The End

This will be my last day blogging. I do not imagine I will return to this. I just want to thank all the few regular readers I have had over the years, including the ones that left comments. Knowing that people actually cared enough to read what I was saying and kept coming back really helped. I probably would not have lasted this long without that.

I should say why I will not be blogging anymore. First, I am just not a wrestling fan anymore. It just doesn't entertain me anymore. When I first started watching regularly in 1998, it was because there was intrigue, interesting characters, and just a fun, exciting atmosphere. I don't feel any of that anymore.

Second, not only does wrestling not entertain me, it annoys me. The sloppiness of the WWE just turns me off. Even worse than that, how the WWE treats their workers is terrible. It is one thing to be inefficient, but not giving workers fair opportunities to succeed and earn better for themselves is disgusting. It is even worse when the WWE exploits those individuals that succeed when they are not scripted to be great for the benefit of those the WWE wants to be great. It has pretty much been confirmed that the WWE does mistreat their workers in this way. It is not just backstage rumors or smarks creating conspiracy theories. You have seen people get over and not get treated better. You have seen workers complain about it. It happens. And I refuse to have the WWE tell me whom I should like or define greatness for me.

Lastly, moving on might just be good for my peace of mind. When I first started blogging in 2008, it was an all-diva blog because I disliked how the WWE was treating Mickie James and the division as a whole. I knew they did not want Mickie James over. Anyone paying attention to how she was pushed in 2007 and 2008 could tell it was just filler pushes. The WWE never did anything to make me doubt myself. If anything, the blatant mistreatment of guys like Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan confirmed what I was saying, as well as how they treat Mickie James right now. And we all remember how Mickie's career ended back then in the WWE.

As someone that has lived in New York City for a long time, a motto that pops up in recent years is: "If you see something, say something." I saw something wrong back then and I don't feel like I did enough to get people to understand it. That has been on my conscience for a long time. I have had some sleepless nights over it, especially when reading Mickie James blame herself for what happened or thinking about other women so passionate about being in the WWE that I could see are not treated right and might go through the same garbage Mickie James went through. It is bad enough to get treated like crap, but dirtsheets, another source of annoyance for me, rub salt on the wounds.

Whatever personal issues Mickie James might have had, the problems did not start in 2010, or even 2009. I have said it multiple times over the years. I will say it for the final time. Prior to Mickie James even debuting back in 2005, the WWE was running their diva division in a certain manner. Female wrestlers pushed as credible jobbers, used as jobbers to the centerpiece and interim centerpiece, would never get over off of that type of career and move on to better. They all eventually got phased out. Chyna and Lita got over in the periphery. Mickie James didn't debut into the type of career Chyna and Lita had. She debuted in the kind of career where you don't get over. And she did get over. But the WWE never stopped pushing her the same way. The reason she got pushed as much as she did is because of poor depth and centerpiece issues, like multiple injuries to the women that were groomed to be the stars. This just gets ignored. No one ever analyzes what is going on right in front of them. Why is the WWE treating Mickie James poorly? Could it have anything to do with the fact that they do not want her over, as supported by the fact they are not pushing her as someone they want over, and she is more over than the women that are being pushed to be stars?

Something people might bring up is all the title reigns she got in the WWE. Keep in mind one came off of a botched finish at a house show. Even then, what's the worth of a title reign? It is not always a reward for getting over, it does not make you over, it does not mean the WWE will push you as someone they want over during the reign, and it does not guarantee you anything after the reign ends. I have seen a ton of title reigns in recent years that just left me wondering why the WWE even bothered. The wrestler wasn't over. They weren't pushed well. It's not like there was some kind of injury issue to warrant the reign. It just seemed pointless. It is easy to get lost in a title win, but it is just a moment. It is more important to pay attention to what happened in building up to that moment and what the WWE does after.

Let me give an example I was holding back on doing for a while. The WWE giving these women title reigns is kind of like giving them a gift. But what does it really mean? I just got through saying it does not really mean anything. Imagine a man buys a woman jewelry and other expensive gifts. Okay, but what does that mean? Does it automatically means he does love her? What if the man takes advantage of her? What if he humiliates her, especially in public? What if he cheats on her? What if he tosses her aside when he is done with her? What if he makes her feel it was her fault? And what if he chooses another woman to do this to?

This kind of thing does happen. There are movies about it. I remember watching a movie where a teenage boy was in a relationship with a teenage girl that he ended up ordering around and physically abusing. He would give her flowers to make it seem like he really did love her. But does that give him the right to mistreat her? In the end, he ended up killing the girl. The movie was called No One Would Tell.

Am I really comparing how the WWE treats their women to abusive relationships? Yes, you want to make something of it? My point is that the WWE giving these women title reigns does not automatically mean that the WWE values them as stars or is giving them the opportunity to earn that kind of career for themselves. I am making the comparison between that and a jerk buying a girl a gift not automatically meaning that he really loves her, and certainly does not mean he can abuse her.

Look back at how the WWE treated Mickie James back when they were supposedly in love with her and so many fans say she was the face of the diva division. Did they take advantage of her? They frequently used her in feuds designed to put over other women, and also filler pushes when the woman they would rather have on top was not around. Did they humiliate her? Yes, they did that. I am sure you know what I am referring to. And it was public humiliation. Millions of people all over the world saw it. It will be on Youtube for people to see for a long time. Did they cheat on her? Is it fair to not give Mickie James a proper chance to earn that spot that women like Candice Michelle and Michelle McCool are being given? I am pretty certain they did not make it clear to Mickie James that they were just using her and she was not a top star. I think this unfairness and manipulation can be seen as cheating Mickie James out of something. Did they toss her aside? Even before they released her, they tossed her aside numerous times when they were done using her to serve a purpose. They left fans wondering all these times why Mickie James was not being pushed. Did they leave Mickie James thinking it had to have been something she did? Yes, even though they had treated numerous women like this before Mickie James, and none of them should blame themselves for this. The WWE runs the men's division the same way. Lastly, did the WWE continue doing this to other women even after Mickie James. Yes. Even in this new era, there are sometimes hints of the WWE still doing it now and then. You take this all in. You call that love? You call that the WWE being high on Mickie James? The title reigns mean nothing. The fact that they pushed her does not mean they were high on her if they were all filler and jobber pushes. The problems did not pop up in 2009. Sadly, no one could tell.

Instead of Mickie James getting any respect for what she had to endure and overcoming it to succeed in a way no other woman prior to her was able to, she will always have that stigma that she screwed herself. Even now, she is not getting the career she earned. She will obviously get into the Hall of Fame, but that's not saying much these days. There is more to her story that will likely never be brought up. Mickie James will never speak up for herself. Her fans won't do it. The WWE certainly won't let her drop a legitimate pipebomb on her career. Why should it even come to do that? Why do so many wrestlers have to complain to get things. That sour atmosphere just turns me off. Just realize what you have in Mickie James and give her a good career. Lastly, not wanting to have the whole situation with Mickie James on my mind anymore is a reason I just want to move on.

I would say Mickie James is the greatest female wrestler the WWE ever had. That isn't favoritism talking. I wasn't born a Mickie James fan. Greatness is based on what you accomplish and how you accomplished it. It is based on the obstacles you had to overcome and how you overcame them. She got as over as she did back in the day by doing what a pro wrestling performer is supposed to do. She entertained. She was good enough in the ring to connect with wrestling fans. She was attractive enough to connect with fans interested in that. And she had a charisma that many fans could get drawn into. It is a shame that this toxic environment in the WWE currently is not helping her, but you cannot take away what she did accomplish. More women should try to be solid overall performers like that. The WWE should want to bring that out of the women, as well. There have been some women around that I thought could have what it takes. Paige was someone I thought could have done it. But it is just wrong for some women in the WWE to do nothing more but wrestle. If you cannot make big bucks for the WWE, you might find yourself depushed for the sake of Alexa Bliss. All you can really ask is for the WWE to give you a fair shot to earn that better career. After that, you have to make the most of it.

I am not too worried about what is going right now. It is a mess on both Raw and Smackown, but the WWE is likely to screw themselves even more than they screw any one woman in this era. Their many issues are biting them. There is no need for me to analyze and critique this stuff anymore. And with that, I say goodbye.

Looking Back At AJ Lee

I will spend today looking back at a former WWE female talent, AJ Lee. AJ Lee debuted during the second dark age of the diva era. The WWE had failed to create a successor to Trish Stratus. All their attempts flopped. And they never bothered to create another Lita. That is to say, a female wrestler pushed as a top star in the periphery. AJ was that new Lita. She had a huge push in the periphery, getting angles alongside Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, John Cena, and other men. That transitioned into her getting a couple runs with the Diva's Championship. She also took a few breaks from the WWE. During one of those breaks, The Bellas really rose in prominence. It would have been interesting to see whether Nikki Bella or AJ Lee would have been the long-term centerpiece the WWE would have planned to go with. Instead of ever finding out, AJ Lee retired and chose CM Punk over the WWE.

