Let me start with the women's feud. It has been going on for longer than Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens. On the main roster, you can say Sasha and Charlotte have been feuding since that night they both debuted last year. In terms of feuding over a title since then, you can say they got started at Wrestlemania season this year. Becky Lynch was also involved back then. That feud took a hiatus as Charlotte went against Natalya. Sasha Banks then took back the feud. And they have been feuding since. They have already juggled the title between them a few times. Charlotte recently won back the title at Hell in a Cell last month. Sasha Banks never got her rematch. That is what she will get on Raw next week.
I was all for Sasha Banks retaining the title at Hell in a Cell. I don't think she deserves to be pushed as the centerpiece, but she certainly deserved the opportunity to legitimately show what she could do when the spotlight is truly on her and she's not just being used as a jobber to the centerpiece for Charlotte. Problem is, that didn't happen. She didn't retain the title. And since that is the booking decision that has to be lived with, they should not just shoot the title back to Sasha again. Not so soon. Charlotte is likely to retain against Sasha Banks, then move on to Bayley.
What about Sasha Banks? She can move on to Nia Jax. She is lucky she even has that to do. In the previous era, credible jobbers would be treated a lot more poorly. They would have complete mediocrity to do, if they were even lucky enough to have that.
Onto Seth Rollins and his never-ending quest to burn Raw to the ground and get back at Triple H. Or not. He just seems to get title shot after title shot. He had one on Raw this week. Pretty good match. But it ended in a controversial way that pretty much makes it obvious that he will still be feuding with Kevin Owens.
Now, Rollins and Owens have not been feuding as long as Sasha Banks and Charlotte have. But the problem is that Seth Rollins has been involved in every PPV World title match he could legitimately be involved in since first winning the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania last year. The only exceptions have been the period in which he was injured, Smackdown-exclusive PPVs recently, and Survivor Series recently, where neither World title was defended.
While on a message board recently, I came across another piece of trivia about Seth Rollins that shows just how overbearing his booking has been. Someone pointed out that he has been involved in every Universal Championship match. The title is only a few months old, but it is kind of ridiculous that this one guy has been in all the matches, despite never winning the title. This is worse than Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns never had a stretch like this.
Seth Rollins is supposed to be feuding with Triple H. That whole storyline has just lost almost all its edge. The WWE has failed to properly follow up with this at all. Some fans point out that it was created at the last minute when Finn Balor got hurt. So what? Injuries happen all the time in sports. The "Next Man Up" philosophy doesn't just mean you throw someone out there when an injury happens and let whatever happens just happen. You try to help the replacement to succeed. Okay, an injury happened to ruin what the WWE had planned. But they did a good job in laying the seeds of a big angle when Triple H showed up to screw Seth Rollins. But they have not nurtured this storyline well at all. I don't care if this is going to culminate at Wrestlemania, they should have handled these few weeks better. And if they had no intention to, they should have come up with a different angle when Finn Balor got injured to cause some buzz.When they eventually do go back to Triple H vs. Seth Rollins, I doubt that feud will have that same feel to it that it could have.
What could Seth Rollins have been doing now? Why is he not feuding with Jericho? Jericho has been a torn in his side. Those two could have feuded for one or two PPVs. By the time it was all over, it's Wrestlemania season and Triple H can take over against Rollins.
Where does that leave Kevin Owens and his title? Pick any legitimate contender in the men's division and have him go against Owens. The men's division has a lot more bodies than the women's division. In the women's division, moreover, there are just some women you would not expect to be treated as legitimate contenders for the title, like Lana. But there are so many options for the men. Why is it Seth Rollins, Seth Rollins, Seth Rollins, and Seth Rollins in the title picture so much? Especially in the brand split era, this kind of thing is just not going to work. There are so many guys being underutilized, while one guy just gets pushed in the title scene too much. I wouldn't even mind Roman Reigns getting a brief push against Kevin Owens again. He has taken a few months off from the World title scene.
Just like great booking can help a wrestler get over, terrible booking can hurt a wrestler's overness. I don't think either Sasha Banks or Seth Rollins have A+ overness, but the booking they are getting is not helping. Especially in the case of Seth Rollins, they are obviously not screwing the guy. He is a guy they want to be a top star. But they are botching. No one needs to be in the title scene this much. As a Mickie James fan, I have said in the past that I wish she had gotten some great periphery angles like Lita got. It would have helped to extend her career and take her to another level. But they only pushed her as a credible jobber. Being in the title scene so much for her was not a good thing. They were just using her to put over whom they wanted over or using her as filler. Sasha Banks looks like she is following in that path, although the new era will be kinder to her. But back to Seth Rollins, it is just so much easier to keep men relevant outside the title scene than it is for the women. There are so many men on the roster for him to feud with until Triple H continues the storyline. But this booking is just going to turn some fans against Rollins. I doubt he gets as bad as Roman Reigns, but he is not reaching his full potential.
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