn't be the same as if they had done it a decade ago.
Who wins? Sasha Banks. Enough tossing the title around. Charlotte has her streak of PPV wins, but that statistic doesn't matter. I just hope they keep it safe. I have seen some fans say there needs to be blood in the Hell in a Cell matches, even this one. No, there does not need to be blood. If the WWE puts this match as the main event, these women might feel even more obligated to get crazy. And things have not always gone smoothly when expectations are high with these women.
What happens after Sunday? Sasha Banks can move on to Emmalina. Nia Jax is also an option, but I would go with Emmalina. The WWE has already murdered Nia's momentum. What about Charlotte? That will be interesting to see. Did they put all that work into her for the last year just to ditch her? That would be some TNA nonsense right there. They could put her in a storyline with Lana. There was some drama there between them a little while ago. It would obviously not be a serious wrestling feud, but not everything needs to go through the ring. Charlotte needs to do a better job with her character. Some storyline variety might help her.
Even though it is not yet official, Dana Brooke vs. Baylay might find itself somewhere on Sunday's card. These two have been feuding for the last few weeks. Why not put it somewhere on Sunday? It might be a kickoff match.
This feud has shown some of the things that are still wrong with this era. Go back to Raw last week. Dana Brooke got a clean win over Bayley. You can talk about Dana botching the finish and she was supposed to put her foot on the ropes all you want. Dana Brooke should not be pinning Bayley at all. Dana Brooke is not a good wrestler. That is not one of her assets. Bayley is one of the top female wrestling talents from NXT. Charlotte and Sasha pinning her is one thing. Dana Brooke? No. There are certain things that should be earned. Making history and headlining PPVs are things you would expect to fall into that category. Dana beating someone like Bayley is something that should be earned. She needs to improve her in-ring work. This would not be the first time she has messed something up. Just handing Dana a win over someone like Bayley does no one any favors. Wrestling fans are still not going to buy into Dana's in-ring work. Bayley doesn't look good. And people that want a better women's division are going to groan at this.
There are some exceptions to this idea that someone that isn't good in the ring should not be beating a woman that is good in the ring. If the female wrestler in question is a heel and the other woman is a face, you might let it go. If the heel does a great job in getting fans to want to see her get her comeuppance, they would love it if she gets owned even from someone that isn't someone you would expect to own her. Let it be some old person. Let it be some non-wrestler. Let it even be a diva. It leads to a good moment. That is not what you have here. Bayley is a face and Dana Brooke is a heel that needs to improve herself. Booking can't do it for her.
Look at TNA having Maria feud with Gail Kim. That was a feud I did not really love too much, from the standpoint of what wrestling fans would want to see. At a time when the WWE is hyping treating women's wrestling better, TNA pushes a diva against a respected female wrestler. Maria even won the KO title. It was all obviously to eventually put over Gail Kim, but you can see how these kind of feuds can hurt the respectability of the division, if you even care about looking respectable.
There are other ways to make someone look good in a feud without having them beat the person they are feuding against. Have Dana Brooke just attack Bayley. They have done things like this in recent weeks for this feud. There was no need to book Dana to get a win over Bayley.
This week on Raw featured another segment between the two. It was arm wrestling this time. Dana took advantage of Bayley's injury to get a win, then got owned the second time. A little brawl ensued. Bayley won that battle. That was a fine way to prolong the feud without having just another wrestling match.
There was a problem, however. Fans were not too respectful for the segment. Was it once again a case of antsy Lesnar fans waiting to see him? This same thing happened before in Minnesota. Some fans still just do not like what is going on in this era. Was the idea to have an arm wrestling match really such a terrible idea? I don't think so, as a writer. Bayley has a shoulder injury. Dana Brooke likes to show off her muscles. The segment just seemed obvious. The WWE doesn't have the depth to keep having multiple women's matches every Raw. Proper feud development involves some non-wrestling segments. How is someone like Dana Brooke supposed to build her character? She isn't great at wrestling.
Nevertheless, there are some fans that roll their eyes at this kind of thing. There was nothing sexist about what the WWE did. This wasn't some kind of skin match. They do this kind of thing even with the men. Mark Henry has been involved in a lot of arm wrestling segments. And yet, all they care about for these women are wrestling matches. The WWE just cannot sustain what some fans want to see. Give the WWE a break. They cannot get by with just pleasing wrestling fans. They got to put work into these women to build them into more than just wrestlers and to create segments and storylines that can entertain more than just wrestling fans. But can they do it with divas still in this new women's division? Can female wrestlers and divas coexist? It would help if some fans eased up a little.
As for who wins this likely match, Bayley. Dana Brooke has already gotten enough wins over Bayley to last her the rest of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment