Previewing The Money In The Bank 2017 Men's Ladder Match

Whether the WWE puts the men's briefcase match in the main-event slot or Orton/Mahal, this is the main match of Money In The Bank. It features two guys that were WWE/Universal Champions just a few months ago. It features guys that may very well be on their way up to main-event status. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler.

AJ Styles has already been WWE Champion. But there is more for him to do in the WWE. Will he one day win the Royal Rumble? How about that United States Championship he was going after a few weeks ago? Right now, he has the chance to win the briefcase, which is certainly a pretty big accolade. Some might say he does not need the briefcase to chase after the title because he has already been WWE Champion. That didn't stop John Cena, Kane, Sheamus, and other former World Champions from winning the briefcase. AJ Styles definitely stands a chance.

Kevin Owens has had more title success in the WWE than AJ Styles. He is holding a title right now. He has never won the briefcase. Would the WWE let him hold a title and the briefcase? It could happen. But I just don't think he needs it at all. He was Universal Champion just a few months ago. He won the United States Championship shortly after that. He lost it and won it back. There is no need to always keep this guy in the title scene.

Shinsuke Nakamura just debuted a few months ago to a lot of hype. His debut match was not as great as some would have liked. But he is finding his place. One thing I hate about the WWE these days is that they just rush certain people. They don't give them a proper chance to get established and they do not work out. American Alpha is an example of that. They just handled them the wrong way when they first debuted, killed their push for a while, still gave them a title run, and they have not been featured that well since losing the titles. Go slow with these new guys. Help establish their characters. Pro wrestling should be more about entertaining, not overrating. Will giving Nakamura the briefcase be going too fast with him? Well, it isn't like he will have to cash in immediately. They would still have time to build him, while he holds the briefcase.

I see a lot of people thinking Baron Corbin is a favorite to win. I think that would be a terrible idea. This guy is a midcarder. He is a midcarder that deserves a good push in the midcard, including a midcard title. The problem with giving him the briefcase, and possibly the title, is that they would be rushing too many first-time World Champions. Jinder Mahal just became a first-time WWE Champion a few weeks ago. Nakamura will eventually be a World Champion on the main roster. You are going to end up with main-eventers all over the card. That means less good opportunities for the pure midcarders. And because it often looks pathetic to have a former World Champion hanging around with nothing to do, the WWE will have pressure to give these guys things to do. The WWE needs to slow down on giving titles to new guys and be more selective.

I can repeat a lot of what I just said now for Sami Zayn. He does not need the briefcase and a big main-event push. Give him a midcard title. Worry about a main-event title next year and beyond.

Dolph Ziggler has been a World Champion before and he has won the briefcase before. I would say he is least likely to win here, but at least giving him the push would not be creating a new World Champion. He already has some credibility. Maybe if his storyline about him being a loser had worked out better, this would be the point where they turn things around and started pushing him well again. But I don't think it would be right to do it now.

I will say Shinsuke Nakamura wins. He is not the person I would want to win, but the WWE does have that recent history of rushing people, so I would not be surprised to see him get the briefcase this quickly and eventually cash it in down the road.

One last thing to consider, will the winner of the ladder match cash in that same night? Why bring this up? The card is so thin, the WWE might try something special to take up space. The ladder match would obviously not close the show in this situation. But I don't think it will happen. The WWE will wait a while.

How Did Nakamura Do?

Outside of all the drama with Jinder Mahal, the big story for Backlash was supposed to be Shinsuke Nakamura making his official in-ring debut on the main roster. He faced Dolph Ziggler. He won. That was to be expected. But there is more to it than that. How did he actually look?

Looking around, I see a lot of fans were disappointed by the performance. I am not going to say I watched the match. I didn't. But I can get the sense of what happened from what I see fans saying. They feel it was a lackluster performance from Nakamura. The issue isn't sloppiness or a huge botch ruining the match. The wrong story was just told in the ring. I often talk about the story in a match. Will it be a squash? Will a particular spot come up? Things like that. I didn't really do that for this match. I guess I expected WWE to handle it properly or smarks to not be too demanding with this.

Specifically, I see fans unhappy because they feel the match was too much about Dolph Ziggler or he looked too good. That's the story of a lot of matches. The person that will end up losing looks good, which is supposed to make the other guy look good for overcoming such a tough opponent. Over the years, however, I have seen fans talk like the person on the winning end sucks or doesn't deserve to win. They talk like the loser is the better wrestler. It is just how the match is booked. And this match made Nakamura look too human for some fans.

Should the WWE have made Nakamura look better? Probably. I would be the first person to say that Dolph Ziggler deserves better and the WWE screwed up with him in the last few months. But he's a jobber. That is what he is right now. And if that is what he is right now, he should not get in the way of someone like Nakamura that just debuted. At this point, who cares if Dolph Ziggler looks good or is made to look strong? If the situation calls for him to get squashed, so be it. Preferably, a more competitive match would have been enough. Ziggler can always get a better push somewhere down the road. That has been his entire career, up and down.

Nakamura is obviously not ruined. It took CM Punk time to break out on the main roster. Same with Daniel Bryan. Nakamura already has a strong smark following, but if he is going to break out like these other guys, the WWE will either have to let him do something huge, like CM Punk's pipebomb, or he will have to come up with something that really energizes the fans, like Daniel Bryan's "Yes!" and "No!" chants. Plenty of time for that.

