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.

Seth & Dean Back Together

Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose have been giving fans a mini-Shield reunion in the last few weeks. They have been working together against The Miz and have an angle going that will lead to something.

What will it lead to? Tag Team Championships? The division is rather poor. People are speculating on a heel turn, as well. Not Seth. People are thinking Dean Ambrose might be the one that turns heel. Considering Seth Rollins stabbed him in the back years ago, Dean Ambrose being the one to turn might be a good story.

For whatever reason, the current angle of having Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins work with each other just doesn't seem natural. It seems like both guys should be doing something else right now. It just feels like Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt didn't end right. If both Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe weren't tied up in the Universal Championship feud, either one could go against Ambrose. It just feels like the writers didn't have anything else to do, both with these two individuals and the tag division, and are fixing multiple issues with one angle. It might still lead to an interesting angle, but the development of things just doesn't feel smooth.

Previewing The Great Balls Of Fire 2017 Midcard Matches

Neville defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Akira Tozawa. If Austin Aries couldn't win the title in a million tries, Neville might as well retain here.

Cass takes on Enzo. This was an elaborate storyline. That is a good thing. But they broke up one of the best face teams they had on Raw. That is a bad thing. Cass should be winning this feud, but how long will the feud last? Will the WWE take this to Summerslam? I will say Cass wins this Sunday.

The Hardys get a rematch for the tag titles against Sheamus & Cesaro. This time, it will be a 30-minute Ironman Match. The WWE has really forced this rivalry by extending it like they have and including so many gimmick matches. Have to kill time. Not too many tag teams, especially if the WWE keeps killing them off. Are we really supposed to eventually buy into Titus & Apollo as contenders for the tag titles? Rhyno & Heath Slater are not that interesting anymore. If the heels retain here, what do they move on to? If the faces regain the titles, after retaining against Sheamus & Cesaro to end the feud, they can move on to The Revival. Those guys look terrible right now. That is why I believe The Hardys should be getting the titles back, even though the idea of these two getting so many title runs in just a few months back leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Dean Ambrose gets his rematch for the Intercontinental Championship against Miz. Why does Miz get so many title reigns? Contrary to what fans might chant, no, he does not deserve it. This is his third run with the Intercontinental Championship in the last year. Dean Ambrose doesn't exactly need the title back. And since the WWE has invested a lot in The Miz recently, he is probably keeping the title.

Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt in an overrated feud. They probably would have gotten a better story out of Balor/Wyatt. Seth Rollins will win this feud against Bray Wyatt. Bray is just a jobber to the stars. The question is whether this will be an extended feud or just a 1-PPV thing. If it is extended, they might give Bray Wyatt the win here to give him momentum. If it is a short feud, Rollins wins and Bray can move on to Finn Balor. I will say Rollins wins.

Previewing The Extreme Rules 2017 Undercard Matches

This will be the third try for Austin Aries against Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship. There are some feuds where a great chase to the title would be nice. I felt AJ Styles should have had a chase to his first WWE Championship. TNA had Mickie James take three tries to finally win her first KO title, and her hair was on the line in that match. They raised the bar and made it interesting there, although I wouldn't have waited so long in that situation. Austin Aries is not someone I feel should be chasing after the title like he has. The WWE has shot the Cruiserweight title all over the place since last year. Having Neville hold it for so long is an improvement, but he should be feuding with fresh people, if Austin Aries is not meant to get the title right now.

Who wins this submissions match? I have seen some fans scratching their heads at the cruiserweights doing submissions. Even before this match, a lot of them were busting out submissions. That is not what cruiserweights are known for. High-flying moves are what they are known for. If they are going to wrestle like a lot of other guys on the regular roster, there is nothing special about them. I hear everyone talking about 205 Live not doing well and the cruiserweights frequently getting poor reactions. If they are just normal guys that have not been properly introduced to the main audience, they are going to get poor reactions. I digress. I'll say Austin Aries finally wins the title.

The tag team titles will be defended in a match that is a little more extreme. The Hardys vs. Sheamus & Cesaro inside a steel cage. How have The Hardys been doing? Like a lot of things, they are losing some of their luster. They pretty much need the "Broken" gimmick to appease certain fans. I see fans pointing out Matt Hardy just does not look good in the ring. To them, the "Broken" gimmick at least gives an excuse for his sloppiness that some fans are critical of.

I doubt the title reign ends here for The Hardys. Sheamus and Cesaro are a team that can do fine even if they break up. They do not need another run with the tag titles. They are likely just killing time until The Revival is good to go. I will say The Hardys retain.

I had said that some matches on this card are a little lackluster if you are looking forward to "extreme" matches. For the Intercontinental Championship match, if Dean Ambrose is disqualified, he loses the title to Miz. Not too impressive. Moreover, these two were feuding on Smackdown over the title just a few months ago. They come to Raw and are still feuding for the title. Fresh matches would be nice. And it would be nice if actual midcarders might get in the picture.

Who wins? It seems like a situation where it would be easy for Miz to win. A lot of smarks loved him on Smackdown. But he has lost his luster on Raw. Is there a reason to give him back the title, again? I will say Ambrose retains.

What About Baron Corbin?

There have been a lot of changes on the roster just this month. You have had returns, debuts from NXT, and the trades recently. With that has come some questionable pushes and the failure to push some people properly that might deserve it. I want to talk about another person being underutilized today.

Just a month ago, Baron Corbin was involved in a feud for the Intercontinental Championship with Dean Ambrose. I would have had him win the title at Wrestlemania. That didn't happen. Okay, no problem, just let the feud continue and he will eventually win it. The feud did continue, but then Dean Ambrose got sent to Raw and Baron Corbin lost any opportunity to get the title.

I don't think he can be the next face of the company, but he can be a solid midcarder right now. Midcarders can really help the WWE right now. The answer isn't to bring back guys like Shelton Benjamin and take guys from Impact Wrestling. There are midcarders on the roster now that can be used much better. Baron Corbin is one of them.

He is higher on the ladder than Jinder Mahal, but he was not even in that match last week to decide a new #1 contender. Not only would I have put him in, but if the WWE wants to give a big push to a new guy so much, it should have been in. Instead, he has just been a supporting player in recent weeks in the feud between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens.

The WWE just seems to be in one of those periods where midcarders are not doing well in the midcard. Kevin Owens, a former Universal Champion, is holding one midcard title. He won it from a guy with some World titles to his name, Chris Jericho. Jericho won it from Roman Reigns, a former WWE Champion. AJ Styles, a former WWE Champion, is feuding with Owens now. With the other midcard title, Dean Ambrose, Miz, and Dolph Ziggler are the only really relevant names in recent months. It might be time to let the pure midcarders shine again.

Raw Gets Shook

When the WWE said they were shaking things up, they weren't kidding. A lot more people than I expected moved from Smackdown to Raw. In addition, a lot more of Smackdown's top men moved from Smackdown to Raw.

I would have just had 4 or 5 individuals/teams make the move between brands. One would be a top star. One or two would be midcarders. A female wrestler. And a tag team. Also throw in one or two bodies from NXT. The WWE did about double what I would have done, in terms of numbers.

In terms of some of the names Smackdown loses, the three big ones are Bray Wyatt, Miz (and Maryse), and Dean Ambrose (with the Intercontinental Championship). Now, what makes both of these brands different is obviously how they are run, but certain individuals also help to make the show what it is. It is understandable that not all these individuals will get to stay on the brand they have been in prior to the shake up, but Raw taking so many guys is something.

Bray Wyatt was the WWE Champion just a few weeks ago on Smackdown. I don't think he should ever have lost it to Randy Orton. It is unlikely he wins it back now. I just feel like there was more he could have done on Smackdown. I do not know how likely it is he does these things on Raw.

Miz is a guy that seemed to reinvent himself on Smackdown. He looked like he could be a serious contender for the title again. He never got that serious push for the WWE Championship. On Raw, I doubt he will be getting it anytime soon, especially with Brock Lesnar holding the top title. Even if Brock shows up and Miz is the guy he feuds with, can you imagine that feud? I can't.

Dean Ambrose? Ignore the fact that he has a title for a moment. This seems like a good move. He held the WWE Championship a few months ago, but he really has not done anything fitting of him since then. He did not need a midcard title. He could be refreshed on Raw. I am not going to complain about that. Now throw in the fact that he is Intercontinental Champion. It creates a bit of controversy to have the title switch shows, if that is the path they are going. But I think they will work things out so Smackdown does not get screwed over.

A lot of fans were expecting AJ Styles to be sent to Raw. I don't know if that was based on just speculation based on his heated feud with Shane McMahon, backstage rumors, the WWE intending to do it and changing their mind, or whatever. I say that you should judge people based on the decisions they make, not what they could have decided to do. AJ Styles going to Raw might have been good for the sake of reuniting him with The Club, but some fans also dread that Raw won't feature his character as well as Smackdown does. Either decision the WWE made would have been okay. They chose to keep him on Smackdown, for now.

Smackdown will obviously gain some bodies tonight to balance out what they lost. I will talk about the big names sent there tomorrow, and which brand I think really might benefit from the moves in the long run.

Naomi Gets The Title Back

Of the handful of title changes that happened at Wrestlemania, Smackdown's Women's Championship was one of them. Naomi regained the title. She has already retained it against Alexa Bliss.

I, of course, think this is a terrible booking decision. I said it back when Naomi returned from her injury earlier this year. Before she gets a title reign, she needs to prove she can stay healthy. What happened? The WWE gave her the title in a feud in which she had all the momentum. She pinned Alexa Bliss numerous times. She never even lost a brawl. Just had all the momentum. Oh, and she got injured in the very match she won the title. She had to vacate the title. This is exactly what I was talking about. She came back in time for Wrestlemania, once again having the momentum heading into the big PPV, and she just beats Alexa Bliss again.

When I previewed this match, I said I would have had Alexa Bliss retain and build up a singles feud for her to drop the title. It would have been better. If Naomi was the woman they chose for that feud, fine, but she would still need to clean up her style and stay healthy.

Where has the WWE's standards gone? There are times when the WWE would not be too eager to push someone and fans would say the reason is that person is injury-prone. Wade Barrett is an example of that. I can understand that idea. Why give big pushes to people that might get injured? As far as Barrett goes, I was on his side when he won King of the Ring. The WWE gave him the accolade, then pushed him poorly for a while. Fans brought up the injury excuse. Well, if the WWE didn't want to push him because he might get injured, they shouldn't have given him the accolade. They finally gave him something good to do with The League of Nations. And he got injured. Oh well, that is why you should be cautious with people that get injured a lot. But where has that idea gone?

People are so busy being blinded by Roman Reigns, they often overlook that the WWE has gotten a little lax and careless with their standards. They are doing things these days that you would not expect them to do a couple years ago. Things going on in the women's division are an example of that. You also have people debuting from NXT that really only have smark appeal right now and the WWE is treating them like they are people everyone should know. Outside of Reigns, there are a lot of smark favorites being pushed well, like AJ Styles and Kevin Owens.

There is nothing wrong with having standards. The problem is when you have unfair standards, like treating someone like Cesaro like he has closer to a 0% chance than a 50% chance of ever earning a better career for himself, no matter what he does. There is also an issue with inconsistent standards. You can't say you won't push one guy because he gets injured too much, then push someone else that gets injured just as much. It isn't right. And the WWE's standards these days just seem to be a mess. What is it? Are they lowering their standards? Are the standards just becoming inconsistent? One of the reasons for the poor quality of the product is a failure to uphold a proper standard of excellence, or even just a standard of efficiency.

I just think the WWE has sent a terrible message with how they handled Naomi. Even if she does stay healthy during this title reign, that is not the point. How is it to look at a performer that gets injured multiple times in the span of the year just get pushed this hard in the span of a few months, despite an injury killing that push for a while just a few weeks after returning from an injury? What about those other performers that have managed to stay healthier than that and have been available more often than that injury-plagued performer? That can get annoying. In the men's division, it might not be that big of a deal. There is a lot of room to push multiple men properly, whether a title is involved or not. In the women's division, it is much worse. The WWE has tried to push multiple women consistently, and it just looks ugly more often than not. There are women being underutilized and misused that have to watch Naomi essentially run over the women's division twice after returning from injuries in the span of less than 4 months. She has not lost a match or lost a brawl in any night this year. Why? She's not Goldberg. She's not Finn Balor. Why should she be made to look this good? First things first, stay healthy.

Let me do a slight aside. The Smackdown women's match was initially supposed to be on the pre-show at Wrestlemania. Face it, that's where it belonged. I want to see women used properly, but even I have to admit that this poorly-developed, multi-performer match deserved the pre-show. That is not a knock on these women. That is a knock on how the WWE developed this match. Instead, Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin got bumped down.

Now, I do not usually find it as a big deal if a match is on the pre-show or not. Years ago, throwaway matches that didn't get any real attention at all were there. These days, the WWE does a better job putting more important matches there. But a lot of fans still take it seriously, so I will spend time talking about this.

It is terrible that Dean Ambrose got bumped off the main card. This guy was WWE Champion just a few months ago. He is getting a personal singles feud. He is a pretty popular guy. Just terrible. This doesn't put him on the same level as Mojo Rawley, but you should treat this guy with a little more respect that this.

Even though I am all for women being treated better in the WWE, this whole thing was just terrible. Is feminism about women being treated as equals to men? Or is it about women being treated better than men? I think it is the former. Fans need to realize that the WWE does this to the men. They push certain feuds and certain men better than others. And those ones on the bottom are the ones that constantly get on the pre-show or don't get on the card at all. Ideally, you got to achieve to earn better for yourself. The WWE has to do the work to help you get over with the fans and get your feud over with the fans.

This Smackdown's women's feud did not deserve to take Ambrose/Corbin's spot on the card. No woman in either division is really knocking it out of the park in terms of being the most over performer. Even then, Raw's women's division is the one that has been developed better than Smackdown's. Raw's women's match got better development. Some women actually had to win matches to earn their way into the Wrestlemania match. That is already better than Smackdown's women's match.

If you are just going to say Smackdown's women's division automatically deserves to be featured at the same level as Raw's women's division, you are just giving the WWE the green light to be lazy. They have not put in the proper work into these women. Instead of treating them better and building those better feuds and matches for them that are worthy of being on the same level as Raw's PPV matches, they are just going to stick these messes out there. I have pointed out how inferior Smackdown's women's matches have been treated at the big PPVs since the brand split in comparison to Raw's women's matches. You can overlook Smackdown losing to Raw at Survivor Series, but everything else at Summerslam, the Royal Rumble, and Wrestlemania has been thrown-together multi-woman matches. The fact that the Wrestlemania match was bumped to the main card does not change anything.

Everyone talks about giving the women a chance. What most of those people meant was just treat them better. The WWE has done an inconsistent, poor job at that at times. But if just giving them more match time and booking them on the main card is enough to sucker some of these fans into being content, the WWE will never improve like they need to. These women will never reach their proper potential in this environment and the overall product will not improve.

Wrestlemania 33 Preview: Part 3

Today goes to the Smackdown matches. I will talk about Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt on Friday.

Let me start with the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. It is not Smackdown exclusive, but I will include it here. Big Show is in this. His match with Shaq is not happening. That is sad for Big Show and too bad for the WWE. This match would have been a draw. Even if the actual match was terrible, the hype would get mainstream attention, especially during NBA season, and it would draw. The WWE really has no great feuds likely to draw big this year. As for who wins this, it should be either Braun Strowman or Luke Harper. Both these guys had a lot of interest on them this Wrestlemania season. Many fans might see it as a little disappointing that neither are doing anything more important, I will say Braun Strowman wins.

Dean Ambrose defends the Intercontinental Championship against Baron Corbin. An actual singles match for the Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania? I never thought I would see that again. I am not surprised to see Corbin getting this push, and I expect him to win. But I just feel it should have been Dolph Ziggler in the position Dean Ambrose is currently in. Ziggler had so much momentum when he won the title a few months ago. The WWE ruined that for no good reason and Ziggler is stuck with mediocrity for Wrestlemania. They ruined him. I am not saying it was intentional. They had planted the seeds for a heel turn since his WWE Championship feud with Dean Ambrose, but they should not have gone through with it. Fans have just not reacted to it very well. It should be Ziggler dropping the title to Baron Corbin. Free up Dean Ambrose for a better feud.

John Cena and Nikki Bella take on Miz and Maryse. Before I talk about what this match means for some of the performers, there is speculation that Cena might propose to Nikki after they win. I never thought this would be something I would preview for a match. It would be a huge Wrestlemania moment, but I will just leave that alone. If it happens, it happens.

What does this feud mean for Nikki Bella? This is a periphery angle. It is on the periphery of the title scene. The WWE created all their successful stars during the diva era through the periphery. The only woman during the previous era to get very over without proper periphery angles was Mickie James, and that was not because the WWE wanted it. But I would say this push is once again showing why so many women became stars in the periphery back in the day. Nikki Bella is looking good. She is getting a rub from one of the top stars in the company. She is knocking men around, even if they are jobbers. She is guaranteed a spot on the Wrestlemania card that is not on the pre-show. All these elaborate segments. Big Wrestlemania moment. This is how you push a woman as something special. I wish Mickie James had gotten these type of pushes back in the day, or even now.

Compare it to the mess that is the Smackdown Women's Championship match. It's Alexa Bliss vs. everyone. Naomi just returned. There might still be more women in this match. No one has gotten proper development here. It is just a cluster. This match is on the pre-show and it deserves to be on the pre-show. That is not an insult to these women. That is an insult towards how the WWE has handled the title picture here. No one should feel bad for Nikki Bella not being in this match. She is in a better place.

Does she deserve it? I think so. The WWE put a lot of work into her to make her into a star. She is not absolutely terrible in the ring. She is more over than some fans seem to want to admit. And since the WWE needs more women properly pushed as stars that can get over beyond just the wrestling fans, they should push her well.

What does this feud mean for John Cena? I will say that I feel Cena deserves better than this. When you think of all the big feuds they could have had this Wrestlemania season, Cena vs. The Undertaker was one. Or Cena could have continued his feud with AJ Styles to some sort of gimmick match at Wrestlemania. Or turn Ambrose heel and have him feud with Cena. I already said Dolph Ziggler should be in the spot Ambrose is in. Or a feud with Miz that isn't also about the women in their corner. John Cena will likely win this match, but I feel the feud is better for Nikki Bella than John Cena.

Lastly, AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon. This is another match that really does not need to happen. AJ Styles should be doing better than this. And Shane McMahon does not need to be wrestling every year. Yes, welcome back. You've been gone a long time. That doesn't mean you need to wrestle every Wrestlemania. Whether it is the WWE wanting Shane to wrestle because they think it would draw or it is an ego thing for Shane wanting to go out there and sacrifice his body for cheers and respect, just ease it down. Save it for special occasions, which will hopefully not be forced.

And that is what this feud is, forced. Someone has issues with an authority figure, so they have a match. Stephanie McMahon has had issues with Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Bayley in recent years. No matches ever came of it. You can run down the list of times a wrestler and authority figure have had issues and not wrestled each other. The WWE tried to force this feud through clumsy booking to make it seem like AJ Styles had a heated reason to want to destroy Shane McMahon. Yeah, some nice segments here and there, but it was still forced and not organic. Ignoring the botched battle royal result, AJ Styles wins a match to get a title shot at Wrestlemania, but then the WWE makes him put it on the line against Orton? How often does this happen? Usually, they just make a triple threat or some other situation where both guys get title shots. You would think that is what face authority figures would do. No, the WWE went with clumsy booking to sell this feud. The development has not been smooth.

What should AJ Styles be doing? As I said, he could still be feuding with Cena. And maybe it should have been for the WWE Championship. I have said before that I don't think Orton/Wyatt needs to be for the title. Why not send one of the best feuds of the last few months to Wrestlemania? Or they could have done Styles vs. The Undertaker.  Even Styles vs. Luke Harper might have been good, since it would have given Harper something meaningful and would have been a very good match. There were options.

Who wins? AJ Styles has still yet to win at Wrestlemania. He should have won last year. This should be the year. Shane McMahon does not need the win. As for match quality, Shane McMahon does have a history of going big in big matches. Let's just hope he doesn't injure himself.

Who Should Be Smackdown's Centerpiece?

Last time, I talked about Raw and the centerpiece picture there. You can argue for either Roman Reigns or Seth Rollins being centerpiece over there. What about Smackdown?

You can start by immediately crossing John Cena off the list. He has been the centerpiece of the entire company for a long time. There are a few reasons why he should not, and will not, be the centerpiece of Smackdown. First, he's a part-timer. In terms of title reigns, 2016 was a dead year for Cena. He was injured. He took time off for projects outside the WWE. It seems all he did was put over AJ Styles last year. Besides his part-time status, he is also old. He will be 40 this year. Without even going into his issues connecting with fans over the years, he just does not look like someone you would push as the centerpiece.

He looks like he can really fit that role Shawn Michaels had in his last few years with the WWE. Shawn Michaels still won titles and had some big matches, but he was more of a "special attraction" kind of guy. Other guys were really featured as the centerpiece, whether you want to talk about Triple H or John Cena. John Cena will still be pushed and win titles, but he won't be featured as annoyingly as he has been in previous years. Hopefully, that can lessen some of the complaining. It gets old after a while. Of course, smarks will still complain if he beats AJ Styles for the title.

How about AJ Styles? Should he be centerpiece? Well, John Cena isn't the only one turning 40 in 2017. Brock Lesnar is also reaching the milestone. And Gail Kim. Besides those three, AJ Styles will also be 40. If I brought it up for Cena, I have to bring this issue up for Styles. He doesn't look 40, but he is. He stays relatively healthy, despite his injury issue last month. But with the style he likes to wrestle, you have to wonder how many years he really has.

I am not saying AJ Styles doesn't deserve to be pushed as a main-eventer. He can still be pushed as an A-tier talent. But this is about whom the WWE should groom to be the true central focus of Smackdown. I don't think that's AJ Styles. Aside from his age, the WWE has not done a good job developing him to be a star for the wider audience. They have just put him out there as a great wrestler that has been doing this for a long time and are resting on that. Wrestling fans may be eating it up, but if AJ Styles had been pushed better, maybe he would be helping Smackdown better.