I would say AJ Lee was definitely overrated when her WWE career first started. Before she even debuted, dirtsheets sold her as the successor to Mickie James. AJ Lee had never even done anything up to that point. She then was involved in NXT, back when it was a competition. She didn't win. She didn't even get in the final two. When she came to the main roster, she didn't really look like someone that would break out.

What helped her was the WWE giving her the freedom to be a psychotic character. Unlike what happened with Mickie James, this was not a psychotic character designed to put over some other woman meant to be the centerpiece. This was a periphery angle. They made AJ Lee into a star. And you could see her become more confident with that character. Her in-ring ability was okay, but I do think some people overrate that. You could definitely list a number of women better than her in the ring. But it was her character that really helped her be a star. And because she had some pro wrestling background prior to the WWE, that helped to connect her with some wrestling fans.

Staying on things that are overrated, I would still say her pipebomb was overrated. She was holding the title at the time, had been pushed harder than any woman in years, already had more fans buying into her than any other woman on the roster, and she was going out there and slamming women that had never been given the kind of opportunities she had been given and were just trying to make the most of what they were getting. Isn't it better for a pipebomb to come from an underdog or some kind of victim of the system? AJ Lee was the top star of the division, with or without the title, and the system helped her to be that star.

Thinking about that promo again, however, I do have to give her some credit. I don't think I was that much of a fan of the execution back then. Looking at other women, and even men, these days that do these self-righteous promos, AJ Lee at least did a better job making it entertaining than a lot of what I see these days. "Entertaining" these days is just pandering to smarks and saying what they want to hear. All you have to do is remember your lines. Maybe a little difficult for Roman Reigns. Regardless, too many fans see being confident as being great on the mic. There is more to it than that. Even if you find wrestlers that have that confidence, a lot of them don't do enough to make their promos entertaining. A lot of the blame can go on the writers, but some blame also has to go on the workers for not at least trying to be fun. Then again, some fans would probably not appreciate it and even think the performer is drunk.

Overall, I now look at AJ Lee in a more favorable light than I did back then. She was okay in the ring. She was cute and had an appealing look. And she was definitely charismatic. What changed? Does absence make the heart grow fonder? I think the issue was that the way she was booked back then just annoyed me. Booking someone too strongly can hurt them. Annoying booking of Charlotte last year did not make me a fan of her. Annoying booking of Alexa Bliss this year has not made me a fan of her. Look at Roman Reigns. I remember a depush actually helping him get better reactions a few years ago. Now that time has passed, I can just think back on AJ Lee as a performer. My opinion has definitely changed.

I would say part of the reason for the change of heart is that the women today are just so bland. Most of them do not have proper gimmicks. They have nicknames. The have funny-colored hair. They have male legends they latch onto. In terms of their characters, they lack creativity. There are too many self-righteous, feminist characters. Too much complaining. A lot of hype, but a lack of real character substance. At least when AJ Lee did this kind of thing, she still kept some of that crazy personality she had developed in her periphery angle. That makes her fun to watch. More of the young women in the WWE today need to work putting more personality into their matches and promos. It isn't what you do. It is how you do it.

The WWE also needs to step up and present more women in unique ways like they did AJ Lee. I would say it definitely helped her. She would have flopped without that big push in the periphery. She just didn't look too interesting. Even if they did try to push her as a credible jobber, I don't think she was good enough in the ring to really work out with that kind of career very well. But she had potential to be a great character. A lot of other women today can be great characters. Getting them away from the inefficient women's division might help them. None of the women today are that over. Even if you want to talk about Alexa Bliss, a lot of wrestling fans have a distaste for her. And her booking is also a source of annoyance. Let her character shine in the periphery, as I have said before. Mickie James could also benefit from this type of push. She has shown potential for years to play entertaining characters. In that sense, she has been underutilized. The women's revolution is just not enough to create stars and create an entertaining women's division. The WWE should look back the success of AJ Lee, a success they wanted, and not be afraid to create that kind of thing again.

There are a few women I have not been that big of a fan of that I have softened on over the years. AJ Lee is definitely one of those women. Again, one of the reasons might just be that things are so uninteresting to me these days, that AJ Lee just looks better to me. I would not mind if she did decide to come back. Her in-ring ability may not be on the same level as the NXT elite, but her presence and character would be refreshing. The WWE might ruin her with too many storylines about the women's revolution, but I think she would still let her own personality shine with what she has to work with. And unlike Mickie James, AJ Lee would be someone more likely to be featured well by the WWE, if she returns.

Alexa Bliss Wins Back The Title

I wanted to to talk about the women in my last few days blogging, but this is not what I wanted to have to talk about. Alexa Bliss defeated Sasha Banks on Raw to win back the title. After that, Nia Jax attacked Bliss to start a feud there.

This is just garbage on so many levels. If they were not going to give Sasha Banks a proper run with the title, they should not have given it to her at all. The only thing the title change accomplished is stopping Alexa's reign before it topped Charlotte's first run with the Raw Women's Championship to become the longest-reigning titleholder. And it's not like that reign is so long that it cannot be topped easily. It probably will be beaten in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss has her resume inflated. Sasha, as well, but to a lesser degree. Alexa Bliss is the centerpiece, not Sasha. In less than a year, Alexa has won four title reigns between Smackdown and Raw. Again, that is just garbage. The WWE has to create some fresh feuds with women that are properly developed and deserve the push. Failure to properly build challengers is likely one of the reasons for so many women getting poor reactions that should not be getting those poor reactions.

It is ridiculous that the WWE cannot come up with ways to keep Alexa Bliss relevant outside the title picture. Okay, she sells merchandise. Fine, that is a reason to feature her. But not like this. I have said this about Roman Reigns in recent weeks. The guy has not held a main-event title in over a year. He is on a PPV losing streak. He is not looking like a top guy, in terms of booking. In terms of hype, he obviously still is a top guy. He is in a big feud with John Cena. I see some fans upset this isn't happening at Wrestlemania. It probably should. Give more time to rebuild Reigns. What about Bliss? There are obviously less top performers for her to work with in the women's division, due mainly to the WWE's failure to properly feature the women, but they could still find something else for her to do.

Let me once again explain the system the WWE ran in the diva era. The WWE liked to have a woman they would push as their top star and to regularly be featured in the title scene. That was their centerpiece. They would frequently build up women with wrestling credibility to trade the title with the centerpiece and be an obstacle for her to overcome or someone to draw heat off of. These were credible jobbers. They frequently got tossed aside when done doing the job. They were also sometimes used as interim centerpiece when something happened to the real centerpiece or the real centerpiece was getting an angle away from the title. Outside of that, there were periphery divas, or stars featured in the periphery of the title matters. They might sometimes get title reigns, but the bulk of their time was meant to be outside the title picture. Lastly, this system was run with the idea that an eye-candy diva would be the centerpiece. That was what made the diva era what it was.

Smackdown obviously doesn't have a centerpiece. They just go in different directions. But Raw is that centerpiece-driven division. You saw it last year with Charlotte. She got that annoying booking of frequent title wins and other women, mostly Sasha Banks, not getting pushed right. Charlotte is now Ms. Irrelevant on Smackdown, while Alexa Bliss has come and taken her place on Raw as the centerpiece. She is getting that annoying booking. Sasha Banks was recently once again the victim. Bayley has also been a victim of the bad booking designed to help Alexa Bliss.

The thing is, centerpiece booking was never this annoying during the diva era. Trish Stratus won 7 women's titles in roughly 5 years. If Charlotte had not gone to Smackdown, it looked like she might have won 20 titles in 5 years. Alexa Bliss is now the one on pace to win 20 titles in 5 years. It will obviously not happen, but this is annoying. And you never had this many short title reigns for the credible jobbers back in the golden era. Barring an injury, this should not happen. The women were typically allowed to have some successful title defenses. There were even spans where Trish took a break from the title scene. The most memorable was her angle involving Chris Jericho and Christian.

That is another problem, the terrible periphery. You have some periphery women today, like Maryse, but they are not featured as well as they were back in the day. Chyna, Lita, and AJ Lee were all featured very well in the periphery, and all before ever winning a women's title in the WWE. The WWE obviously cannot do certain things today, but AJ Lee's push in the periphery came in the PG Era. There is still potential to do something. And that is where Alexa Bliss should be pushed outside the title scene. Give women like Sasha Banks, Emma, and Mickie James a chance to freshen up the title feuds. Alexa Bliss's best attributes are her looks and her character. That screams periphery. That is where they need to push. Find an angle alongside the men.

Lastly, how about Nia Jax seemingly next in line for a title feud? Horrible. How about the WWE stops awarding women for underachieving, having injury issues, and even being dangerous in the ring? If you are underachieving, step up and get over, or at least put some good effort into it. If you have injury issues, do your best to change your style to stay healthy and show you can be trusted. If you are dangerous in the ring, you just got to clean that up. It was not long ago that Bayley got injured while working with Nia Jax. All the blame cannot be put on Nia, but there was at least one spot in that match where it was obvious she was being clumsy with an injured Bayley. And that was not her first instance of being dangerous in the ring this year. Nia Jax needs to be held accountable, not be given title feuds. Needless to say, match quality will not be good between Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss. Even if you toss in Sasha Banks, it will likely still not be what some fans were hoping for when this women's revolution started.