Previewing The Backlash 2017 Main Events

I never thought I would live to see the day that Jinder Mahal was getting a WWE Championship match. It is happening at Backlash this Sunday. He will face Randy Orton.

Is there any good reason for Jinder Mahal to win the title? People can talk about appealing to the Indian market and this being a response to TNA going to India, or whatever along those lines. If the WWE really cared that much, it would not have taken depth problems a decade ago for The Great Khali to get a title reign. The WWE has done some terrible things with title reigns recently, so it is not out of the question that Jinder Mahal gets a title win.

I will say Randy Orton retains the title. Randy Orton has not done anything since winning the title at Wrestlemania. He lost to Bray Wyatt in a non-title match. He now finds himself in this feud with Mahal. Yes, John Cena beat AJ Styles for the title a few months ago, then did nothing with it, except lose it to Bray Wyatt. But there is no good reason to do that here for the sake of Jinder Mahal. I would have given the title back to Bray Wyatt. I have mentioned it before. But if they have kept it on Orton this long, there is still more they can do with him. They can soon turn him heel and have him defend against face AJ Styles or Shinsuke Nakamura.

Speaking of Nakamura, he faces Dolph Ziggler. You would normally not consider this match worthy of being the main event of a PPV, but the WWE does whacky things in the WWE Network Era. A non-title match between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton headlined a PPV last year over a WWE Championship match. Women have main-evented a PPV last year, as well. The WWE might feel this match is more worthy to close the show than the match involving Jinder Mahal.

The WWE has hyped up Nakamura's debut and built up to this match. Aside from house shows and dark matches, he has not had an official match on Smackdown. This is it. I have seen some fans talk like the WWE is testing how much of a draw this guy is by having his debut happen at Backlash. I would not expect too much, but the WWE will likely treat this well and smarks that tend to dominate PPV audiences will likely be very loud for Nakamura.

Is there any reason at all for Dolph Ziggler to win this match? I would say Jinder Mahal has a better chance winning the WWE Championship. Everyone knows Dolph Ziggler is just a stepping stone in this feud. The WWE has done some dumb booking recently, usually to prolong feuds, but there is no reason to prolong this feud. Some fans were unhappy when AJ Styles took his first loss in a singles match just a few weeks after debuting. He still got some wins before that loss to Jericho. I can't say how long Nakamura will be undefeated on the main roster, but there is no reason to start him off with a loss.

Previewing The 2017 Elimination Chamber Men's Matches

First match to talk about will be Dolph Ziggler vs. both Apollo Crews and Kalisto. This might be another instance of the WWE trying to get too fancy with a feud. This match could easily have been just Ziggler vs. Crews. It might not be too interesting, but this PPV is featuring an Elimination Chamber match. That is the big selling point right there.

Or is the WWE planning something more with this match? The odds are against the heel. They could pull a swerve and have Apollo Crews turn heel and help Ziggler win. Ziggler is no stranger to having some muscle at his side. You can also say this heel turn for him has been a bit forced or that he might be trying too hard. Maybe the WWE will give him a sidekick to help him. As for Crews, he hasn't really done anything important in the longest while. A heel turn might at least give him a chance to show a different personality, which might help him.

Who wins this? There are a lot of possibilities and a lot of things to consider. I just brought up the heel turn option. Ziggler is the one being pushed, so he should win. At the same time, two faces would look bad if they lost this match without major shenanigans, although Apollo Crews and Kalisto aren't exactly too important. I will say Ziggler wins.

Randy Orton faces Luke Harper. Forgetting the Royal Rumble win for Orton, this match was just the logical step in the storyline Orton has with Bray Wyatt. Randy Orton drives away Bray's top disciple, then the path is cleared for Orton to turn on Bray. Randy Orton seriously did not need that Royal Rumble win.

Who wins this? I don't see Luke Harper in line to get a huge push moving forward. If he was, I might say he wins this. Since that is not the case, Orton wins.

American Alpha defend the tag titles against The Usos, The Ascension, The Vaudevillains, Breezango, and Heath Slater & Rhyno. Did I miss anyone? The tag division is probably something else I should try to take time out to talk about in this hectic Wrestlemania season. A lot has been going on in the last few weeks, including title changes. Is the WWE making good booking decisions? Are they developing teams properly? Well, there are a bunch of jobbers in this match. The WWE might have done better by just building a feud between American Alpha and The Usos.

I think this match might just come down to those two teams. One of them will win. The title reign of American Alpha is still young, so they should retain here. However, the WWE has had some questionable title changes in the last few months. It's not just with the Cruiserweight Championship. It would be nice to let more of these title reigns develop more. No need for reigns of doom, but a few months and successful title defenses would be nice. I will say American Alpha retain.

And the main event will be John Cena defending the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber against Bray Wyatt, AJ Styles, Miz, Dean Ambrose, and Baron Corbin. There is a lot I would have liked to have said about this match, including running down each of these guys, but I've already talked about a lot today and I'll just save time by talking about three guys. Keep in mind, the winner of this match likely faces the Royal Rumble winner, Randy Orton, unless some huge swerve happens.

If you're going by what Dave Meltzer's sources are telling him, Bray Wyatt is winning the title and facing Randy Orton. I can just end it right here and go make a sandwich. Whether the WWE does it or not, this is a terrible booking decision. It is amazing how the WWE could take what was my favorite storyline going on at one time and ruin it by just trying to do too much. I thought the way they had Randy Orton just join The Wyatts was bad enough, but this was just not a feud that needed to involve Randy Orton winning the Royal Rumble and Bray Wyatt winning the WWE Championship. I am not against Bray Wyatt finally winning a top title, but now is not the time for it.