Let me stay on the age issue for a moment. I remember fans complaining when wrestling promotions would rely on old talent. I have seen fans say WCW failed because they started to rely on old talent and didn't groom new stars. When Hulk Hogan, one of the people blamed for WCW's demise, went to TNA, I saw the same complaints again. 40 isn't ancient, but a wrestler at this age is certainly not a youngster anymore. Are we entering another era where older talents are going to be relied on to be top stars? Is that what some wrestling fans want, as long as these old wrestlers know how to wrestle? I don't think so, but the WWE does have to do a better job grooming younger guys.

How about Dean Ambrose? Here's someone that's not yet close to 40. He is a former member of The Shield. His two friends are the top choices to be centerpiece of Raw. Is Dean Ambrose the Smackdown equivalent? He looks like it, but he doesn't really seem that great of a choice. As I have said before, The Shield looked amazing as a group, but none of these guys have achieved their full potential on their own. Dean Ambrose is just one of those guys. Again, I am not saying he should not be a main-eventer, but it just looks like his overness isn't where it should be. A lot of smarks prefer AJ Styles over him. He might have a unique personality that will help him stand out more, something that Styles does not have. Overall, he doesn't look like he should be the centerpiece.

I would say Smackdown should just go without a centerpiece for now. Split the spotlight between the likes of John Cena, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Miz, Dolph Ziggler, and so on. In other words, continue doing what they have been doing. Despite the praise Smackdown gets from smarks, it still has issues. They are efficient, more than Raw is, but they still have to work on their overall atmosphere. Is this a show that wants to please wrestling fans? Is this a show aiming for the wider audience. I don't see a clear identity. They need to build around what they want to be. After that, they can worry about building stars and a centerpiece. Right now, they are really just going with guys that were established for years. All those men I mentioned were getting major pushes even before 2016. In the case of AJ Styles, it came in promotions all over the world. Despite all that praise, can Smackdown make stars and go beyond just pleasing smarks?

Reigns Or Rollins: Who Should Be The Centerpiece?

The WWE is a company that likes to have a centerpiece. They like to have that one guy that will dominate the main spotlight. That does not mean that there won't be a #2 guy that works with the centerpiece and might sometimes get featured ahead of the centerpiece for a while. While John Cena has been the centerpiece of the previous era, Randy Orton was often that #2 guy.

This era obviously belongs to The Shield. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose have dominated the spotlight for the last few years. Ambrose is obviously on Smackdown, along with AJ Styles and John Cena. Looking at Raw, who is the centerpiece there? Reigns or Rollins? Roman Reigns was obviously getting a big push for a while that fans were hating. Seth Rollins then stepped in with endless title matches when he returned last year. When he finally took a break from that, Roman Reigns was once again chasing Raw's top title. Meanwhile, you know Seth Rollins has Triple H looming. That is also a pretty big feud, even if a title is not involved. Is the WWE grooming one of these guys to be the #1 guy and the other to be the #2 guy? Or will they split the top spot between them?

Who should be the centerpiece out of these two? Neither of them is perfect. Roman Reigns has shown signs of overcoming that hatred smarks have for him. But he is still hated. Seth Rollins is better in the ring, but it sometimes is hard to buy into him as a face. It doesn't help that the WWE messed up the storyline involving him and Triple H. Neither of these guys really look like he deserves to be the future top star of the company.

The WWE made a huge investment with The Shield years ago. And this group looked like something amazing. Ever since they split them, however, these guys just do not look nearly as great. They might still have some impressive spots in the ring, including Reigns, but they just do not look like they can work as A+ players as it stands now. The WWE has to be willing to move on to someone else if these guys cannot break out better with their solo careers. That doesn't mean you fire these guys. It doesn't mean you turn them into midcarders. Just give other men a chance to be the centerpiece. After all the work the WWE has put into these guys, I doubt they will be willing to demote any of these guys, even if they should.

Renee Young Gets An Angle

Renee Young has really just been an interviewer/host for most of her time in the WWE. She is dating Dean Ambrose in real life. She is also now a part of Total Divas. She now seems to be doing even more. She has gotten involved in an angle with Miz and Maryse, along with Ambrose.

This is obviously a periphery angle. It seems like it has been a long time since I talked about an angle like this. Renee Young and Maryse are obviously not there for their wrestling ability. This is an angle on the periphery of the major focus of Smackdown's women's division. And there is nothing wrong with angles like this. The diva era produced stars in the periphery. Smackdown has shown a lot of the elements you would expect from the diva era. Alexa Bliss is arguably a diva. She is holding Smackdown's Women's Championship.

Or is this just purely Total Divas shenanigans? Total Divas, much like other WWE programming has been doing not so great in the ratings. Does the WWE feel they need to further promote the individuals on the show and the drama viewers can expect to see on the show? So far, it is at least not getting in the way of the women's feuds wrestling fans might be more interested in.

What does this mean for Maryse? For the most part since coming back, she has been just a valet for her husband, Miz. She would get involved in segments here and there, but storylines never really included her that much. This is a storyline that does put more focus on her. Nothing wrong with that. Maryse has the potential to be a great character. She never put it together during her first run in the WWE to get a proper reaction from the fans, but maybe she will do better this time.

And Renee Young? Back in the day, Lilian Garcia would sometimes get some angles here and there. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't make it a regular thing. It could get annoying. Not everyone that works for the WWE needs to eventually get in the ring. This angle might do some good for Renee Young, but she does not need to become Ambrose's valet. Both can move on after this angle ends.

Previewing The TLC 2016 Main Event

AJ Styles will defend the WWE Championship against Dean Ambrose in a TLC match this Sunday. But the wildcard will be James Ellsworth. He has been involved with these two for the last few weeks.

This can go one of two ways. Either Ellsworth will purposely cost Dean Ambrose the title or he will inadvertently cost Dean Ambrose the title. If it is the latter, you have to start wondering if this will lead to Ambrose eventually turning heel or Ellsworth snapping and turning heel later on. Either way you slice it, AJ Styles is retaining the title, and hopefully moving on to a fresher feud than this one with Ambrose.

Let's say Ellsworth was not a factor and this whole story was just between Styles and Ambrose. Is there a reason to give Ambrose back the title now? I don't think so. I would have waited a little longer to give Styles the title, but he has it now and there is no reason to give it back to the man he beat for the title a few months ago. Styles can move back to his feud with John Cena, when he eventually returns. The WWE might have The Undertaker get a title shot. They might just come up with some filler feud until Styles is ready for something better. Whatever they do, Dean Ambrose doesn't seem to need the title heading into Wrestlemania season. In this new smark-friendly era, the WWE might want to keep the title on Styles a little longer into the new year. Both Styles and Ambrose are favorites of smarks, but Styles is much more a favorite.

Let me do an aside. I recently tried to once again have a discussion with wrestling fans about the career of Mickie James in the WWE. You can see my failed attempt here. I remember one time trying to talk about it on another message board years ago and literally getting a headache trying to get through to "smart" fans. I am trying to have an objective, analytical discussion based on how the women are pushed in relation to each other and over time, and all people can do is repeat the same things people have said in dirtsheet reports and backstage rumors. People ignore what is going on right in front of them. I am not even going to bother trying again.

