Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Undercard Matches

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previewing The Extreme Rules 2017 Main Event

Let's start by talking about the elephant that's not in the room. That would be Brock Lesnar, the Universal Champion. I had high hopes when Lesnar won the WWE Championship a few years ago. That did not work out like I would have hoped. Lesnar winning the title again was not something I was too eager for. Right now, moreover, the WWE has the brand split back and in full force. That limits their overall roster for Raw. If that isn't bad enough, it only takes one bad injury to really mess things up. That is what the WWE got when Braun Strowman got injured. Life would just be a little bit easier if the top titleholder of the brand was someone that can show up regularly to help take up some time with feuds revolving around the title. This just seems like the dumbest situation for the WWE to have given Lesnar Raw's top title.

I noticed someone point out on a message board recently that there has been only one successful title defense of a World Championship in the WWE all year. That would be Kevin Owens retaining the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble. Hard to be believe, but true. We are now in the sixth month of the year and the belts have been going all over the place all year. We will have to wait a few more weeks for another successful title defense of a World Championship. That will likely be Jinder Mahal. Who would ever have believed that?

With no Universal Champion around, the main event is a 5-way Extreme Rules match for the #1 contendership. Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt. As I have brought up before, this match is in response to Braun Strowman getting injured. The WWE essentially combined Joe/Rollins and Balor/Wyatt, then tossed in Reigns.

I am still not impressed with the match type. Triple threat matches are no disqualification by default. Imagine if the WWE hyped a triple threat match as a "No DQ" triple threat match. Redundant. This multi-man match is already no disqualification. How "extreme" will it really get? And just in terms of drawing interest with a unique match type, this match isn't that unique. Could they have made it a ladder match? Too similar to Money in the Bank? I think this PPV would be an okay place for a ladder match. Elimination Tables Match? I'm sure there were things that were more interesting.

As for the winner, I see some wanting Roman Reigns to win just so the WWE can get Reigns vs. Lesnar out of the way. It doesn't work like that. Even if they wanted Reigns to win this and face Lesnar now, that will not stop them from doing a rematch down the road. But I don't think Reigns wins here.

Rumors are saying Finn Balor and I'm going Finn Balor. It just seems fitting for the guy that never lost the title to get the first title shot. Does that ruin the feud between Balor and Wyatt? Considering their gimmicks, that could have been an interesting feud. But the WWE can always get back to it after Balor/Lesnar.

The Slow Return For Finn Balor

Last time, I talked about a lower-midcarder getting a great push he does not deserve. This time, I am talking about a guy that should be a main-eventer that is getting mediocrity he does not deserve. That would be Finn Balor.

What has Finn done since he returned to Raw earlier this month? Having him return to be Seth's tag partner was nice. Since then, however, he has just been facing jobbers in the midcard.

Obviously, the recent trades have left certain things in limbo. Certain guys on a new brand have unfinished business with someone on the other brand. You can understand if the WWE is a little inefficient right now.

Thing is, Finn Balor should be pushed as a priority. You don't see Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in limbo right now. This guy was the inaugural Universal Champion. It seems the WWE has dropped the ball with all the inaugural titleholders they had last year. You would expect them to eventually move on from Rhyno & Slater. But Becky Lynch, TJ Perkins, and Finn Balor should all be featured better than they have. Don't hand someone a major piece of history unless they are hot enough to deserve it, are already getting legendary careers, or you plan to start giving them that great career. It looks like such a waste when you don't follow up on them properly.

Finn Balor obviously can't feud for the Universal Championship right now. The WWE decided to give the title to Brock Lesnar, who will not show up on a regular basis. Considering Lesnar already got a title reign a couple years ago and has not done anything since to deserve another one, this has just been a dumb decision by the WWE. Some guys could use that title to fight over right now.

Finn Balor is a guy with a lot of potential. They can push him as "Demon" Balor. They can push him as "The Club" Balor. How many guys come to the WWE with two different gimmicks they can go with that both have potential for interesting storylines, not to mention money off merchandise? But this current Balor looks very dull. It won't last forever, but it would be nice if the WWE figures something out soon.

Finn Balor Wins Title, Gets Injured, Vacates Title

Finn Balor was successful in winning the Universal Championship at Summerslam. However, he suffered an injury during the match and was forced to vacate the title less than 24 hours after winning it. The WWE already has the match set to crown a new Champion. Next week on Raw, it will be Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens vs. Big Cass.

That Universal Championship is just starting out as a joke for a number of reasons. First, you had the stupid name. A lot of people have mocked it. Then, they debuted the ugly-looking title belt at Summerslam, which got buried by the live audience. To top it all off, the inaugural Universal Champion gets injured and has to surrender it less than a day after winning it. It is all pretty pathetic and sad. I wouldn't be surprised if the WWE changes things sooner or later. If nothing else, someone will probably toss the current title in the trash and debut a title belt that looks better.