Look at the incumbent. Look at the guy holding the title heading into the PPV. That would be John Cena. He just won the title a few short weeks ago. I wouldn't be too shocked if he lost it so soon. Moreover, Cena retaining would mean Randy Orton vs. John Cena. They just faced each other in a singles match this week. These two have never faced each other in a singles match at Wrestlemania, but I think a lot of fans can live with not seeing it. Going in this direction would also put the Orton/Wyatt angle in an interesting position. What happens there?

The last name I will bring up is AJ Styles. He held the title prior to Cena. A feud and match between Randy Orton and AJ Styles would be fresh and something I have seen some fans interested in. The main problem here is that it would ruin the Orton/Wyatt feud. I can have an easier time imagining Orton vs. Cena with Bray Wyatt hovering in the background than Orton vs. Styles with Bray Wyatt hovering in the background.

Who wins this? Because of all the crappy possibilities, I am not even going to take this seriously. I'll say Jinder Mahal beats up Baron Corbin before the match, takes his spot, and wins the title. Randy Orton just should not have won the Royal Rumble. I am a fan of Randy Orton. I don't own a lot of wrestling merchandise, but Randy Orton is one of the guys I have bought merchandise of. But it is just hard to get excited for this push for him when so many epic feuds could have been built with someone else winning the Royal Rumble. I would rather see John Cena vs. The Undertaker at Wrestlemania for the title. The feud between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton just didn't need all this.

On The Ziggler Heel Turn

Dolph Ziggler turned heel recently. I didn't get around to talk about it. This week, they brought in Jerry Lawler to help sell the new heel Ziggler. The segment got edgy. Some might say it got offensive. I am going to talk about that angle, then the overall Ziggler heel turn.

Did they need to bring up that Jerry Lawler had a heart attack? I think the WWE sometimes relies too much on real-life issues for storylines and segments. They can sometimes go to a very sour, seedy place that just isn't entertaining. Even if they do have the okay of the people involved to go with it, it doesn't always make it right. The WWE has sometimes used death of wrestlers or family members of wrestlers for an angle. Even if the family of the deceased individual is fine with it, does that mean there might not have been some other viewers that lost loved ones that might find the segment hard to watch? When the WWE humiliated Mickie James for how she looked, I noticed videos on Youtube that would defend her. I remember one video where a girl said she hated that storyline because she has struggled with her own weight. The WWE just turns some fans off with this kind of stuff. Not only do you have to question the ability of these storylines to draw, you have to question if you might be losing some of your audience that just don't like this kind of thing.

That being said, I think the WWE has done worse than what they did last night. I don't think it was as offensive to any group as certain other things the WWE has done. Ziggler attacking Lawler is also nothing to get too upset about. He still wrestles. I remember when some people got upset when the WWE put Mae Young in a match. Considering she was over 80 at the time and looked like she could really get hurt just taking a roll up, they might have a reason to get upset. Lawler isn't that old. Overall, I won't criticize this one segment too much. But the WWE better not make a habit out of this kind of thing.

But let me just do an aside and mention one exception to what I just said about not liking the WWE relying on reality for storylines. I wouldn't mind if they ever did run a storyline that admitted that they never intended for Mickie James to get over and never gave her the career she should have gotten back then. I wouldn't mind Mickie James giving that self-righteous speech. It is not unprecedented. They let CM Punk sit on the stage and spit some reality. That big push Daniel Bryan got a couple years ago that turned him into an icon was based on the WWE legitimately not wanting to push him the way he deserved and fans wanted to see him be pushed. I don't think this would even really have to be a seedy, sour storyline that I just mentioned are not that great. How can you have a women's revolution without acknowledging that a major problem that existed in the men's division also existed in the women's division? People talk like the only issue was short matches and the WWE not giving the women proper treatment. The problem was deeper than that and it never got acknowledged. This is what caused the respectable years of the diva era to collapse. I think it would be good for Mickie James, the women's division in general, and might be even more empowering for some fans.

Onto the Ziggler heel turn. Go back a few months. Dolph Ziggler was involved in a heated feud with Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship. It looked like Ziggler might turn heel. He did not. A while after that, Ziggler got an even more heated feud with Miz for the Intercontinental Championship. All that emotion led to him winning the title, but then he lost it back to Miz soon after. A little while after that, he failed once again to win the WWE Championship. And the heel turn came soon after.

What took them so long? With the brand split back, they are obviously going to drag certain things out, which you have seen them do on both shows already, but I think this just did not work right. This angle was obviously at its peak when Ziggler was so emotional about beating Miz for the Intercontinental Championship. Losing it back so soon was obviously the breaking point. And then you have to throw in the rematch. Why not turn him heel right after that? Ideally, they might have even tried doing it even before all that, possibly when he lost the title back to Miz and wouldn't be able to face Sami Zayn at Survivor Series. It would be nice to do it near when the emotion was at its peak. Waiting as long as they did, I don't think the heel turn had as much bite to it as it could have, ignoring what they just did this week to help Ziggler look more heelish.