I started blogging in 2008. I do not plan to be blogging in 2018. I'll stop some time next year. Until then, I still have at least a few more months to go.

James Ellsworth Gets Title Shot Against AJ Styles

James Ellsworth, the chinless local jobber that Braun Strowman squashed weeks ago, has made a few more appearances for the WWE since then. That includes this week on Smackdown. Cocky AJ Styles brought him out for a match. Dean Ambrose ended up being the special guest ref for this match. That led to Ellsworth winning. He will now get a title shot against AJ Styles on Smackdown next week.

Obviously, Dean Ambrose is still in the picture against AJ Styles, while Cena takes his break. James Ellsworth is not going to win the WWE Championship. No need to spend too much time previewing this match.

What about how they have been using James Ellsworth? I think it is a sign of how desperate the WWE has become. Ellsworth is not a quality performer. He's not a guy that got over from spending years in the indies. He's just a guy that caused a little buzz from how he looks.

Despite how the WWE has treated him, Jim Ross frequently defends the company. If I remember correctly, back when the mistreatment of Zack Ryder was still an issue, I believe Jim Ross said Ryder only had a "cult following". He was downplaying his overness. I can agree that Ryder wasn't really A+ over. No one said he needed to be pushed as a main-eventer. But going by that logic and using Ryder as some kind of standard, what can you say about James Ellsworth? He's not even over like Ryder was. I wouldn't even say he has a cult following. He's just someone that got attention for looking and acting awkward. And he's getting a title shot at the most important title on Smackdown? If Zack Ryder had gotten over on his own in this era like he did years ago, the WWE probably would have had no problem handing him an amazing push.

What really annoys me about the situation is that you have a roster full of guys that need to be featured better. It is one thing for full-time talent to take a back seat to part-timers like The Rock and Brock Lesnar. But to sit in the back and watch a guy that was only supposed to be a local jobber get used in multiple segments for a few weeks like this? The WWE needs to do better with what they have. A guy like Apollo Crews flopped. Instead of the WWE spending some time trying to give him a proper opportunity, since this is still only his rookie year, a jobber that just got over for his lack of a chin and awkwardness is getting a push. The WWE didn't even help this guy to get over. But they are just treating him like he's a hit.

Will he draw? Of course not. He's not a star. The WWE shouldn't even bother signing him to a contract. They have proven that they can get workers like him to connect with smarks very easily. Sandow did it. Slater did it. It is not that hard to get Internet fans hooked on something. And it will get chants at live events. Those fans just don't exist in front of their computers. When your full-time workers go through a process to earn that overness, then they deserve at least a fair push. James Ellsworth, as I have said before, only caused some buzz for being awkward. The WWE should spend time developing quality stars. Get to a point where they don't have to rely on high-priced part-timers. Will promoting a title match for next week at least draw? Maybe. It at least stands a better chance than just promoting James Ellsworth.

Since I am on the subject of Smackdown and the WWE Championship, go back to No Mercy. A controversial decision from that PPV was having the WWE Championship match go on first. Many fans speculated why they did that. Would there be some kind of rematch later in the show? Would Ziggler vs. Miz, a heated feud with Ziggler's career on the line, close the show? They went with Orton vs. Wyatt closing the show. I like that feud, but it didn't deserve to main event No Mercy. It seems the WWE really did do that awkward booking because of the presidential debate that same night.

To me, that is just the ultimate act of cowardice. It is obvious the WWE sometimes doesn't put the segment that deserves to close the show in the main-event slot of  Raw, especially during football season. That third hour almost always loses viewers. If the WWE wants people to watch a certain segment, it is better off not at the end of the show.

But this is a PPV we are talking about. Ratings do not matter. What matters is if you got people interested enough to pay to see it. Thanks to the WWE Network, fans can go back whenever they want to watch it. As long as fans are interested in the WWE Championship match, Ziggler/Miz, Orton/Wyatt, or whatever else on the card, they will watch. And if they are already paying the $9.99 for a Raw PPV this month or just a few weeks ago, they are already giving the WWE their money.

It reminds me of December to Dismember a decade ago. It was a flop. Funny thing is, fans were chanting "Change the channel!" at points. For those fans that paid for the PPV, it doesn't really matter. They already paid for the PPV, whether they decide to watch every minute or not.

The WWE just did not need to do it at all. They could have booked the WWE Championship match where it belonged, in the main event. Or they could have went with Ziggler vs. Miz to close the show. It would have at least looked more respectable. The WWE just had to worry about creating hype prior to the PPV. They had all those weeks to do it. And if the little stunt did get a few more people to hand over $9.99, they are also getting Hell in a Cell. The WWE doesn't need to go overboard to try to sell that PPV with any cheap tricks. It being a specialty PPV should be enough. Nevertheless, it was stupid of the WWE to allow the presidential debate to shake them like this. I doubt they really gained much, if anything at all.

Final No Mercy 2016 Preview

Jack Swagger jumped ship to Smackdown and finds himself in a feud with Baron Corbin. This will be the pre-show match for No Mercy. Both of these guys have potential, but Corbin really needs to look a little better in his rookie year. Let him win this.

The tag titles will be defended when Heath Slater & Rhyno face The Usos. Normally, I would say that the person or team that just won a title will obviously retain so soon after the win. But the smart thing to do would be to give the titles to The Usos. Giving the titles to Slater & Rhyno was not a mistake. That angle involving Heath Slater was the best thing going for a while. It deserved the tag titles. But the WWE should not make the same mistake here that they have made with New Day. A lot of teams that had momentum and could have used the tag titles for their own credibility and to create fresher feuds were passed up so New Day can still hold the titles. Heath Slater had his moment. Rhyno is over 40 and got to make history in the wrestling business one more time. The Usos were stale as faces for a while, but have been refreshed since turning heel. There is also the fact that American Alpha is a project the WWE is working on and a feud between them and The Usos might just be a better title feud. It's not like Slater & Rhyno just won the titles and are dropping them immediately. Not even counting house shows, they had a successful title defense on Smackdown against The Ascension. It would be no tragedy if The Usos won, especially while they still had the freshness.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Miz has everyone guessing. I have seen speculation and rumors for every possibility. Some say this feud is obviously building up to Ziggler getting his moment and winning the Intercontinental Championship. Some say Ziggler is really leaving the WWE. Some say he is just taking a break and will be repackaged when he returns. Remember when there was all this speculation and excitement for CM Punk when he got his big push? Would he win the title? Would he leave the WWE with it? That was for the WWE Championship. This is for the Intercontinental Championship. I still feel it is a waste to spend all this emotion just for a midcard title Ziggler has held multiple times. He's not breaking the glass ceiling here. But this has still become a very heated feud. Many fans might say that this is classic booking. You build a heel up to look terrible, the face gets his revenge, and everyone is happy. I would rather see Ziggler lose. I don't hate Ziggler. I don't love Miz. But I just feel Ziggler winning would be kind of dull, and for the same reason I just gave. This is just a midcard version of what they did with CM Punk. It is not as exciting. The WWE has tried to make it heated with these big segments, all the emotion, and everything else, but I just don't care for it as much as others. I would have Miz retain. The WWE, however, might have Ziggler win.

Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt has been one of the more enjoyable feuds for me. That is obviously not the popular smark opinion. Them fans love them some complainin'! If you are a smark and love those "Reality Era" storylines that feature all that complaining and drama based off real events, that's you. Don't mean to offend anyone, but I even joke about myself sometimes, so people should know I am not just being a jerk. I have seen some fans irritated by this feud because it doesn't make sense. They are trying too hard to read into the segments. Why does it need to make sense? The Hardys have been having success these last few months off of a gimmick leading to matches that don't always make sense. Some fans want Bray Wyatt to bring up the history he and Randy Orton have. Orton had punted Bray Wyatt back when he was still Husky Harris. Those fans seem to want this feud to just be Wyatt complaining about Orton doing that to him. I am glad the writers have not gone in that direction. Just feed off of Bray's gimmick. I love that they are having Orton play the same games. Is it possible to still have an intriguing storyline that is not tied to some real-life drama? Here's one that has been doing a pretty good job. As for who wins, Randy Orton has still not won a PPV match in a year. Bray Wyatt has also not had the best win-loss record this year, but he has been on the winning side of some PPV matches. Let Orton finally win a PPV match here. Either way, the feud might likely continue. And smarks might finally see the storyline turn more real and Bray mention getting that punt years ago. Until then, it has been my favorite current storyline.

The WWE Championship will be on the line when AJ Styles defends against John Cena and Dean Ambrose. This feud seems pretty routine. There have been some heated promos. You've seen that a lot these days. I already pointed out that these kind of storylines and segments just don't do it for me. Cena has stuff to do outside the WWE. I hear Ambrose is taking time off to make another movie for the WWE. AJ Styles just won the title a few weeks ago. No need to take it off him so soon. Just to keep talking about this match a little more, who takes the pin? A lot of people are saying Ambrose is just in the match to get pinned. It just seems like this feud will not end with AJ Styles looking so good against Cena. I would say Ambrose does take the pin, leaving Styles/Cena to eventually continue their feud. Cena might be the guy to win the title from Styles at Wrestlemania next year.

AJ Styles Vs. Dean Ambrose Vs. John Cena

AJ Styles won the WWE Championship at Backlash. It wasn't completely clean, but that doesn't really matter. I still say they should have waited. They kind of made it feel rushed. In any case, Dean Ambrose has a rematch coming.

There is more to the story than just that. John Cena came back on Smackdown this week to confront AJ Styles and throw his hat into the ring for the title. John Cena had "disappeared" after losing cleanly to AJ at Summerslam. Cena was never really gone. He showed up here and there, including working house shows. The WWE just tried to sell an angle by having Cena not be around. It gave AJ the free path to feud with Ambrose and get the title. Again, not how I would have handled things, but there you have it. AJ Styles has two faces chasing after him.

Dean Ambrose and John Cena are no strangers to chasing after the same target. A few years ago, both had their eyes set on Seth Rollins. That didn't lead to a triple-threat match. Dean Ambrose won the right to face Rollins first. Cena eventually still got Rollins. That was a heated feud back then, even before Cena was inserted.

I don't feel the title feud between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose was as heated as Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose. And simply tossing back in John Cena doesn't make it that heated, but the WWE gave it a good try on Smackdown this week with that promo involving the three men. There were some exchanges last night that are the kind of stuff smarks will eat up. The WWE has just been relying on that kind of thing too much recently. Certain fans may always love hearing it, but if it is only this self-righteous chatter with nothing big coming of it, the wider audience won't care as much. The WWE has a lot of work to do to draw in those fans and keep them.

Previewing The Top WWE Backlash Matches

Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt is one of the top matches for the first Smackdown-exclusive PPV of the new era, Backlash. There was a time I would have been more hyped for this feud than I am. Even though the WWE has created some interesting segments with this feud, Bray Wyatt feuds have just become disappointing. He talks big, but has really not accomplished anything too interesting. He just floats around.

Who wins at Backlash? I don't think the feud will end at Backlash. With the brand split, they now have limited options for feuds. Ambrose and Styles will likely still be feuding past Sunday. There aren't too many other top guys to work with Wyatt or Orton in a fresh feud. I just get the impression that this will be an extended feud. Orton should win here. He should regain some momentum after being fed to Lesnar at Summerslam. Some people might say that Randy Orton should just be used to put over younger talent. Well, the guy he put over at Summerslam wasn't exactly younger than him. Give Orton a break. He has lost to a lot of guys cleanly in his career. He likely will take a loss to Bray Wyatt eventually, just don't groan at Orton getting one win at Backlash. He hasn't exactly won at a PPV in a while.

The WWE Championship will be decided between Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles. Styles has been in the WWE for less than a year. This will be his fourth PPV match for the WWE Championship in that time. He debuted in the Royal Rumble match, which was for the WWE Championship this year. He had two shots against Roman Reigns for the title. And now Dean Ambrose. Stuck in between those matches were big feuds against Chris Jericho and John Cena. No one can complain that they have underutilized AJ Styles. I think it would have been better if they did slow him down. Yes, he will be 40 next year, but if rushing him doesn't work in connecting him with the wider audience, you have to wonder if spending a few months building his character in the midcard would really have been a tragedy. They have just gone all over with his character. Debut him and treat him like he is so popular. Bring in The Club and work with that aspect of his background for a while. Take away The Club just after a few short months. Throw in a heel turn between all that. What is the wider audience supposed to make of AJ Styles? Wrestling fans already buy into this guy and love. They want to see him win the title. And they eventually will.

I just don't think it should be at Backlash. Let Ambrose retain here. Things just feel a little too rushed, given how there was not much time between Summerslam and this PPV. Give this feud more time. I am sure AJ will win it soon. And then probably back to Cena. Cena has been around, despite the WWE not featuring him on TV. They are obviously selling his loss to Styles at Summeslam. No Cena storyline can end like that. He will come back for Styles, likely when Styles has the WWE Championship. Until then, Ambrose retains here and the feud continues between him and AJ Styles.

Previewing The Summerslam 2016 Main Event Matches

Dean Ambrose defends the WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler. This is face vs. face, but with some heelish tension involved. Who wins the title? Will anyone turn heel?

It is a little sad to see Dolph Ziggler like this. This guy used to be pretty popular at one time. I wouldn't say A+ overness. It wouldn't go away that easily if he was that over. But it does feel like some fans have just gotten tired of him. Moreover, this feud doesn't feel as great as it could have. The WWE might have overestimated Ziggler's appeal right now. Yes, the guy used to be hot, but treating him with such mediocrity over the last year or two has hurt his appeal. The WWE might have expected this feud to be something more. I have seen some fans compare it to Orton/Christian. Fans were really into Christian and people were upset when he was treated so poorly on Smackdown in that title feud. In this title feud, Ziggler is somewhat in the role of Christian. Solid worker that has never gotten a proper main-event push. Feuding against a popular face that has the title. But I don't see as many fans being as into it in the same way they were Orton/Christian. Nevertheless, that is the comparison I saw brought up elsewhere that I wanted to bring up.

Will anyone turn heel? If anyone turns, it will likely be Ziggler. If he does turn heel, like Christian did in that example I brought up, the WWE might also make this an extended feud, much like they did Christian/Orton. I don't think most wrestling fans would be excited for that. You have heel AJ Styles right there on Smackdown. I am sure fans would love to see him move on to a feud with Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship. But the WWE might not end Cena vs. Styles at Summerslam. Bray Wyatt might feud with Orton. Alberto Del Rio won't be seen for a while. I doubt Kane gets a title shot. When you run through the likely possibilities, it just seems like the WWE will continue the feud between Ziggler and Ambrose. And if that happens, someone will pretty much eventually be turning heel. And that would be Ziggler.