Balor got injured when Seth Rollins powerbombed him into the barricade. Less than a year ago, Sting suffered a serious injury in a match with Rollins with a similar spot. Fans are debating whether Rollins should be blamed for the injuries and be labeled as unsafe to work with. Just looking at this spot, you can't put the blame on him too much. The other person just bumped the move wrong. Nevertheless, if this is a move that becomes too dangerous for guys to take, maybe Rollins should take it out of his arsenal. He has two strikes so far. If this kind of spot, whether into the turnbuckle, barricade, announce table, or whatever, leads to another serious injury, the WWE should take it away from him.

I don't think it should have even came to that spot at Summerslam. The WWE told the wrong story. Finn used the "Demon King" gimmick. Why is he having a competitive match with Seth Rollins with that gimmick? Some fans have said that Vince McMahon would want to push Finn well because he can sell all that merchandise. Okay, so why would you not want to sell his most marketable gimmick as something amazing? Treat it as something unstoppable. Don't just treat this gimmick as Finn Balor with a different look and different entrance. Save the competitive matches for when he is his regular self. He already beat Roman Reigns clean without having to go all "Demon" on him. What's the point of going into this other zone if he is the same performer?

I have felt that the WWE could build this guy to be a true attraction, like The Undertaker. Of course, he wouldn't last decades like The Undertaker did. And he gets injured just a few weeks after coming to the main roster. This will take at least a few months off his career. I don't think the injury will completely screw over his spot in the WWE, but it will take a little off his potential. The WWE hasn't handled his alter ego in the best way. He suffers a serious injury just when he's getting the biggest moment of his career. It's not a great start to his career on the main roster.

Onto the match to crown a new Universal Champion. Let's cross out Cass and Owens. I don't think the feud between Jericho & Owens and Enzo & Cass is really over yet. Both Cass and Owens being in this match can help prolong the feud between the two teams. That leaves Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns never had his match against Rusev at Summerslam. Will the WWE just waive off that feud? Or will Rusev cost Reigns the match to prolong that feud? That leaves just Seth Rollins as the clear option. If the WWE wanted to put the title on him, they would have done it at Summerslam. But because of circumstances, they might have to put the title on him now. Problem is, who does he feud with? Sami Zayn? There are a lot of guys that just do not have the credibility to deserve the push. It might be more likely that they put the title on either Rollins or Reigns and have them feud against each other, again. Leave Rusev to feud against Sami Zayn. That is more of a midcard feud. I will say Seth Rollins wins.

This is one of the reasons I did not think the WWE should do a long-term brand split. Having one that only lasted a few months to a year to sell a feud between Shane and Stephanie McMahon would have been fine. Beyond that, however, injury issues, suspensions, and other problems can ruin the depth on either show. I'll talk about the issues in the women's division soon. The WWE just lost someone they wanted to push as a top star. There aren't too many credible guys around. Even if they really did want to keep Roman Reigns down a little, whether to punish him or do more work on him to help him win over his haters, he's back chasing after the top title. Is flooding Raw with cruiserweights going to help fill out three hours? Hope so.

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.

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.

The WWE Universal Championship

That is a stupid name. Couldn't they call one title the WWE Championship and the other the World Championship? How about the WWE Raw World Championship and the WWE Smackdown World Championship? Can't wait for them to debut the WWE Intergalactic Championship in 20 years. I'm sure they'll be defending it on the moon by then.

In any case, that is the name of the new Raw title. Seth Rollins and Finn Balor will be facing each other at Summerslam to crown the first ever Universal Champion. That name just sounds like something a minor-league promotion would come up with to make its title seem more important. Back to the point, Balor defeated Roman Reigns in the main event of Raw to get the shot at Summerslam.

Seth Rollins was handed the spot in the match. Okay, I can live with that. He is a heel and affiliated with Stephanie McMahon. I almost expected the WWE to put Seth Rollins in one of the fatal fourways, Roman Reigns in the other, and have the main event of Raw last night be for the new title between those two. They chose to hold it off for Summerslam. That's fine.

How about Roman Reigns getting a depush? I think it is for the best. The guy is not a great centerpiece and fans just seemed to ease off him a little last year when he took a break from the title scene to feud with Bray Wyatt. I just hope this isn't Vince McMahon being bitter about the drug suspension. It is just a dumb reason, especially since Brock Lesnar got even more media attention for his recent drug issues and the WWE hasn't shown any signs of punishing him. Some people want to say he shouldn't be punished because he didn't fail a WWE drug test? Well, Hulk Hogan didn't exactly make those racist comments at any WWE event or while even employed by the WWE during his run last year. They still fired him. They have not yet brought him back. If Brock Lesnar broke a rule while employed by the WWE that got Roman Reigns in trouble, why shouldn't he get in trouble? But back to Reigns, I would have made the same decision to depush, but more because he isn't working out than being bitter about the failed drug test.

And then there is Finn Balor. I saw some fans talking about the main event. Some fans just didn't want Roman Reigns to win. A few said Finn was being pushed too fast. Fans responded, "Relax! He won't win!" And he won.