State Of The WWE Women's Division: August 2017

This will be the last one of these I do. Why not post a pic of my favorite singer? The big developments this month all involve the titles. Both titles on the main roster changed hands. Even the women's title in NXT had to be given up due to injury, although I will not talk too much about NXT.

Just in general, I do not have a problem with either Sasha Banks or Natalya getting title reigns. They are solid in-ring workers that deserved to eventually get them. I just would not have had either woman win it at Summerslam. In the case of Sasha Banks, her feud with Alexa Bliss was just rushed and poorly developed. I would have given her the title after a few weeks of proper build. In the case of Natalya, this should not have been her time at all. There were women that could have made for a better, bigger feud with Naomi at the biggest WWE PPV of the summer. The WWE even did a poor job building the feud to help Natalya look better. Are these writers even here to come up with creative ideas? Or are they just game managers that just put the women out there?

Let me talk about some of these other women outside the title picture. I will start with Smackdown. Becky Lynch and Charlotte are not being utilized right. These are two inaugural titleholders. They sure do not look like it. I would be the first to say Charlotte was overpushed and does not look like she deserves to be centerpiece, but you cannot just put all that work into her and drop the ball so easily on her. At the very least, she can be used to put over other women in properly-built feuds. Becky Lynch is someone I feel has more potential to be the centerpiece, but she is also just floating around.

I have seen some fans ask why Tamina is being pushed. Is she being pushed? You don't need to be in the title picture to be pushed, but is what Tamina is getting even a push? She has that storyline with Lana. Who is even supposed to be the benefactor there? Smackdown has done a terrible job putting focus on individual women since it became its own brand again. Becky Lynch had no proper focus on her prior to winning the title. I just brought up Natalya. Their idea of giving Naomi focus is just having her steamroll Alexa Bliss, despite her injury issues. Where is the proper creative development? I don't even know what to make out of this storyline Tamina and Lana are getting. Given Smackdown's history of tossing the title around, including rumors that Eva Marie was supposed to get a title reign, either one of these two women could get a title run. And neither of them deserves it. Outside of that, what is the payoff of this angle? They turn on each other? Not too interesting.

Carmella still has the briefcase and is hovering with it. I think she will win the title. And she should. Start the women's briefcase on a good foot. The WWE already failed to do that with the Ellsworth fiasco, but the WWE can avoid other mistakes going forward. Will Carmella cashing in on Natalya be a big deal? Maybe they should wait for a new face to win the title and Carmella cashes in on her. That could be either Becky Lynch or Charlotte. Naomi should not get the title back anytime soon. One thing that would be nice is to just have Carmella take a step back from trying to cash in. Let Natalya and Naomi, and whomever else, have a proper feud between themselves. Let Carmella feud with one of the other faces right now. Not only will that be good for Carmella, but it gives another woman something meaningful to do. You look at the men that have won the briefcase over years. They were not always this plastered to the title scene from the moment they got the briefcase to when they cashed in. They had other feuds. Do that with Carmella. Right now, the story being Carmella wants to cash in is just too easy.

Let me just say something general about the way Smackdown does things. I see a lot of fans giving Smackdown praise for giving all the women things to do. There are various reasons why it is not good, like an injury here and there possibly messing things up a lot. But let me bring up another. Just because these women have something to do does not mean they have something meaningful to do. It is like going to school, finding out the teacher is absent, and the substitute gives you busy work because the regular work plan was not left. Are the students getting something to do? Yes. Are they getting something meaningful to do? No. These women on Smackdown might be getting used regularly, but a lot of these feuds and storylines are just terrible. There is a lot of underutilized women. The writers are not really creating greatness. They are just sticking women in situations and having them work. They need to do more for these women. All the multi-women matches Smackdown has gone to far too much in the past year is an example of that laziness.

Onto Raw. Outside of the title feud, what is there really to talk about? Not much. Emma is getting an angle, though. She is getting TV time and is getting focus. Yeah, she is losing, but it is not unusual for these kind of angles to end in title reigns. The WWE should keep the title on Sasha Banks and have her defend it against Emma, and eventually drop it to her. That should quiet the fans complaining about Emma not getting a chance. There was a time when I would agree with them. But looking at Emma getting time recently, even if losing, that is better than what some people are getting. The fact is, Emma is getting a chance. If she has really won fans over like the people on Twitter might make you believe, have the live audiences roar for her. Have them regularly chant for her during other women's segments. Make her the female Daniel Bryan. The WWE is actually putting her out there for it to happen. Is she going to step up and get more over? Or is she just going to rest on her Internet popularity and give the WWE a reason to not follow up with her?

Mickie James has been seeing a little more TV time in the last month, since Bayley got injured. If Bayley had not gotten injured, I do not think Mickie James would have gotten what usage she has gotten. Bayley would be tied up with Alexa Bliss. Sasha Banks is the next priority in Raw's women's division. They would have found something for her. Maybe she would be the one working against Emma. Emma has just been going between losing to Mickie James and Nia Jax on Raw recently. Dana Brooke is obviously not good enough to push as priority above Sasha Banks or Bayley. Mickie James still lacks a legitimate storyline, but she is still around.

And what about Nia Jax? As far as I am concerned, she is still on probation. If she cannot keep it safe for at least the rest of the year, she should be fired. She is not a great worker. She currently does not have a proper feud. Should it be against Mickie James? Or does the WWE want to keep some women open to continue the angle involving Emma? Regardless, she will get TV time. I just hope she keeps it safe in the ring.

Outside of how the women are being utilized, how are the fans reacting to them? I think there is a problem. Everyone knows about the bad reactions Bayley would get. Even Sasha Banks has experienced a negative reaction at times. Is that just the Brooklyn audience? I am from Brooklyn, so I know how bad they can be. The Four Horsewomen, the NXT elite, all look bad right now. The two on Smackdown are not doing anything important. One of the two on Raw is injured, and has issues connecting with the fans. The other one got the title in a poor feud, and her own overness is in question. I remember getting my head bit off when I said these women were not that over. They were treated like automatic legends in NXT, but the main roster is something else. And it is not just them. All the women can be doing better.

Is it just the smarks? Smarks love heels. But the answer cannot be to just turn Sasha Banks heel. Heels do that edgy stuff that smarks typically love, but there will still be some fans that will not care.

I will say the issue is the women's revolution. It was fine when it first started and even last year. But it is time to stop talking about it and basing so many feuds and segments off of that. It is great that you are going to treat the women better, but stop talking about it. It is abrasive. Moreover, you might start wondering why you need to promote your good deeds so much. Is it just for the sake of your own ego? When Stephanie McMahon was plugged too much into the women's revolution the year it started, it definitely looked like an ego thing. Are you exploiting the situation? The WWE is definitely exploiting it in terms of promoting it and stroylines. Is this really a draw?

It is just not entertaining. TNA could run a respectable women's division without promoting too much that it was respectable. Did they promote it now and then and even use it for the sake of angles? Yes, but they did other things, as well, and did not do as terrible a job with it as the WWE. This is the reason some women like Lana and Alexa Bliss have gotten better reactions during the women's revolution era than you might think they should have. They are actually entertaining the audience, while these female wrestlers are doing their self-righteous screaming. The WWE needs to step back and make things fun again.

Look at the NFL. Last year, they had a dip in the ratings. Of the many reasons given, including it being an election year, some people said the NFL was just not fun anymore. Too many flags. Players were penalized for having fun out there and putting emotion into what they did. What has the NFL done this year? They are being less strict with touchdown celebrations. Players will have more freedom to enjoy themselves. It remains to be seen if viewership will increase for them, but this decision should bring some fun back into the game.

And that is exactly my point. The NFL realized that they should not stifle the enjoyment. That enjoyment is contagious. If players are having fun, that energizes the audience, both the live audience and the viewers at home. How about the WWE starts realizing that? Be fun again. Stop with the feminist screaming. I believe women should be treated fairly and equally, but making that the theme of the women's division is not fun. That is why some fans are dead for what is going on, or even completely sour for what is going on. The writers need to step up and create storylines that are more enjoyable. Enough of the complaining. The WWE will not be having women in their bra and thongs running around, but that does not mean they should not occasionally do some of the fun things that women used to do in the diva era. Face it, the diva era is not completely dead. Alexa Bliss holding the title was pretty much a throwback to Trish Stratus in the diva era. The WWE does not have one woman that is connecting with fans at an A+ level. I think some of these women have potential to be that great, but they need to step up and the WWE needs to do a better job pushing them. And, needless to say, certain arrogant fans need to give things a chance. Maybe the WWE will never be able to fix the problem. Some fans are just terrible.

Too Top Heavy

Next week will be by last few days blogging. I want to spend it just talking about the women. That makes today the last day I will talk about the men, unless something huge happens with the men next week that I have to spend a day talking about that.