Who wins at Summerslam? Dean Ambrose's title reign is still young. The fact that he is still holding it surprises me. I doubt he loses it to Ziggler here, unless they have Ziggler cheat to win to sell the heel turn and Ambrose eventually gets it back. More than likely, Ambrose wins and Ziggler snaps and turns heel. I will say Ambrose retains.

Raw created their own title, the Universal Championship, and Seth Rollins and Finn Balor will be fighting for it. To make things more interesting here, the WWE introduced the "Demon King" gimmick for Balor this week.

This gimmick for Balor is supposed to be nearly unstoppable. It has a creepy vibe to it. Can this be an attempt by the WWE to create another Undertaker? That was supposedly going to be Bray Wyatt, but he is just a jobber to the stars. He is looking like Mick Foley, not like The Undertaker. The only problem with Balor is that he is not a young guy. He might not last decades in the WWE like The Undertaker did. To me, that only means you have to get going with pushing him well now. Build him up to be an attraction.

The worst thing they could do for Balor is go through the motions with him like I have seen them do other workers recently. They shouldn't feature Demon Balor for just a few months, then move on to a "Bullet Club" angle for another few months. The WWE should think about what has the most worth and get the most out of that. And I would say the "Demon King" gimmick has the most worth.

The outcome of this match will come down to which Balor shows up. If mild-mannered Clark Kent shows up, Seth Rollins will likely win. If he changes to his alter ego, which has been treated as tough as Superman, Balor will win the Universal Championship. Why would they debut this new gimmick and just have it job right away? Moreover, why would they debut it on the Raw before Summerslam and not use it for Summerslam? I will say Demon Balor wins the title at Summerslam. That might go against the momentum rule, but it just seems like the best decision and the most logical decision. Take advantage of the potential of this gimmick.

The success of the WWE Network for this period is going to rest on Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton. All the other feuds don't have mass appeal. Ziggler/Ambrose definitely isn't going to draw. Cena/Styles will appeal more to smarks, who are likely already subscribing for other things, like NXT. Finn Balor has potential to be something big, but he just debuted on the main roster a few weeks ago and his "Demon King" gimmick just debuted on the main roster this week. The WWE has built the most hype around Lesnar vs. Orton. Aside from that, the only thing that can help the WWE meet their high subscriber estimates is Mick Foley's hot daughter.

Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar was a feud I would have loved to see a few years ago. Right now? Not so much. They just push Brock to be too dominant. And the story of this match has just been so obvious for weeks now. It has been all about the RKO. They are talking like all Orton has to do is hit the RKO. Many people have kicked out of the RKO over years. Lesnar is definitely one of those guys capable of doing it. And then there will be a whole bunch of shock when he does kick out, Orton won't believe it, eventually get F5ed, and the match will be over. People are also anticipating Lesnar going for the F5 and it getting countered into the RKO. Outside of these big spots and a bunch of suplexes, this match is not interesting.

Throw in a wild card? The WWE teased that Orton and Bray Wyatt might be feuding next. Does that mean Bray interferes here? He also has a history with Lesnar that never got put to rest, so he could attack either guy in this match. I would rather he attacked nobody. This match already looks like it will be pretty predictable, but throwing in Bray Wyatt will just kill the feel of this match just being between Orton and Lesnar. Save starting the feud between Orton and Wyatt for Smackdown next week.

As for the winner of this match, Lesnar.

How Has Smackdown Been For Bray Wyatt So Far?

Bray Wyatt, the guy that seemed like the likely heel to feud against Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship prior to Dolph Ziggler, is still involved in the title picture on Smackdown. With Ambrose and Ziggler, two faces, going at it, it makes sense that they would need some heel supporting players to work with. That would be Wyatt and Rowan.

Bray Wyatt won his feud against New Day last month, giving him some momentum, but now it looks like wasted momentum. The WWE has failed to follow up with him. That seems to be a theme for Bray throughout his career. And he does deserve better than that.

Because he is tied into the feud between Ziggler and Ambrose, he has not been able to develop his own feud for Summerslam. Does that mean he's left off the card? Will he still be pushed into the title match? I don't see that happening. If they wanted to do it, next week is pretty much their last shot to put him in. Just seems too late to do it now. They will likely keep the match and main story between Ambrose and Ziggler. Does Wyatt just interfere in the match at Summerslam? Seems like the only thing left for him, but I want to see where the story between Ziggler and Ambrose is going. Having Wyatt interfere will only prolong things, and possibly lead it to an obvious triple-threat match. And if they wanted to do that kind of match so badly, why not have it for Summerslam in the first place?

If he isn't tied into that match in some way at Summerslam, what is left for him? A throwaway match with Kane? Can't forget that he's still around. It is a shame to see certain individuals that are being underutilized after the brand split. Kane is one of those individuals. If nothing else, the least they could do is a filler match between Kane and Wyatt. Gives Wyatt another PPV win.

The WWE 2016 Preseason

One thing I have said about TNA in the past is that they were stuck in the preseason. The preseason is that time you evaluate your roster, deciding whom you are going to cut and which players get put where in your depth chart, as well as shake off some rust for those players that are already cemented into their spots for the start of the season. TNA just never did a good job sticking with people. They just shuffled talent around too much and it hurt their potential. It is one of the reasons TNA was never able to grow. You don't just ruin the momentum of someone that was working out for you so you can go through the same motions with someone else. Some workers may not like being treated like that and look for an opportunity to leave. And as far as the pay issue, another reason workers leave TNA, if TNA did a better job creating stars and grew as a company, that issue would no longer be a problem.

This is a new era for the WWE. They may not want to admit it, but this is a rebuilding period for them. They have made a number of decisions in previous years that angered their vocal fanbase. They are now being a little more softer in their stance towards what these fans want. I would say it borders pandering in some instances. But you can consider this their preseason. It is not exactly the same as what TNA has been doing, but this is an opportunity for the WWE to evaluate talent and give fair consideration to whom they want their true focal points to be. Let me talk about a few different areas.

First, Raw's main-event scene. Seth Rollins and Finn Balor are feuding for the new Universal Championship. I can understand Brock Lesnar taking the main-event slot last week. Brock Lesnar is Brock Lesnar, even if he does take drugs. But this week? Ending with Rusev vs. Cesaro for the United States Championship? Being a little more realistic, that was really a segment for Roman Reigns, who came out at the end to spear Rusev. Remember when Roman Reigns was in the doghouse? And now he gets multiple segments on Raw and was there at the end of the show. The WWE needs to not overexpose the guy. There have been times when it looked like they were developing the right game plan for the guy. But they messed up by trying to push him too hard. They better not turn this into another one of those instances. For now, just forget about this guy as the centerpiece.

What about Finn Balor? It would be outrageous to think that a guy that just debuted a few weeks ago could be legitimately pushed as the centerpiece of Raw. He probably won't, but he has a better chance of at least winning the Universal Championship. Whether the WWE is serious about pushing him that far or not, they should be doing a better job building him up to Summerslam. He had a nice promo, but then he doesn't get any involvement in the main-event scene. Showcase him as a big deal better. Hype is about more than just the commentators putting you over and being given mic time to put yourself over. Placement on the card is also part of it. And if the WWE is not going to feature him better to help build this feud, they might as well have went with Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns for Summerslam. Leave Balor to face Rusev.

Smackdown's main-event scene is occupied by Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler. Their feud has actually gotten top focus, so far. They have also teased some heel tension. Some fans have said Ambrose sounded like a heel last week. You also had Ziggler beating Bray Wyatt in a shady way. This is the kind of thing they needed to do to make this feud more interesting. A simple face vs. face feud would have been boring.