It looks like they were going for the kind of thing they did with Christian a number of years ago on Smackdown. Christian finally won the World's Heavyweight Championship. It was a great moment for Christian. And along comes Randy Orton to win it soon after that moment. That left a lot of fans dejected. It became a real issue. Christian turned heel. Christian would regain the title from Orton, but in a cheap fashion and lose it right back to Orton. You can consider that whole situation as a precursor to the Daniel Bryan situation I mentioned before. The WWE got away with what they did to Christian, but had a much tougher time with Daniel Bryan.

What happened with Dolph Ziggler obviously failed to reach the heights of what happened with Daniel Bryan. Fans aren't going crazy for Ziggler to get back in the WWE Championship picture, or even get back the Intercontinental Championship. I would say this angle also failed to reach the level of what they had with Christian a few years ago. I am not going to compare Ziggler to Christian and analyze their situations too much. Both are guys wrestling fans can respect. Both have not been pushed as true A or A+ players. But as far as why this recent push for Ziggler didn't have that same feel to it, I think one of the main reasons is the development. As I mentioned before, they waited too long. Does the fact that Ziggler put all that emotion just for a midcard title matter? I don't think so. The emotion was still strong. But no one really feels like Ziggler was screwed the way they felt Christian was back in the day. If they made Ziggler look like he was more of a victim of the status quo, maybe it would have been different. Of course, I am not a fan of using those kind of storylines too much. Only on special occasions.

Something to keep in mind whenever there is a heel turn is depth. I talked about it with Mickie James coming back as a heel. I talked about it with Sasha Banks potentially going heel. I have to talk about it here. The depth in the men's division is obviously better overall than the women's division, even with the brand split. But Ziggler is an important player. He is an upper-midcarder that has been leaning more towards the main-event scene than the midcard recently. Who are the top faces now? John Cena, Dean Ambrose, and that is pretty much it. Top heels? AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, and Miz. Randy Orton is interesting. He is a face in heel's clothing. This angle is obviously trending towards him turning on Bray Wyatt. Until then, however, he is a heel. That is how he is booked. Until he does turn, there are not a lot of top faces. Baron Corbin's stock has gone up in recent weeks. He is a heel. You can talk about Kane, but he is not used that well anymore. Just in terms of depth, I don't think they should have turned Ziggler heel. Not now. Problem is, the long wait would probably hurt the potential of the heel turn even more. Smarks typically love heels. Smackdown is preferred over Raw by smarks. But you have to wonder what the WWE is doing when you look at the depth. Of course, this is Royal Rumble season. Things usually get mixed together around now. But they do have to put some practical thought into what they are doing eventually.

Previewing Smackdown's Wild Card Finals

Some fans have said that tonight's Smackdown is like a PPV. I am all for Smackdown having special episodes, but here is another weird name to go with. In any case, I will be looking at the announced title matches. I will not talk about John Cena returning.

The tag titles are on the line. With Zack Ryder injured, the WWE has decided to go with three teams challenging The Wyatts. The Usos, American Alpha, and Rhyno & Heath Slater are getting the shot. What will decide who wins is whether or not the WWE is ready to go anywhere with the storyline between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. They might just carry this story all the way to Wrestlemania. I doubt Orton turns on Bray Wyatt tonight. I also doubt they do anything to split Luke Harper from Bray Wyatt, which is another point you can expect this storyline to reach. Until they get to all that, the tag titles are likely not going anywhere. The Wyatts retain.

Alexa Bliss defends the Smackdown Women's Championship against Becky Lynch. Common sense might say that Alexa Bliss retains. She just won the title not too long ago. Becky Lynch seems to have the momentum heading into this match. But you can never tell these days with how the WWE treats title reigns. Everything is about history, whether that means long title reigns or juggling titles around to inflate the number of reigns. If they want this special episode of Smackdown to have a title change, I feel like this is the one that changes hands. But I will say Alexa Bliss retains.

AJ Styles is back in the ring after his injury and making up for lost time. He knocked off James Ellsworth last week. Tonight, he faces Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin. Baron Corbin? Where did he come from? I am all for other people on the card getting title pushes, and it looked like they were building Corbin up for a push, but the build up for this match just feels awkward. A lot of people praise Smackdown's writing and booking, but this show is still far from perfect. On the other hand, I don't mind little things like this now and then to shake things up. I just hope that is what they are doing. Don't make this kind of booking the norm. This is not how you build proper feuds. In just the few weeks since moving on from Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles has had to deal with James Ellsworth, Dolph Ziggler, and now Baron Corbin. Is it all filler? Or are they building something here? Oh, and as for who wins, AJ Styles.

Previewing The TLC 2016 Undercard

Before I talk about the men's matches, let me update something I talked about yesterday. When talking about the women's matches, I said Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch should have a stipulation for TLC. Later that day on Smackdown, they made it a tables match. Good move. It still feels like Smackdown needs to catch up with Raw's women's division, but this is a start.

Moving on to the men's matches, Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin is a feud I like. It is a non-title midcard feud. No former World Champions involved. It is pure midcarder vs. midcarder. I like how it has been treated these past few weeks. And it is a chairs match. The WWE could use good midcard feuds outside the title picture. As for who wins, Corbin is the one that seems to be on the rise.