I want to talk more about one of the WWE's big problems these days. The midcard just seems non-existent. It is rare to see a proper midcard feud. A lot of great things can happen in the midcard, but it just isn't right now.

The big reason for the terrible treatment of the midcard is that there are too many top guys. That is to say, too many former World Champions. There is no written rule that a person that wins a top title automatically becomes a priority. Jack Swagger was certainly pushed inconsistently even after his World Championship win. Regardless, these days, the WWE is trying to keep former World Champions relevant.

And where are they keeping them relevant? The main-event scene can only hold so many people. These guys just have to spill out in other areas. And that is what is going on. The Intercontinental Championship has been held by former World Champions for over a year now. The United States Championship has been held by former World Champions for almost a full year now. Look who is holding the tag titles on Raw, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, two former World Champions.

It is like the WWE cannot find a way to keep these top guys relevant unless they are chasing or holding a title. Dean Ambrose transitioned into an Intercontinental Championship feud not too long after losing the WWE Championship. After AJ Styles lost the title, he had a brief feud with Shane McMahon, but then found himself in another title feud, this time for the United States Championship. How about Kevin Owens losing the Universal Championship and quickly getting the United States Championship? I don't criticize the writers as much as most fans, but the writers have to come up with ways to keep these guys relevant without giving them midcard title feuds. In a lot of cases, the feuds just lack much creativity. They are lazy.

What are other former World Champions doing? They are getting feuds with guys that you would consider midcarders. But in a lot of cases, it seems like a lot of these midcarders are only there to put over these former World Champions. Look at Rusev and the amount of jobbing he has done in the last year to Roman Reigns, John Cena, and Randy Orton. I am not saying the guy should be a World Champion. That would only make things harder to manage. I am saying the guy should be used as a proper midcarder. Even if he beats these top guys, what is the point if the WWE has no intention to follow through. Rusev doesn't get elevated and a top guy just jobbed for no reason.

Aside from midcarders just used as jobbers to the stars, there are a couple of them that do not even feel like midcarders. Call them upper-midcarders, then. I am talking about guys that are being groomed to potentially be World Champions or big deals. Jason Jordan looked like one of those guys, unless his push flopping hurts him. I have seen some people talk about Big Cass like he was going to be a main-eventer. He's injured. And you can't even consider Nakamura as a midcarder. He's already someone that feels like he will be a top guy. The same with Bobby Roode. These guys have not even held a World Championship on the main roster, but they are still priorities.

With so much time taken up, where do the midcarders shine? Time has to go for the World Champions, the women, the tag division, possibly the cruiserweights, and then all these priorities I just mentioned. If the midcarders aren't working with top stars, whether as jobbers to the stars or to be groomed as stars, they likely won't get anything or will soon get lost in the shuffle. These guys are pushed more as upper-midcarders. The actual midcard is poor. There are guys that can be pushed there that belong there, but they are not utilized right.

Aside from possible backstage issues,  this is why a lot of guys are mistreated. It is like the WWE is performing triage, determining the priorities of their roster, and the ones left over don't just include old jobbers like Goldust. They include guys that some wrestling fans want to see pushed, like Luke Harper. Even guys that do reportedly have backstage issues might get camera time, like Enzo. For now, however, that's in the cruiserweight division. What about guys who are not so lucky? Creative just has nothing for them.

Continuing to hand out too many World Championships to new wrestlers does not make the problem easier. That just creates more priorities. I have seen people talk about how having former World Champions like Miz and AJ Styles hold midcard titles elevates the titles. It seems to elevate these titles out of the reach of midcarders. It also seems to lead to midcarders getting treated poorly. I have also seen fans complain about multi-man matches. With all these priorities, the WWE has to do it. Throw in the fact that the WWE isn't high on annual mass releases anymore, and they are usually unlikely to release former World Champions, unless they do something to get fired or want to be released. Too many people to manage.

It is sad these days that some people cannot appreciate someone getting a push without a title needing to be involved, especially in the midcard. Create some entertaining gimmicks. Create some intriguing storylines. Just run with it. There are all these gimmicks coming up from NXT. In a lot of cases, instead of the gimmicks shining, it is either about using the person as a jobber or immediately hyping them up to be a star. Creative interest matters more than hype for midcarders. And they are not getting it.

Big Cass Is Injured

Is the injury bug becoming an issue again? Bayley suffered an injury, killing her push against Alexa Bliss. The Revival once again have to deal with an injury hurting them from going anywhere on the main roster. Recently, Asuka suffered an injury that will hold her back for at least a few weeks. But the injury I want to talk about today is to Big Cass.

On Raw this week, Big Cass took on Enzo in a match that likely would have ended that feud. And it seemed like this was a match for Cass to win. But he suffered a nasty fall that led to a leg injury. He tried to continue the match and finish off Enzo, but his leg gave out. The ref had to call off the match and give Enzo the win.

What does this mean for Big Cass? I had said this guy reminds me of Edge. Injuries were a theme for Edge, although it did not stop the WWE from giving him an amazing career in terms of titles and accolades. Big Cass has hardly gotten anywhere. And the WWE seems very interested these days to push new talent, so it would not be surprising if the WWE just moved on and someone else just got the spot Cass will lose out on. He doesn't really look like someone that genuinely broke out. He might have been a solid midcarder, but the WWE has a lot of guys to push, especially in the midcard.

And Enzo? This is a good example of circumstances impacting someone. The majority of decisions are predetermined. But little things might happen now and then that just influence the story. Enzo probably should have been destroyed in that match to let Cass look strong. Instead, the story is that Enzo outlasted his former friend. He's still standing. Cass is not. He actually won the feud. That is probably not what the WWE had in mind at all.

Enzo is taking that momentum to 205 Live. Is it a demotion? To get him out of the hair of people on Raw? I have heard that, but it really makes no sense. The cruiserweights also wrestle on Raw. They travel to Smackdown. Moreover, he looks to be starting a feud with Neville, who regained the Cruiserweight Championship. He likely would have floundered on Raw or Smackdown by himself. Maybe they will use him in an entertaining way on 205 Live, while still keeping him available for Raw. Right now, he certainly does not look like someone being punished. Getting a legitimate feud is better than some guys that are really not doing anything right now.

Cena Vs. Reigns

The big news for Raw this week was John Cena showing up. Not only that, but it seems they are already laying down the seeds for a feud between Cena and Roman Reigns.

Is it the right time for this? Obviously, it is the previous era's centerpiece vs. the new centerpiece. And I am not even talking about the time of year, such as whether or not they should save this for Wrestlemania. John Cena was WWE Champion just a couple months ago this year. Roman Reigns has not won a major title in over a year. Roman Reigns is on a terrible PPV losing streak. John Cena has been winning his last few PPV matches. Overall, John Cena has a good PPV record for 2017. Roman Reigns does not. Roman Reigns just does not look good for this feud.

Right now, Roman Reigns is really just all hype. They are still treating him like he is some top dog, but the booking just doesn't support it. He just lost at Summerslam, being the one Lesnar pinned to retain the title. Since they are not currently continuing the feud with Braun Strowman, it is safe to say Strowman won that feud with Reigns. I have said this before, some people might still buy into Roman Reigns just because of that hype, but the booking might leave some people saying he just sucks. The WWE just has not been doing a good job with him as centerpiece. And if they are not going to start doing it, it is just annoying to continue to hype this guy up like they do.

What about Cena? Should he have stayed on Smackdown? Personally, I still say he should have gotten a feud with Jinder Mahal. But Smackdown should be fine without him. There are a couple disgruntled people on Smackdown that deserve to be used better that may get it with John Cena no longer around. And the WWE can pull talent up from NXT. Smackdown will be fine.

Taryn Terrell Returns To GFW

Gail Kim had her title shot last week. She lost due to interference from the returning Taryn Terrell.

First, I am glad Taryn is back. She improved herself in the ring while in TNA/GFW. She is attractive. And she showed more charisma in her heel run than I thought she had in her. I also felt her feud with Gail Kim ended in a very boring way prior to Taryn leaving a few years ago. Taryn is now back and picking up with that great heel character and feud with Gail Kim.

Second, what does this mean for Gail Kim? Her career in GFW obviously did not end last week. She will still get a chance to go out on top with the title, which she deserves. I will say that I am not a big fan of the booking. I have seen this before. Gail Kim gets beaten, yet the attention still mainly stays on her and the woman that beats her does not really get elevated. Wins don't automatically make you a star. And a loss does not automatically stop you from being presented as a star. I don't think Sienna would be a great centerpiece for the division, but GFW does need to start booking better for that woman that will be the next top star.

I have seen one fan say that she wished it was Awesome Kong that had returned. I like the choice of Taryn Terrell over Awesome Kong. Ignoring why Kong has been fired twice by this company, the feud between her and Gail Kim has been done a lot. Last time they went at it, it was obvious Awesome Kong did not still have it. Taryn Terrell might still have some rust, but at least she is a fresher option and does also have a good history with Gail Kim.