Moving on to the tag division, let me go back to Anderson & Gallows. I talked about them yesterday and pointed out how these guys just didn't look that interesting now. The WWE had them do a comedy segment to mock Big E's injury. It was the kind of crass humor many people might say Vince McMahon loves. At least the WWE realizes they need to do more to help these guys look interesting. I just don't know if it will really work for them. And the WWE really needs to decide if they want to use that kind of humor. Maybe I would have chuckled at it 15 years ago, but it seems pretty dumb now. Or maybe it was just bad execution by Anderson and Gallows.

Moving on to the women's division, there are issues. Depth is one of the themes when you talk about the preseason in other sports, and depth is a serious theme when you talk about the women's roster. Sasha Banks vs. Dana Brooke again last night. How many times have these two gone at it in the last few months? They made things a little more interesting by adding a stipulation, but the WWE is lacking fresh matches. Depth is terrible. Paige supposedly has injury issues. Sasha Banks seems to have a desire to break her neck diving out of the ring. Kidding aside, what happens if Sasha does get injured, gets in serious trouble for something, suddenly decides to leave the WWE, or something else terrible happens? Who gets pushed as the top face? The WWE really has nobody. They have some other low-tier women on Raw, but they will likely not get pushed seriously. I have said before that the WWE can generate hype just off of their NXT women. If they can't bring them up fast enough, however, they might as well bring back credible jobbers from the diva era. It is not about using them to create hype. It is about creating some fresh matches and providing some cushion should something terrible happen to someone the WWE would rather push.

Smackdown's women's division is not much better. I have said before that there should not be a second women's title for Smackdown. Look at what is happening over at Raw and imagine the same kind of thing happening on Smackdown. Fans would not be happy with Eva Marie being treated as a serious contender. They would also roll their eyes at Nikki Bella being the queen bee of that division. Natalya vs. Becky Lynch is already a match people are sick of. If they just ran Smackdown differently and let it rely more on periphery angles, there would not be as much of a problem. A periphery diva getting injured is usually not going to be the end of the world and as crippling as a Champion or her top challenger getting injured. To put it simply, the WWE needs to add depth to their women's divisions and rethink the systems they are running on either show.

Overall, the WWE is doing a good job in investing more in a lot of people. Even jobbers being fed to Braun Strowman get interview time. But the WWE cannot make the same mistake TNA has made and juggle people around. Use this time to assess who is really doing the best job and who has that long-term potential. The only people who should have their spots relatively safe are guys that have been pushed at the top for over a decade. John Cena won't be ditched easily. Randy Orton won't be ditched easily. Darren Young might. Jinder Mahal might. I would say even guys like Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose should not have their spots locked up. It's way too soon to say that Dean Ambrose should be the long-term centerpiece of Smackdown, and other guys like AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, and Bray Wyatt may deserve a shot at the top spot. Same thing with Rollins. He has been pushed harder for a longer time, but if someone like Finn Balor steps up and does better, give him the top spot. As for the women, if the WWE brings back credible jobbers and one of them does a better job than Sasha Banks and Charlotte, push that woman as the centerpiece. It wouldn't be unfair to those other women. That is what competition is about. Those other women will just have to step up their game and earn the spot back for themselves.

One problem, however, is that a lot of what the WWE is doing costs money. Bringing back all this talent costs money. A lot of people are hyped over the WWE reaching record revenue recently, but they are overlooking costs and expenses. When you take that into account, the WWE isn't really reaching record numbers with the money they are making. This past quarter that featured Wrestlemania, the WWE only netted less than a million dollars after you take into account costs and expenses. The last time the WWE got called out for wasting money, they had a mass release of main roster talent for the first time in a few years. That was in 2014, which ended up still being a down year for the WWE. I would not be surprised if this happens to the WWE, again. And just like in 2014, Jinder Mahal will probably be one of the first to go, again.

In the end, I do not think what the WWE is doing now will last. Most fans like the changes and the freshness of the current product, but things will likely change. What will cause it? The WWE losing money? Ratings plummeting? Serious injuries to key players? Someone the WWE did not intend to get over putting the WWE on the spot, much like Daniel Bryan did? Or will things just naturally fizzle out after a while? The WWE should take this opportunity to build around what works. Yearly releases will probably have to become the norm again, unless they are just signing certain guys likely to go nowhere to short contracts. Because the WWE will need to keep bringing in fresh bodies to help keep things fresh, and they won't be able to afford everyone. If that is the case, this should be a period of assessment.

Dean Ambrose Vs. Dolph Ziggler For Summerslam 2016

With Raw creating its own title, someone on Smackdown had to be chosen to feud with Dean Ambrose over the WWE Championship. Who is it? AJ Styles? John Cena? Bray Wyatt? It's Dolph Ziggler. He won a #1 contender's match.

The first thing that might pop out to you is that Ziggler is a face and this is a face vs. face feud. I will talk about that next, but something else to raise an eyebrow is that Dolph Ziggler hasn't really been pushed well in a long time. He has been a pure midcarder for a long time now. To just toss him into the title picture like this just doesn't seem right.

Ziggler needs to be rebuilt a bit first. He needs a big feud against someone closer to the main-event scene than he was. Once he regains some of that credibility and momentum, then move him to a feud for the WWE Championship.

But how about this being face vs. face? Is it going to remain like that? Or will Ziggler be turning heel? On the one hand, a heel turn would probably add something to the feud. Moreover, you don't want to do face vs. face too much. It can get annoying. Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles was face vs. face for the WWE Championship. Yes, despite his negative reaction, Reigns is a face. And Styles turned heel soon after that feud. On the other hand, I don't think they need a heel turn that badly. AJ Styles is a heel. Bray Wyatt is a heel. Miz, having some main-event credibility from being a former WWE Champion, is a heel that can be pushed higher up the card than he is. And don't forget young talent that they can elevate. A heel turn for Ziggler is just not necessary. So what do you go with? A face vs. face feud that might lack some edge to it? Or a possibly unnecessary heel turn? I would go for the face vs. face feud.

Looking at the two World title feuds, forgetting that they just created a new title, the feuds just look lackluster for the second-biggest PPV of the year. I already talked about how Ziggler has not been a big deal in a while. Dean Ambrose just won the title for the first time a few weeks ago. Seth Rollins isn't a big star, yet. And Finn Balor has wrestling fans on his side, but you can't say much more than that. He's going to draw in subscribers with those NXT fans? The same fans that will be subscribing to the WWE Network already to watch NXT anyway?

The WWE Network got around 1.5 million subscriptions for the previous quarter, which included Wrestlemania. I read somewhere that the WWE is not expecting a big drop for this quarter. I don't know what makes them that confident. Not only was the previous quarter helped by Wrestlemania, but the WWE generated hype with a huge match between The Undertaker and Shane McMahon. They made fans actually think The Undertaker's career was on the line and total control of the WWE was on the line. The WWE proved wins and losses don't matter one night later, but there was still hype there to draw. What is there to sell Summerslam, the biggest PPV of this quarter? I already talked about the title matches. AJ Styles vs. John Cena isn't The Rock vs. John Cena. The WWE will obviously lean on Lesnar, but I am wondering about his ability to draw for them, especially in a mediocre feud, which this feud with Randy Orton is looking like so far. I am not saying numbers will drop below a million, but I wouldn't expect them to do nearly as good as they did for Wrestlemania.