Dolph Ziggler lost the Intercontinental Championship back to The Miz a few weeks ago and gets a rematch. It is a ladder match. I hate how the WWE has been tossing certain titles around recently. Remember how much emotion there was in Ziggler's title hunt these last few months. Then there was the big payoff when he finally won the Intercontinental Championship. You can't toss the title around like this and expect the fans to always be as emotionally involved. I was all for Ziggler heading into Survivor Series to defend against Sami Zayn. That did not happen. Now what? Toss the title back on Ziggler. That seems like what the WWE might do, but I don't like it. Build up your Champions to look good before losing the title. I don't mean that everyone needs to have a title reign of doom like New Day, but some of these title reigns just don't get a chance to get established before it comes to an end, and ending at the hands of the person that was just beaten for the title. I am not saying this kind of booking should never be done. You don't want to become formulaic, but this is just too much. I don't think it really adds anything to the feud or storyline. The WWE is just forcing things to be extended because of the brand split. Anyway, I would say Ziggler gets back the title and eventually drops it off to Baron Corbin.

The tag titles will be decided when Heath Slater and Rhyno defend against Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. Bray Wyatt has been on the main roster for years and has never won a title. If he wins it here, however, it will be more about furthering a storyline than really putting him over. When will Randy Orton strike and turn on Bray Wyatt? One possibility is obviously to have Orton cost Wyatt the tag titles this Sunday. I do not think that is the way things will go. Have Orton help Wyatt win the tag titles, further proving his loyalty to him. Once Wyatt is manipulated to truly think he and Orton are partners, then Orton strikes. This storyline has not been set up as smoothly as it could have, but there is still potential to do something interesting heading forward.

Survivor Series 2016 Preview: Part 3

I'll start with the Survivor Series elimination match featuring the tag division. A whole lot of bodies will be in this match. It might turn into a spotfest. I don't expect this to be match of the night. I'll say Smackdown's team wins this one.

I previewed the Intercontinental Championship match already, but there has been a change. Miz regained the title on Smackdown this week, so he will face Sami Zayn at Survivor Series. That is some really crappy booking. I did not even expect them to pull this. They better have a very good reason, like Ziggler has some injury, is suspended, or something like that. Yes, it is unfair to Dolph Ziggler. He just had his big moment of 2016 and it ended up being not much more than a moment, much like what happened with Daniel Bryan years ago. But it's more than that. Ziggler was the one that got this whole angle going, in terms of kayfabe. To take him out of this match like this is just terrible. And from the standpoint of match quality, I was expecting Ziggler vs. Zayn to possibly steal the show. Miz might still have a good match with Zayn, but not as good as Ziggler would have had with Zayn. I will stick with my previous prediction of Zayn winning the title.

Onto the elimination tag match that really matters. Team Smackdown will be represented by AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, and Shane McMahon. Team Raw will be represented by Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Chris Jericho, and Braun Strowman. This is the match with all the top stars. And it also features a lot of infighting. AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose have obviously been feuding. Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt have been playing mind games with each other for months. Kevin Owens has issues with a few guys on his team. You've been seeing these guys attacking each other in recent weeks, then being forced to tag with each other. This dysfunctional booking has just not been that entertaining and takes away from the overall Raw vs. Smackdown story. The WWE should be glad they have Lesnar vs. Goldberg to lean on. Without that match, I don't think this Survivor Series would be good enough to draw subscriptions. I am not saying a little tension is bad in this situation, but the WWE has just handled things in a completely dysfunctional way that is not that great.

Which team wins? It is a shame nothing is on the line. We know which team The Undertaker wants to win. And I'll say Team Smackdown does win and wins the brand "war" for 2016. Kalisto and Sami Zayn winning their respective title matches will give Raw and Smackdown each one win. The women's elimination tag match will go to Raw. The tag division elimination tag match will go to Smackdown. And this match here will decide the overall victorious brand. Again, I'll go with Smackdown.

Survivor Series 2016 Preview: Part 1

With the exception of Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Survivor Series is all about Raw vs. Smackdown. The multi-person tag matches revolve around that theme. Even the two title matches revolve around that theme. I will talk about those two title matches today. I will also get into a side effect of this Raw vs. Smackdown theme.

With all this inter-brand fighting that is supposed to be happening, that has impacted the feuds going on for each brand. Or has it? You have still seen those issues the last few weeks. In a lot of cases, people on the same team have been fighting each other these last few weeks. These personal issues will obviously boil over at Survivor Series, but it seems to be a bigger issue at times than the actual Raw vs. Smackdown rivalry.

I do not like what is going on. Of course, it is somewhat unavoidable. The Raw and Smackdown superstars have not been appearing on both brands to help push these matches properly. So what are you supposed to do to kill time? If all these wrestlers acted like they really were on the same page as their team members, would there even be any matches? Certainly not many.

It just makes it hard to buy into the Raw vs. Smackdown rivalry. Both brands just look dysfunctional. Dysfunctional behavior was one of the irritating things about The Authority. They just looked terrible and hard to get into with how there would be this inconsistent unofficial feud within the group. Hopefully, this will just end this Sunday and everyone can move on.

What is something the WWE could have done to keep things fresh while still protecting what the common goal of these teams should be? Aside from having some guys from the other brand show up for singles matches or traditional 2-on-2 tag matches, they could have done some feuds exclusive to just Raw and Smackdown. Have some feuds that don't revolve around Raw vs. Smackdown. I am not talking about Lesnar vs. Goldberg. Those two part-timers aren't going to help since they don't wrestle on Raw. And I am not talking about lower-midcard filler with the likes of Bo Dallas. I mean meaningful feuds that would lead to a match at Survivor Series. The focus of these feuds would be clear. There would still be some infighting with some of these teams, but it wouldn't permeate the shows like I feel it has.