Lastly, what does this return mean for the overall division? Depending on how long Taryn will be around, she can take Gail Kim's spot in the company. Or she could be a top heel to put over that next woman that will follow in Gail Kim's footsteps, like Allie. The possibility of rebuilding The Dollhouse with different members might also be good. GFW might bring back in Rebel or Brooke. Brooke was never in the group, but she was a part of the feud back then between The Dollhouse and Gail Kim. GFW can definitely do some good things with Taryn Terrell back.

Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Main Events

Speaking of lackluster feud development, how about that Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura feud? This is the WWE Championship match. The two don't even look like they are really feuding. This is terrible. The WWE should have put a lot more work into Nakamura.

Let me go back to another Summerslam title change. In 2004, Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit for his first World title. I was a big Orton fan back then. I watched that PPV and was glad he won. Thing is, looking back, the feud development was not that great. Most would also say that Orton's reign flopped. There are many reasons why it was not better, including Triple H still being the centerpiece back then. Point is, many might argue Orton was not ready to be Champion back then. Keep in mind, however, that he did have a good run with the Intercontinental Championship prior to his bigger push. He also had a memorable feud with Mick Foley that included a great match that some might say helped him to break out.

What does Shinsuke Nakamura have to say for himself? Let's ignore NXT. Too much attention is often put on the WWE's developmental brand, which the general audience does not even watch. What has Nakamura done since coming to the main roster? No title reigns. His PPV performances and booking have not been that spectacular. He just doesn't look like a big deal. You can say his match with Cena a few weeks ago was supposed to be where he broke out. Even ignoring the terrible botch in that match and whose fault it was, it just didn't feel like that match accomplished what it was supposed to do. And there is a chance this guy might actually win the title this Sunday? It would be an even worse decision than Randy Orton in 2004.

Speaking of bad decisions when it comes to title wins, the alternative to Nakamura winning the title is Jinder Mahal retaining the title. I have seen fans get upset with the WWE having Mahal lose cleanly recently, and I'm not even talking Indian fans or Canadians. Why shouldn't Jinder Mahal lose cleanly to faces that are above him? He's a heel. He's a non-monster heel. There is no excuse not to have him lose now and then, especially cleanly. If that hurts his appeal and WWE Network subscriptions with certain demographics, so be it. It would have to happen eventually. That makes these kind of pushes even more questionable. They won't be sustained. And what happens then? The WWE is going to hope that the Mahal fans might get interested in something else, but when the whole product is so terrible and stars are not built and featured right, the WWE is still underachieving. And while the WWE is so busy pleasing these demographics, they are making bad decisions that turn away other fans.

This match is pretty much about appealing to Japanese and Indian fans. Who will win? Jinder Mahal to sell tickets for an Indian tour? Or Shinsuke Nakamura to help his merchandise sales? That seems to be the WWE's driving mentality these days. It sure isn't proper feud development and building stars properly. Jinder Mahal should retain the title. It could be by DQ or something like that.

Four big men will go at it for the Universal Championship. There was a time when smarks hated big men getting pushed so much. I don't see too many complaints for this feud. These fans love Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman, especially when he's killing Roman Reigns. And this is just a ripe situation for Brock Lesnar to drop the title. There is a good chance he will leave. Multi-man match, which means he does not have to be pinned. Which of the three challengers should get it?

Let me start with Braun Strowman. Since Summerslam last year, five men have won their first top title in the WWE. Finn Balor and Kevin Owens won the Universal Championship. AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, and Jinder Mahal won the WWE Championship. The WWE definitely needs to slow down. The only reason for Strowman to win the title would be to drop it to Reigns, which might make storyline sense. Reigns has gotten knocked around by Strowman for a while now. Not only can Reigns finally get a decisive win against him, but he might win the title in the process.

Samoa Joe is another guy that stands a chance to win his first top title in the WWE. I am not counting NXT. Once again, I will say the WWE needs to slow down. This guy just debuted a few months ago. I have heard the rumors that certain people in the WWE want Samoa Joe to get the title. Smarks would love it. It was one thing for AJ Styles to win the WWE Championship in his first year on the main roster, but not every smark favorite needs to do that. Samoa Joe could do it at Summerslam, as well as Nakamura. Bobby Roode might be rushed to a title reign when he debuts. It is all disgusting.

As I have pointed out before, Roman Reigns has not held a top title in over a year. All he has had is a midcard title run. Also take into account his PPV losing streak. Even before Wrestlemania, his year was not that great. He lost twice at the Royal Rumble, once to Kevin Owens and then losing the Royal Rumble. This guy does not look like a centerpiece at all. If you are going to hype him like he is the centerpiece, it would make sense to push him as the centerpiece. If not, move on to someone else. If this weak treatment is not working in shutting up his haters, many of whom seem ignorant to the fact that he hasn't been pushed that hard in the last few months and for most of the past year, then stop doing it.

I do feel like a title change will happen. I would say it should be Roman Reigns. I am not a fan of the guy. But if you are going to push him as the centerpiece, he needs to get back on track. They are just damaging him, even if it is unintentional. There are some fans, usually kids, who will buy into the hype, even if the booking does not match the hype. But there are a lot of other fans that will hear the WWE talk about how great Roman Reigns is, see Reigns put himself over, see other wrestlers put him over, and then see the guy just lose every big match he has had in the last few months and not hold a top title in over a year. What are they going to say? That this guy is overrated. I wouldn't be too surprised if the WWE gives the title to someone else in the match and Reigns wins it down the line, but the WWE should just stop the poor booking now and put the title back on him.

Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Undercard Matches

A complaint I see from many fans recently is that the WWE was giving away too much of Summerslam this past week. They have had some matches that are supposed to also happen at the PPV. With the poor way a lot of the Summerslam matches have been developed, I am not too surprised that the WWE would try to shake things up in the final week before the PPV. That includes what happened to Baron Corbin on Smackdown.

New Day defend the Smackdown Tag Team Championships against The Usos. Nothing much to say here. New Day retain.

The Raw Tag Team Championships will be decided between Sheamus & Cesaro and the reunion of The Shield. Not only are the tag titles on the line, but there is a story here. I like that. I was just saying yesterday that some title feuds don't need a special story, while others can really use it. New Day vs. The Usos didn't need a special story. Just make it about the tag titles, let their gimmicks work, and then let them wrestle. With this Raw feud, there was potential for a story. Some might even say the story was necessary. Rollins betrayed The Shield years ago and Rollins and Ambrose had a heated feud. Could these two really come back together so easily? Should they win the tag titles? Some fans are already talking about the possibility of Ambrose turning on Seth. Too soon for that. Neither Rollins nor Ambrose have won a PPV match in a while, so I say they get the tag titles at Summerslam.

Akira Tozawa defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Neville. This was supposed to be Neville defending the title, but things got switched around when the WWE had the title match on Raw this week and allowed the title change. This was one of those matches that fans were scratching their heads about. This was a pretty dull feud. A lot of things about the cruiserweight division has been boring. If nothing else, having the unexpected title change shook things up. I would not be surprised at all if Neville wins it back at Summerslam. The WWE has shown they love this guy this year. They put a hold on tossing the title to random cruiserweights for his benefit. He has had a long reign. But he could very well become the first man to hold the title twice. Even though short reigns like this are rare, I will say Tozawa's reign does end.

Staying on Raw, Big Show vs. Cass. Enzo will be in a shark cage above the ring. They just did this with Jericho earlier in the year. I would say it is too soon to pull this trick out again. Prior to this year, it wasn't exactly used often in the WWE. Looking at parts of Cass's promo on Raw this week, he looks like he could be the next Edge. But he is missing something. I am not talking about his wrestling ability, even though that has not been that exciting. His promos just lack a certain intensity Edge had. And Big Show is tied into this situation. The WWE is already running a bit of an injury angle to make it look like Big Show is beatable. He should be losing this match. What will Enzo do? I think it would be for the best if he just turns heel and goes back with Cass. What else is there for Enzo to do?

Staying on the theme of Summerslam matches coming early, Bray Wyatt defeated Finn Balor on Raw this week. What happens at Summerslam? Demon Balor. This feud has been pretty dull, until this week. It started, then it got killed off. If they had done it smoothly, the match on Raw this week probably would have happened at the last Raw PPV. The WWE could then do a slower build to Balor going to his dark side to face Bray Wyatt. Things have definitely been rushed. But the WWE probably needed to do it. Balor wins here. Have to keep this gimmick looking strong.

Randy Orton vs. Rusev. This is one of those dry feuds. Not too interesting. I feel it could have been built up so much better. Even though signs point to Rusev possibly winning, I will say Orton wins. I will say why in a moment.

AJ Styles defends the United States Championship against Kevin Owens. Shane McMahon will ref. Is that really necessary? Well, it is what they are going with. These two have been feuding for a long time now. It should end here. AJ Styles retains.

Lastly, John Cena faces Baron Corbin. But the big news is that Baron Corbin cashed in the briefcase on Smackdown this week and lost. That's the end of that. This was one of those things that fans felt was wasted this week before Summerslam. Is Corbin in the doghouse? Is he suspended? No news of a suspension. And even if the WWE is not high on him, they could have still jobbed him out at Summerslam or a later date.