Onto the matches. Brian Kendrick defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Kalisto and Dolph Ziggler defends the Intercontinental Championship against Sami Zayn. Not only can titles change hands, they can change brands.

If one title changes hands, it just seems obvious that the other will change hands. I cannot imagine Smackdown ending up with two titles. They don't have space for it. They also are getting all those cruiserweights. Moreover, that just leaves Raw at a huge disadvantage. The whole point of having the cruiserweight division on Raw is that they had that extra hour they needed to fill. The cruiserweight division just made it easier, although they were doing okay in the few weeks prior to the division being born. I also cannot see Raw ending up with two titles. That would be unfair to Smackdown.

The titles will either stay where they are or switch shows. I think there is a good chance the switch happens. People have been talking about unifying certain titles. I will talk about that if the titles actually switch brands and Raw ends up with the two midcard singles titles. Until then, Zayn wins the Intercontinental Championship and Kalisto wins the Cruiserweight Championship.

Brian Kendrick Vs. Kalisto For The Cruiserweight Championship At Survivor Series

Ziggler/Zayn won't be the only inter-brand match for a title at Survivor Series. Brian Kendrick will defend his Cruiserweight Championship against Smackdown's Kalisto. To sweeten the pot, if Kalisto wins, the division goes over to Smackdown.

There is a very real chance this move can happen. Tuesday is becoming a cruiserweight night. It would help if the cruiserweights were on Smackdown. I don't like how these guys in this division are treated like they are chained to it, but that's another issue. It is still a big shake up.

If this title changes shows, I think there is a good chance the Intercontinental Championship changes shows to balance things out. Sami Zayn can win it and actually take it to Raw, instead of coming over to Smackdown. There is still some time to see how things progress and to put more speculation into all the possibilities. I would say the WWE has created an intriguing situation here.

Sami Zayn Gets The Shot At Dolph Ziggler At Survivor Series

The WWE is running an angle where Dolph Ziggler would defend his Intercontinental title against someone on Raw at Survivor Series. They settled it on Raw this week. Sami Zayn beat Rusev to get the title shot. I already talked about whether Rusev should get this push, so I won't talk about that again. Let me look at some other issues.

First, it is kind of lackluster to announce an open challenge and not really make it a surprise by having someone answer the call at Survivor Series. Regardless of whether it was Zayn, Rusev, or someone else, the WWE could have just had that person show up at Survivor Series. Build up some hype on which Raw superstar it would be. The way the WWE handled things, there is no surprise value in this angle anymore.

How about the decision to give Sami Zayn this push? Not a bad idea. He has been lost in the shuffle for a while, lacking a clear direction. He beat Kevin Owens and ended up like this. Pretty sad. I think he needs this push now more than Rusev does.

Is this a way to get Sami Zayn over to Smackdown, where he is likely to be used better? With the cruiserweights on Raw, that means just less time for certain people. Zayn might get a better chance to be featured well on Smackdown, where they still rely on tag teams that were relevant decades ago and chinless jobbers to fill out their roster.

On the other side of that, this match could just be fan service for wrestling fans. Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler are two guys capable of putting on the match of the night. Some people consider one of the matches Zayn and Owens had this year to be match of the year. Ziggler arguably had a match of the year with Daniel Bryan a few years ago. Zayn and Ziggler could steal the show at Survivor Series.

Let me go back to the point I made about keeping this open challenge a surprise until Survivor Series. Combine that with Sami Zayn being lost in the shuffle on Raw. They could have turned that into an angle. Let Zayn get frustrated at losing or being left off cards. The WWE would obviously be telegraphing who the "surprise" challenger would be, but there would be a story there that would culminate at Survivor Series. The way they handled things, the story isn't as great.

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.

Is This The End For Dolph Ziggler?

For a show that is an hour shorter than Raw, Smackdown has as many big storylines going right now as you would expect Raw to have. You have the WWE Championship feud and Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton. Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler is also continuing, and it has picked up more interest lately.

This week on Smackdown, it was announced that these two will go at it for the Intercontinental Championship again. This time, at No Mercy, Ziggler's career will also be on the line. That should grab some people's attention.

Is Dolph Ziggler leaving the WWE? There is a ton of speculation that this could be a real situation. Ziggler had the opportunity to leave last year and stayed. Is he unhappy so soon? I think Ziggler does have the potential to deserve to be pushed better, but there just comes a time when you have to move on if you are not happy. I do not know what the WWE promised Ziggler last year to get him to stay. I don't know if the WWE not treating Ziggler the way he expected to be treated might be a reason for him possibly wanting to leave again. But why waste so much emotion just to get the Intercontinental Championship? Ziggler has been stuck in the midcard for most of his career. He has given these heated promos in recent years about deserving better. If he really feels he deserves better, I don't see why he should settle for another run with the Intercontinental Championship. This is just more of the same. After a while, it just sounds like whining and the whining isn't getting him anywhere. Just leave.

If this is just a heated angle designed to draw in the audience, it will likely only have a big impact on smarks. And how many of them still care that much about Ziggler? I don't like angles like this. It isn't just because they blur the line between what is real and what is not or exploit real things going on for the sake of storylines, but because I usually do not find them that entertaining. It's just a whole lot of self-righteous complaining. And most of the men and women doing it aren't even as good on the mic as CM Punk. It is refreshing here and there, but the WWE has just relied on it too much in recent years. It loses some of that value. Pro wrestling is supposed to be about entertaining. That is why I prefer the kind of storyline you have between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. They are taking a guy with a unique gimmick and using that gimmick for the sake of a storyline and interesting segments. What is Ziggler's gimmick? Complainer? Yeah, Miz was also doing that recently. A lot of guys do that. What about interesting segments? Complaining on the mic and putting yourself over? Once again, a lot of guys do that these days. Less of that bitterness would be nice. Do something fun. Do something that is not tied to any seedy real-life drama. Stop making creative decisions aimed at smarks and start thinking about entertaining the wider audience.

Previewing The Backlash 2016 Undercard

The tag tournament to crown the inaugural Smackdown Tag Team Champions has gotten a bit muddled. It looked like it would be American Alpha vs. Rhyno and Heath Slater at Backlash to crown the new Champions. The Usos turned heel and attacked American Alpha. Due to an injury angle, American Alpha is out and a new match will occur this Sunday to see who faces Rhyno and Slater. The Usos and Hype Bros now get another shot at the titles.

Let me start with this new match. Who wins between The Usos and Ryder & Mojo? This tournament just felt too face-friendly in the final rounds. I am glad that The Usos turned heel. And since Rhyno and Slater are faces, why wouldn't The Usos win this match?

Who wins the tag titles? A contract for Heath Slater is also on the line. It is obvious Rhyno and Slater should win. This is one of the most entertaining acts in the WWE right now. I talked about last time what kind of person should be the first to hold a new title. You have to either be very over, have already been getting a great career, or be someone the company is likely to follow up with properly and give that great career to after the big win. A lot of fans have been enjoying Heath Slater. A guy that has been mostly a lower-midcarder is usually not a good choice to make history like this, but he is pretty over now and it would make for a good storyline. Speaking of storylines, the only way I can see the face team losing is if Rhyno turns on Slater and the story turns to Heath Slater having to beat Rhyno for a contract, which he eventually does. It could happen, but I would rather it didn't. If Rhyno does win the tag titles, even if it is just a short reign, wouldn't that be something? He wins it, but The Dudleys never did in their recent run?

Onto the Intercontinental Championship feud between Miz and Dolph Ziggler. The big story for Miz these last few weeks has been what he said to Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack. The WWE has just been selling this idea this week that Miz is a coward. That is just terrible. After Miz stood up for himself and gave Daniel Bryan a verbal stomping, this all just looks bad. This has nothing to do with disliking Daniel Bryan, liking Miz, or any combination of that. I am not a huge fan of either of the two guys, although I can respect them. But why should Miz be made to look so pathetic? If you don't want this story to be about Daniel Bryan being bullied, that's fine. If the WWE won't let Daniel Bryan get in the ring to shut Miz up that way, it shouldn't be about pushing around Daniel Bryan. But Miz's character looked so strong two weeks ago. People speculated if this could be his ticket back into the main-event scene. And the WWE has let it all crumble to Miz being afraid to fight. That's no better than the angle Kevin Owens had last year where he walked out of matches. Given the hype Miz had around him, this is a poor way to follow up.

Onto the actual match, Miz should retain. Attention is still on him. Dolph Ziggler is just there. He is another guy I think they dropped the ball on, in terms of storylines. He had a heated storyline with Dean Ambrose, failed to win the title, failed to beat AJ Styles after that, and just keeps on coasting on. They should have done some kind of angle where he snapped and turned heel. I am not even sure it will happen if he loses to Miz this Sunday. He will probably just keep coasting on to something else.

Miz Takes A Shot At Daniel Bryan, Gets Dolph Ziggler

Last week on Talking Smack, the little talk show segment that follows Smackdown, The Miz and Daniel Bryan had a heated exchange that got many fans excited. I didn't get to talk about it last week. There were a lot of other things to talk about. Since the WWE followed up with it to some degree this week, I might as well bring it up.

Honestly, I did not see the big deal. Daniel Bryan was talking some smack to Miz. Some people might say it was just kayfabe and Miz took it too far. Well, Daniel Bryan was starting to shoot on the "safe" WWE style and criticized Miz as someone that was afraid to get hit. Daniel Bryan pretty much left himself wide open to get owned. And he said it to someone like Miz, who is great on the mic. Put those two things together. What did people think might happen? Why wouldn't Miz remind Daniel Bryan of the fact that he banged himself up to the point that the WWE didn't want to let him wrestle anymore? Why should Miz let himself lose a war of words to Daniel Bryan over something that Miz can definitely hit back on and hit back in a hard way? Miz's great mic skills are pretty much one of the reasons this segment was so newsworthy.

Another reason it was so newsworthy was the guy being verbally stomped was Daniel Bryan. Everyone remembers when the WWE tried to treat this guy as a B+ player a few years ago. It backfired to an unbelievable level. Daniel Bryan has become a legend in pro wrestling. Miz berating him like he did was going to get a response.

Last reason this was going to get people talking, it's a pipebomb. Those things usually succeed in getting people talking. Someone is going to go out there and give a self-righteous promo. A few people have given these kind of promos in the last few years since CM Punk sat on that stage on Raw and complained. Miz's is probably at least second best to the initial one Punk did. Part of me enjoyed it more than any of CM Punk's pipebombs. I liked the intensity more than the trademark arrogance of CM Punk found in his pipebombs. I also liked that his argument was pretty much spot on. Criticize him for wrestling a "safe" style, but at least he is still wrestling, adding to his title resume, and contributing to the show in multiple ways.