I was against Baron Corbin getting the briefcase in the first place. Needless to say, the WWE did not do that great of a job building him up since getting the briefcase. His feud development in the last month has been terrible. His feud against Shinsuke Nakamura should still be going on. This feud with Cena just lacked a great story. It just felt like both guys could have been doing something better. John Cena did have a small hand in Corbin failing to cash in, but the feud is still not that special. Pretty lackluster.

Who wins? I will say Baron Corbin. Unless he did do something wrong, he should get the win. John Cena has not done that well at Summerslam in recent years. Baron Corbin might even destroy Cena after the match to send him on his next hiatus. The reason I said Orton beats Rusev is because I do not see both Orton and Cena losing to midcard heels in the same night. If one of them has to bite the bullet, I will say it is Cena. Orton has not won a PPV match since Wrestlemania. Cena beat Rusev just last month.

Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Women's Championship Matches

First of all, August 31st will be my last day blogging.

Onto Summerslam. There seems to be an overall theme with this PPV. So many of the feuds heading into this Sunday just feel underdeveloped. Considering this is one of the WWE's big four PPVs of the year and their biggest of the summer, the mediocrity is a little surprising. Both of the women's title matches are in this category.

Let me start with Raw's title match. It was obviously supposed to be Bayley getting this push. I would not have gone to her, but that is what the WWE chose to do. The WWE obviously had some time to work a story between Bayley and Alexa Bliss. They could continue the same story from the last time they feuded a few months ago, even though it was a pretty bad story. Problem is, Bayley got injured. The WWE was now in a tough situation. It was obvious Sasha Banks was the woman to push. She even won the title opportunity this week. Problem is, no time is left to develop a proper story between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. All you have is a basic title feud. This is exactly what you had when these two feuded for the title before Bayley got put back into the picture. It is very dull.

I am surprised the WWE doesn't go with the obvious story. Have Sasha Banks call Alexa Bliss out for hurting the women's revolution. Alexa Bliss represents the diva era. Sasha Banks is all about the women's revolution. I see a ton of fans on the Internet blaming Alexa Bliss for the quality of the women's division taking a dive recently. I am not denying Alexa has her fans, but she has her critics, as well. The WWE is not ignorant to the Internet and social media these days. They have to know that a lot of fans dislike how Alexa Bliss is pushed. They know all about Twitter wanting Emma to get a chance. But the WWE seems scared to run with the obvious storyline, so they go with this story-less feud between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. I guess they do not want Alexa Bliss to look weak, even though it would be up to her to prove she really can hang with Sasha Banks. Some fans were impressed with their last match. I don't think the WWE really has an excuse for not doing better between Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks.

Who wins? Once again, Sasha Banks was obviously not even supposed to be in the story right now. The WWE could have Alexa Bliss retain here and eventually drop the title to Bayley or Sasha Banks, after the feud between Sasha and Alexa actually becomes more heated. I would pick Sasha. The sooner the title goes to a face, the more likely Emma finally gets a title feud. Whether she wins it or not is not the issue. The WWE should just go with it for the sake of freshness, to give Emma a chance, and to shut up a whole bunch of people on this issue. Right now, though, Alexa Bliss should retain.

What about Bayley? Should she just get pushed again as soon as she returns? Fans have soured on her in recent weeks. I would say part of the problem is that they made her look terrible in her feud against Alexa Bliss, then decided to just push her again after she was wrecked. You can't treat someone terribly and expect the fans not to sour on them. The WWE humiliated Mickie James terribly a number of years ago. They probably would have loved it if her overness did suffer. It would have made Michelle McCool look like a stronger heel and made Mickie easier to toss aside. But Mickie James was genuinely over with the overall audience back then in a way Bayley is not right now. Even though the WWE did not intend to ruin Bayley, because there really was no good reason to, that is what they did. I do not think the answer is to turn her heel. Give her a secondary storyline. Build her back up slow. Do not toss her back against Alexa Bliss and certainly do not toss her back into a feud that makes her look like garbage. Doing this kind of thing with Roman Reigns a few years ago actually did him some good. When he stopped getting his monster push, his hate lessened a little. If the WWE gives Bayley an angle that actually presents her as fun and entertaining, that might warm up her overness again.

Onto Smackdown. Raw actually has an excuse for their women's title feud being mediocre. Smackdown does not. It will be Natalya vs. Naomi. Natalya is not the woman I would have went with. I have said this before. At a big PPV like Summerslam, the WWE should have just created a better feud. Even though it would have created a face vs. face situation, I would have gone with Charlotte, or even Becky Lynch. Becky was the first Smackdown Women's Champion, who has not done anything too important in months. Charlotte was the first Raw Women's Champion, who has not done anything too important in months. But both these women could have made for more high-profile feuds than Natalya getting the title shot.

Even though I would not have gone with Natalya, I really expected the WWE to do better with her these last few weeks to develop some kind of good feud between her and Naomi. They have not. Part of the problem is that the WWE has to feature Carmella and the briefcase. Carmella defeated Naomi last week. The week before that, Naomi defeated Carmella in a tag match. More focus needs to be put on Natalya. Smackdown is tonight, but I am not expecting anything too grand to make up for the mediocrity. I really expected better from Smackdown. They have taken workers that were not pushed well and made them look like bigger deals at times since last year. There are some exceptions to this, like Jack Swagger, but I would have expected better with Natalya for the sake of this feud. Ignoring Carmella and the briefcase, this is just a mediocre title feud between Natalya and Naomi.

Who wins? I am all for Natalya getting a push and even winning the title. Now is just not the right time. Natalya is still somewhat young. She is 35. I can see her lasting another few years, and she should be getting a "thank you" run at least down the line. Right now, it should be about women that are fresher and have more credibility. This is Summerslam. This feud was not worthy of this event when it started and they have not developed it to be worthy of this event since then. Naomi should not lose the title to Natalya.

Bigger question, should Carmella cash in and win? Yes, I think she should. Naomi has held the title for a couple months now. This is even her second reign this year. There are no good heels for her to feud with. Becky Lynch and Charlotte are the one that should be getting the title feuds. But if the WWE doesn't want to do face vs. face, a heel needs to get the title as soon as possible. Natalya is not that heel. Carmella is just the fresher option. Just have the submission specialist work over Naomi's leg, or whatever body part. Naomi manages to pull out the victory. Carmella sees Naomi hurt and cashes in to win it.

Overall, these are just two title matches that have had mediocre build. They are nothing more than basic title feuds. Again, ignore the briefcase for the Smackdown women's feud. Just looking at Natalya vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss, the feuds are not interesting. There are times when the WWE shouldn't get too fancy with title feuds. Just let it be a title feud. I would say that was the case for Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Gallows & Anderson from earlier in the year. The WWE tried to get too fancy with referee nonsense and it just was not needed. Just let these guys fight. That is their strengths. But I would say the WWE needed to do more with these two women's title feuds. This is Summerslam. These aren't kickoff-worthy matches. The feud between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss just felt like it had potential to be more than it is. Natalya needed better focus than she has gotten to make this feud seem like a bigger deal. The WWE is treating Summerslam almost like a Wrestlemania this year, but a lot of these feuds do not look worthy. And I'll be bringing this theme up again in the next few days.

Randy Orton Finally Beats Jinder Mahal

Randy Orton defeated Jinder Mahal in a non-title match on Smackdown last week. It was in Toronto, Mahal's hometown. I see some fans unhappy with the result. They say it made Mahal look weak.

I do not see a problem with it, in terms of making Jinder Mahal look weak. Randy Orton lost to him three PPVs in a row. Jinder Mahal was going to put him over eventually. It is only fair. As for it being in his hometown, Jinder Mahal isn't exactly someone that deserves to be treated like royalty. If he wasn't getting his monster push, most people in Toronto, and even India, would not care too much for him.

I will say that I do not like that the WWE has not invested more in Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. That is the title feud. It is not the title feud I would have went with, but they went with it. If that is the way it goes, at least put better work into it. This is the last week before Summerslam.

Meanwhile, Randy Orton is feuding with Rusev. Rusev attacked Orton after his match. Once again, however, I feel like the WWE could have done more with this feud. These two could have had a proper feud, but I feel it was just tossed together the way the WWE handled it. Poor feud development just seems to be a theme for Summerslam this year.

What Is The WWE Doing With Jason Jordan?

The angle involving Kurt Angle and Jason Jordan has not exactly been very good. The big reveal was lackluster. It was certainly not a summer angle that looked like it could shake things up. Some might say it has been even more horrible than that.

This week on Raw, which was in Toronto, Jason Jordan went against a local talent and he certainly did not get a good reaction from the audience. What is the WWE doing with Jason Jordan? Do they want him to look bad? Aside from his wrestling talent and solid physique, this guy does look bad. His mic skills are not great and he is not showing great charisma. You can blame the promos on this being a terrible storyline to work with from the start. The WWE just does not seem to be helping him properly.