Why did I not see it as a big deal? Take away the smoke & mirrors. Get to the core. Forget how popular Daniel Bryan is. Forget how good on the mic Miz is. Forget how these self-righteous promos do tend to grab attention. What was really the point? What could this possibly have led to that I should see it as a big deal? Unless the WWE has given Daniel Bryan the green light to come back for one more match or one more run, what is there to get excited about? Do people want Miz to get a better push? Problem is, AJ Styles is already the heel challenging Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship. Do fans want to see Styles get screwed out of his spot so Miz can get it? Moreover, Miz kind of already is getting pushed. He is Intercontinental Champion. CM Punk's pipebomb felt like it shook the status quo, because it was aimed at the status quo. Miz's pipebomb was only aimed at Daniel Bryan. That's probably why I just didn't feel the same way about it as some fans.

Some fans expect that this will help Smackdown ratings. CM Punk's pipebomb didn't really help Raw back in the day. I would not expect Miz's promo last week to help the show this week get the most viewers of 2016. Ratings aren't out yet, so we will have to see.

Should the WWE try to turn Miz into the new CM Punk? He obviously lacks the wrestling skills. It is interesting how the WWE might lose a certain great worker and try to make another one later on. What usually makes a worker great is that he has more than one great attribute. That is why it is difficult to replace him when he isn't there. If greatness was so easy to replace, would it still be great? Look at those two guys I have been talking about, Daniel Bryan and Miz. One has the great wrestling ability that CM Punk also possessed. The other has the great mic skills that CM Punk was also known for. Individually, neither of these two can replace CM Punk. But if you take the best qualities of both, then you might just have another CM Punk. But as far as the WWE trying to make a new CM Punk with Miz, they probably shouldn't bother. It would screw up certain other guys on Smackdown. Besides that, Miz's pipebomb didn't exactly make him as beloved as CM Punk's pipebomb.

Some people are talking about whether Miz's promo last week was a work or a shoot. Judging by the mediocre way they followed up with it this week, they probably didn't expect anything big to come of it and just tried to make something of the hype. If they had planned to make a big angle out of it all along, I would have expected better. If it was a work designed to create buzz, why not follow through with it better? What they were going to talk about might have been scripted, but Miz's intense promo might have created more interest with smarks than the WWE expected. In any case, out comes Dolph Ziggler to kill the buzz.

Miz defends the Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler in two weeks at Backlash. Needless to say, this is a match just thrown together. There wasn't much time between Summerslam and Smackdown's first PPV of the new era. Ziggler was still partially involved in the WWE title scene up to last week. Miz could have continued his feud against Applo Crews. But this is the direction the WWE has taken.

Let me talk about Ziggler. He was involved in a face vs. face feud for the WWE Championship for Summerslam. It got a little heated at times. It looked like Dolph might turn heel. It looked like this was a storyline that should go beyond just Summerslam. People praise Smackdown for handling its show better than Raw, but I would say this is one of the first few mistakes Smackdown has made. That is all there is to the feud? Was there an actual payoff to the storyline? Even AJ Styles mocked Ziggler last week, who then only proceeded to lose to Styles in the main event. And now Ziggler is on to something else? If the WWE did not have any long-term intentions for Ambrose vs. Ziggler, why bother going with this feud? You had Bray Wyatt sitting in his rocking chair in the back for Summerslam with no match, he could have been the heel being used to put over Ambrose at Summerslam. It just seems like the Smackdown writers might have expected fans to react differently to Ziggler/Ambrose. When they didn't, they just did a poor job following through with the story. Some say that the Nikki/Carmella double-turn happened because Nikki got cheered when she returned. Some say the main reason was Carmella failing as a face. I just hope those writers aren't becoming too reactionary. Yeah, listen to the fans, but don't just kill the direction you are going when it doesn't work out the way you want it for a few weeks. Has Ziggler lost the storyline it looked like he was getting? Will Miz now get that storyline? In any case, there does appear to be some shaking up with the storylines on Smackdown.

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.

Previewing The Money In The Bank 2016 Undercard Matches

Titus O'Neil gets a shot at the United States Championship. Some people might question whether or not he even deserves this push against Rusev. It is likely he is just being used as fodder for Rusev. Nevertheless, it is nice to see Titus still getting something meaningful to do on TV after that incident a few months ago. Rusev retains here.

The tag titles match seems interesting. New Day defends against The Club, The Vaudevillains, and Enzo & Cass. But this should really boil down to two teams. It will either be New Day retaining or The Club getting the titles. If New Day retains here, the WWE might as well head towards these guys breaking the record for longest reign with the tag titles, or at least make an angle out of them possibly doing it. The Club, however, can really use that credibility from winning the titles. The commentators keep on putting over how dominant these guys are and whatever else. Show it, don't just say it. So far, these guys have not looked as impactful as Nexus, The Shield, and other such groups. They don't really take over the show like the NWO did in WCW. Honestly, it is pretty lame. Wrestling fans are eating these guys up because they are familiar with their work prior to the WWE. I would like to see more from them in the WWE, and I think there are a lot of other viewers that share that same belief. I would give them the titles.

I am going to lump Apollo Crews vs. Sheamus and Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler together. The new guys should be beating the veterans. Neither of the two new guys have been too stellar so far, but they have potential and bad feud development could hurt them. At least they are getting feuds. It is better than the WWE just giving a new debut a random win streak without an actual feud. Crews and Corbin win their respective matches.