One moment, it looks like this guy is showing heelish tendencies and he's going in that direction. Another moment, it looks like he is supposed to be cheered. The WWE needs to decide what they want his character to be and go from there. This sloppiness will leave a lot of fans unsure what to make of him.

I know very well what a tweener is. It is a performer in between being a heel and a face. It is not unusual for a person turning either heel or face to have a tweener character for a while. Moreover, tweener characters are usually interesting. What will they do next? How will they interact with other characters? Thing is, I would say it is too soon to treat Jason Jordan as a tweener. He didn't exactly establish himself in American Alpha very well. Fans need a chance to get to know him, then play with his character. Beyond that, this is just not an entertaining character right now. It is just dull and sloppy. So, if the WWE is thinking tweener, they better think again.

The Revival Out Again

The WWE had a real situation with injuries on Raw a couple months ago. A few key injuries seemed to impact things very much. And it seems to be happening again. I already talked a lot about Bayley's injury and how it impacted the women's division. But there is more to talk about.

A couple months ago, Dash Wilder of The Revival suffered an injury and it ruined the team pretty soon after they just debuted on the main roster. He came back a few weeks ago. It took a while for the WWE to get going with some feud for the team again. Next thing you know, Scott Dawson, the other member of the team, gets injured. He will miss enough time that they are out for Summerslam.

Let's be honest, these are not two very interesting guys. They are tough in the ring and wrestling fans will love them for that, but they have not shown anything to make me believe they will be top stars. But that doesn't mean they should not be given a proper push and given that chance to try to connect with the wider audience. It is just good for the tag division, as well as the two of them.

Some might say these injuries will spell the end of their push. It is not like either guy has proven to be too fragile. These injuries might just be bad luck. They will probably get another chance down the road. If they do lose out on another push, I think it would be more out of other priorities popping up in the tag division down the line than the WWE losing interest in them. In the last year, I have seen tag teams underachieve in connecting with the audience, look like the WWE might give up on them, and still get tag title runs. Anderson & Gallows and American Alpha fall in that category. If you are a Revival fan, there is always a chance they still get a run with the titles.

This injury might be trouble for the tag division. Raw's women's division actually has better depth than the show's tag division. Sheamus & Cesaro are feuding against Ambrose & Rollins, two guys that just recently got back together a couple weeks ago. The Hardys were involved in a feud involving The Revival and Anderson & Gallows. With The Revival out, The Hardys likely will do something else. There were signs that Anderson & Gallows might turn face to help the issue of a lack of genuine, fresh, long-term face teams on Raw. With a heel team out, those two might have to stay heel. Enzo & Big Show might have to remain a team for a while just to give the WWE more options. As it stands, the WWE cannot afford an injury to anyone else in the tag division. They are already relying on guys that are established singles wrestlers for their main title feud. The Hardys are around 40. The worst thing the WWE can do right now is continue their tendency to break up teams.

How The WWE Chose To Handle Bayley's Injury

When I talked about Bayley's injury last week, one of the points I made was that the depth in Raw's women's division was still good. They had various women they could start utilizing in Bayley's absence. When I said that, however, I did not mean the WWE should just take all these women and dump them into matches on Raw.

Last night, they had two triple threat matches to decide the new #1 contender for Alexa Bliss at Summerslam. The winners of those two matches would face each other next week to decide who gets the title shot. It will be Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax.

Why do I dislike the WWE doing this? I do like the idea of tournaments and things like that. But there are various reasons why doing this kind of thing now is not good. First, it leaves the WWE with no time to build a proper feud between Alexa Bliss and the winner of next week's match, likely Sasha Banks. Summerslam is on August 20th. Next week is the last Raw before the PPV.

Go back to the last Raw PPV. Sasha Banks ended up getting the title shot against Alexa Bliss. But the WWE got there in a very poor way. They did not develop Sasha Banks well at all. When she finally did get the title shot, there was only one week left before PPV and the WWE really could not do too much to make the feud interesting. It was just a basic title feud. But there is one reason why I would not complain too much about that back then. I figured this feud would continue past Great Balls Of Fire. It didn't. They went back to Bayley. And now with Bayley injured, Sasha Banks is the logical choice to push, but the WWE is once again limiting the amount of time they will have to work with to make this title feud more interesting.

The second reason I dislike how the WWE handled things is that it really does nothing for the extra women that were involved in these matches. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax was just the likely match even before this week. They should have just gotten it over with and spent Raw next week properly developing Sasha vs. Alexa. And there was no swerve in the results of the triple threats last night. No surprise winner of either match. No Paige return. Nothing interesting. All those extra women were really just fluff.

If you are one of those fans that want to see Emma or Mickie James doing something more than they have been doing, you cannot settle for just seeing them on Raw used like they were. That's nothing. That's not a push. That's not being used in a creative way. Last night isn't going to help them or the other extras, Alicia Fox and Dana Brooke.

The WWE needs more creative depth in Raw's women's division. They need one other storyline besides Alexa Bliss and whatever she is doing. They have teased little things here and there, but they need to stop playing around and just develop some feud or storyline already. Creatively, the title feud is not that creative at all, and there is nothing else going on to talk about. It's just chasing after a title. Very dull. The WWE has to do more than that.

Roman Reigns: The Worst Centerpiece In Decades?

Roman Reigns is supposed to be the guy. He is supposed to be the centerpiece. This is supposed to be the top full-time star of the entire company. When I look at how he has been pushed in the last year, he doesn't look like it.

The WWE spent some time grooming him. You can say negative fan reactions led to his push being stalled. It took him a while to finally win the WWE Championship. Even then, it only lasted a few minutes. His next reign, coming after fans were a little more on his side, only lasted a few weeks. And then his third reign only lasted a few months. He has not regained a top title since that third reign. All he has had is a run with the United States Championship. Not only has he not held a top title since last year, he has not even won a PPV match since Wrestlemania. I ask you, is this how you push a centerpiece?

You can bring up John Cena taking time away from the title and having losing streaks. Thing is, a lot of that has come in recent years, when Cena has now become a part-timer and is no longer the centerpiece. He is not even the centerpiece of Smackdown. And even if you go back to when Cena had these dry periods years ago, it came after Cena had already gotten a number of title reigns and some lengthy title reigns that really defined him. What has been the defining title reign for Roman Reigns? He hasn't had it. And I don't need to say too much about Triple H and Austin during their respective runs at the top. They were certainly pushed better than Reigns.

The WWE can have Roman Reigns go out there and give these promos where he still talks like he's the guy. Commentators can even make it sound like he is the guy. In Vince McMahon's mind, Roman Reigns may even still be the guy. I don't read minds. I read actions. I read how these workers are pushed in relation to each other and over time. And the WWE might be fooling themselves. They have not put the work into Roman Reigns recently. There are some fans that will eat up hype very easily and buy into Roman Reigns just because the WWE tells them to. But there are a lot of fans out there that are going to see that this guy has not been a top Champion in over a year and has not won a big match in months. To make matters worse, he has not really been the star of any great storylines. John Cena was a major focus in many storylines over the years, like the Nexus angle. Roman Reigns and his off-and-on feud with Braun Strowman is not really a creative storyline. Even his Wrestlemania feud with The Undertaker was pretty pathetic. It was so pathetic, I cannot believe that is how The Undertaker's career will end. They are just really failing to present Roman Reigns as a proper centerpiece.

You can say part of the reason for having Roman Reigns not hold the title and lose so much in the last few months is to appease his haters. They don't seem appeased. I see fans talking about this guy like he is overpushed. He hasn't held a top title in over a year. He hasn't won a PPV match in months. He is not even a part of a storyline where he is shoved down your throat. The WWE should not be wasting time trying to please these fans.

If not Roman Reigns, then who? Who is the centerpiece of Raw? Who is being pushed like the centerpiece should? Not Brock Lesnar. He is not around enough to be considered the centerpiece. None of the full-time guys look like the centerpiece. Seth Rollins had a big win against Triple H at Wrestlemania, but he has fizzled out rather easily. No one man looks like the top guy. It is just a juggling act.

Let me bring up Smackdown. Who is the centerpiece there? Once again, I would say no one. John Cena is a part-timer. Randy Orton had a big Wrestlemania win and has been losing at every PPV since. Certainly not Nakamura or Jinder Mahal. No, I have not forgotten AJ Styles. He has gotten a decent push since coming to Smackdown, but if he was the centerpiece, he would not be out of the WWE Championship picture so easily. You can talk about elevating the United States title all you want, but I doubt AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens stands a good chance to close Summerslam. Granted, no Smackdown match seems to stand a chance to close Summerslam. Smackdown does not have a centerpiece.

During the diva era, you would have these dark ages, usually when you had no centerpiece around. Without one person the WWE was interested to build around, they just made do with what they had and went all over the place. In a way, stars were born during dark ages. Lita and Trish were created during the first dark age. AJ Lee was a product of the second dark age.

You can say that the entire company is in a dark age now that they have not had in decades. They have no overall centerpiece. They have no centerpiece on either brand. Why does having a centerpiece matter? Because it makes it easier to be efficient. Once you have one guy you know is your top star, you can just build around him. Ideally, everything else would just fall into place. When you do not have that, then you might just go all over the place and do stupid things. I would say that is exactly what is going on. You have terrible feud development on both brands. Some good workers are just being pushed too fast. A lot of workers feel like they are underachieving. Ratings are obviously poor. Fan reactions are often mediocre or worse. The WWE needs to be more efficient. They need to once again show that they know what they want and know how to go about trying to get it. The WWE is just doing dumb things I never would have expected them to do.

How Goes The Enzo/Cass Drama?

One of the big storylines going on in recent months involves Big Cass turning on Enzo. I already gave reasons why splitting these two was a bad idea. The WWE did it. The storyline is still continuing. Big Show is involved. Let's take it from there.

It has not been a good storyline. And the WWE insists on giving it main-event attention. I know being in the main event these days is really not special. The WWE are cowards when football season comes along and are showing cowardice even when it isn't football season these days. The third hour always has that massive drop, so they don't put what deserves to be closing the show in the final slot. And this storyline with these three guys just does not deserve the attention. You can say Enzo & Cass earned it by becoming a popular act, but not every act that gets popular needs to be main-eventing. Not every good pitcher in baseball is going to be a starter. Some are just best as relievers. Some wrestling acts are just best in the midcard. When you try to take them and turn them into something bigger, you ruin them. The WWE spoiled John Cena in a lot of ways. He was a popular midcard act that is now a polarizing main-eventer. It looks like the WWE is spoiling a popular tag team with this split and storyline.

Big Cass was supposed to be the breakout star in this storyline. He is not that great in the ring. You can say he has a decent look. And his mic skills are not that great. Yes, he gave a very good promo when he first turned on Enzo a couple weeks ago. But he can't just be that guy all the time. There are some situations that just don't call for it. Moreover, it would be nice if he could be entertaining on the mic. Passionate and serious is nice, but there is more to it than that. Cass lacks depth. He lacks that range of emotion. If he has it, he hasn't shown it. Someone like Mickie James has that depth. A lot of fans remember her as the bouncy, happy face diva. But she could also cry when a storyline called for it. She could do serious promos. She can get nasty as a heel. Some of her range doesn't even get appreciated. Cass needs to improve himself, or he might lose this push and just be a jobber to the stars. That is already a possibility for him.

How about Enzo? There are all these rumors about huge backstage heat. I don't care. I am just talking in terms of how he is used creatively and his potential. He is not great in the ring. But he can certainly do a better job on the mic than Cass. And yet, what can they possibly do for him after this storyline with Cass ends? You can speculate on sending him to 205 Live or NXT, but he is not great in the ring. So what does he do there? He needs to be paired with someone, whether as a manager or tag team.

And Big Show? He is in the last stage of his in-ring career. It is kind of sad for him to go out with this kind of storyline. Putting over young talent is admirable and all that, but putting over talent that is being misused and likely not going anywhere is a waste of time. I am not saying Big Show deserves a "Thank You" title run. I am not even saying he should win his final WWE match. But using him better than this would be nice.

Overall, this whole storyline just does not look like it was worth it. It hurt the tag division. It isn't leading to anything too great for anyone involved. It just feels like a waste of time. It might be best for Enzo and Cass to just get back together.

Bayley Injured

During Bayley's match with Nia Jax on Raw, it looked like Bayley had suffered a legitimate shoulder injury. It has now been confirmed by the WWE that Bayley is injured. Assuming Bayley is out for a long period of time, how does this impact things?

The first thing you have to talk about is the #1 contendership. Bayley was supposed to face Alexa Bliss at Summerslam for Raw's Women's Championship. Thankfully, the depth is good. The WWE can just go back to pushing Sasha Banks. I would say Sasha Banks never should have lost the push in the first place. Of course, they can't just hand the title shot to Sasha Banks. They can have her win some match to earn the title shot. She can beat Nia Jax.

Overall, how does the loss of Bayley impact the depth of the Raw women's division? Hopefully, Bayley recovers well and is back soon. Until then, however, there is no shortage of faces. Mickie James and Dana Brooke have just been floating there for weeks now. Dana Brooke is not good in the ring, but the WWE can lean on Mickie James to team with Sasha Banks in tag matches for the next few weeks, or use her as a jobber. I have seen fans completely forget Mickie James is even there. Hopefully, if anything good comes out of something as bad as Bayley getting injured, Mickie James gets more usage.

The other issue to consider is Nia Jax. This is not the first time she has been involved in a match with some scary botches. Just a couple months ago, Charlotte's final match on Raw was against Nia Jax. It wasn't pretty. All the botches cannot be put on Nia Jax. Some botches are the fault of the person executing the move. Some are the fault of the person taking the move. And some are the fault of both individuals. I decided not to make a big deal of Nia Jax back then, since I did not feel she deserved all the blame back then. I still feel you cannot put all the blame on her for what happened this week, but she definitely has to take some of the blame. Moreover, this might be becoming a theme with her. Clumsy botches are one thing. Botches that result in serious injuries are something else.

Nia Jax is not a great worker. She is not that great in the ring. She does not have an appealing look. She does not show any great charisma. The fact that she's not like most girls does not mean anything. There are a lot of women out there that do not have the stereotypical look that manage to be stars. Adele does not have the stereotypical look. But she has a powerful voice and makes music that has helped her become a success. Thing is, you have to be good at what you are doing. Nia Jax is not.

How should the WWE handle Nia Jax going forward? Some say she should go back to NXT. I would not do that. But it is time to hold her accountable. If she cannot clean up her matches and start being smarter, fire her. I know botches will happen now and then, but if another serious botch happens that causes an injury, and it is obvious Nia is at fault, she should just not be getting any TV time, while other women that are better than her in the ring, like Emma, don't get opportunities. A worker like this should not be on the payroll.

Shinsuke Nakamura Vs. John Cena

Some people like to complain about everything. Yes, they sometimes make a good point in their complaints. Some of the time, however, you just have to let some things go. I see a lot of complaints with Shinsuke Nakamura vs. John Cena to decide who faces Jinder Mahal at Summerslam for the WWE Championship.

First, a lot of fans are unhappy that the WWE is wasting this match so soon. This is a dream match for a lot of wrestling fans, and the WWE is hyping it as such. I don't see a problem with it. The WWE still needs to draw in viewers. I will say, however, that thinking this match will draw great numbers is a stretch. Nakamura has not really broken out at all. Could the WWE have spent a little more time developing him so that his first singles match against John Cena might look a little more impressive? It might have been nice. At the very least, it is a fresh main event.

Going by what I just said about Nakamura not breaking out yet, I would say that could be a reason to complain. He did not exactly look like a winner at his last PPV match against Baron Corbin. He didn't lose, but he didn't get a decisive victory. And yet, this is the guy one win away from challenging for the WWE Championship at one of the biggest WWE PPVs of the year. Speaking in terms of momentum, I would not say he deserves to be in this spot. Either just give Cena the title shot or create some other situation for him to win it. I would even say his match against Rusev recently could  have been for a title shot. Remember, Rusev was complaining about wanting a title shot a while ago. That angle was dropped too easily. Nakamura just needs more time and to be developed better. Don't rush him.

Fans are also dreading John Cena beating Nakamura. It does not have to be a burial. Kevin Owens didn't exactly die after he lost his feud to John Cena. In fact, I have seen some fans complain recently about Kevin Owens getting so many needless title reigns. Yes, there is a history of Cena beating people and those people being demoted. But most of those situations are feuds in which the other person was just being built up to put over Cena. They only look great because the WWE wanted them to look great to serve a purpose. Once they were done serving that purpose, demoted. That is not going to happen here. Cena is no longer the centerpiece. And Nakamura has not exactly been developed well to be worth beating and burying. His stock is going up. Even if he loses, the WWE will still push him.

I am more worried about Nakamura winning. He shouldn't. He just debuted on the main roster a couple months ago. He has not been that impressive. Whether the majority of the blame goes to the WWE or him, it is just the way it is. Throwing him into a big push is just unnecessary. He should still be feuding with Baron Corbin. You can say there is no way he wins this match, but the WWE has done things like this in recent years. Some said that there was no way Finn Balor would defeat Roman Reigns last year to go to Summerslam to compete for the Universal Championship. He did. Some said that there was no way Finn Balor would be booked to beat Seth Rollins. He did. Then you have Jinder Mahal. No one could believe the reports when they first came out that he was going to get a title shot. He did. Many did not believe he would actually win the title. He did. Fans want the WWE to push new guys, but I think a lot of these same fans might admit the WWE is getting carried away. Even though it seems like it will not happen, there is still a real chance Shinsuke Nakamura wins this match, or it ends in a way in which both Cena and Nakamura go to face Mahal at Summerslam.

Regardless, I will go with Cena winning. He will face Jinder Mahal. Nakamura will still have options. This one loss won't kill him. I am sure Cena will be putting him over sooner or later.