They are pushing him too fast. He hasn't done anything to deserve the push. I am not saying he is untalented or anything like that. I am saying he hasn't done anything since coming to the main roster to deserve this push. How could he? He was drafted to Raw last week on Smackdown. Less than a week later, he's on Raw and wins two big matches in one night to headline Summerslam to possibly become a new World Champion.

I said the same kind of thing for AJ Styles earlier this year. The guy debuts and they are already hyping him up way too much and putting over how popular he is. Let the guy's wrestling ability speak for itself. It does. Work on building his character and using him in interesting storylines. That will get him over with the wider audience. If I felt they were not pushing AJ Styles right earlier this year, I definitely have to say the same thing for Finn Balor now. AJ Styles at least worked for a number of years in the WWE's closest competition, TNA. Finn has less of an argument for being well-known beyond wrestling fans than that. If being in TNA isn't enough to become an A-tier star (in terms of popularity), Finn has no argument why he should be pushed this hard. You can argue this is a harder push than even AJ Styles got this year. AJ at least worked with Jericho for a few months before moving on to a title feud.

I think how the WWE had the commentators hype this guy was terrible. Don't tell me his life story. I don't want to hear it. Yeah, he wrestled all over the world and won all these titles. He scrubbed toilets. Save it for his DVD or some WWE Network special on him. Who are they talking to with this? Wrestling fans know who this guy is. The WWE is just preaching to the choir. The wider audience is not going to care as much. You have to put creative work into him. Kayfabe is dead for certain wrestlers. They have no character. They are simply what they are as a performer. They are simply however many titles they won, what countries they wrestled in, whom they feuded against, and whatever else you can read off their Wikipedia page. Does the WWE even have any writers employed anymore?

Raw last night was just a dream for smarks. I will get to Sasha Banks tomorrow. But the WWE is further looking like they have lost it. NXT and social media are turning them stupid. For years, this was a company that insulted wrestling. You can't say they are still doing that. But what they are doing can either be seen as pure pandering or ignorantly believing that giving wrestling fans what they want will draw for them. These are the fans you have to win over to make the WWE Network successful. If you want to win over the wider audience to get your ratings back up, you can't just work to please wrestling fans.

Roman Reigns Vs. AJ Styles: The Plot Thickens

Ever since the WWE went with AJ Styles as the #1 contender for the WWE Championship, there just felt like the WWE might be aiming for more than just a title defense for Roman Reigns. The first two weeks have been pretty lackluster for the feud development here, but business picked up this week. AJ Styles actually interacted with two men he knows very well, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. They looked like they would be on his side. They even attacked Roman Reigns on Raw. AJ Styles has not turned heel and is saying he had nothing to do with all that.

It is not surprising that these three men would interact. Wrestling fans are excited for the Bullet Club. Should the WWE have handled things differently? How about have Gallows and Anderson debut at Payback by getting involved in the title match? There is something to be said for foreshadowing. Plant the seeds of things to come. Should the WWE have handled their debut last week better? Have them interact with AJ Styles sooner? I would let it go. No big deal.

What might be a bigger deal is the WWE relying on a stable that doesn't have that mass exposure. Over a decade ago, the WWE brought in the NWO, a legendary stable born in WCW. They took a group from a promotion that was actually beating them in the ratings for a while. It also helps that Hall, Nash & Hogan had a history in the WWE before the NWO. But just focusing on the stable, that was a WCW thing. The Bullet Club is not the NWO. They are not coming from a promotion that can say they are a legitimate rival for the WWE. Wrestling fans may be excited for this and getting Twitter flooded with Bullet Club stuff, but there might also be some fans wondering why they should get excited for Festus.

One of the reasons fans have said in the past that the WWE is awful these days is because they don't have any real competition. If they did, that would motivate them to work harder. That would also provide them with ideas to take from their rivals. You have still seen the WWE and TNA seem to work off of each other at times during the years, but how much of that has really been successful for the WWE? It sure hasn't helped TNA. And now, the WWE is aiming even further down, taking ideas from promotions that have even less notoriety in the American market than TNA did in it's peak. The WWE has to be careful with this. You are appealing heavily to a certain type of fans, but there are a lot of viewers out there that won't know what to make of this. They might feel left out.

All that aside, who turns heel in this situation? You can have AJ Styles embrace his former comrades and screw Roman Reigns. The WWE can pull the swerve and have Roman Reigns turn heel and align with Gallows and Anderson. Fans won't let up on Roman Reigns. The WWE might as well turn him heel eventually. Cena can continue to be portrayed as an eternal face for the rest of his career. No one else needs to be treated like that.

Another option I see fans bringing up is Finn Balor debuting and leading Gallows and Anderson. They all have that common bond. Even if they don't debut him now, it seems likely Balor will eventually get involved with this group, since the WWE is embracing the Bullet Club. They can't hide his involvement with that.

There is an option I have not come across anyone else bringing up. It is probably the weakest option. Both AJ Styles and Roman Reigns stay face and both just feud against Gallows and Anderson. No turns. No debuts. The whole situation is just used to put over the two faces in the end, with Roman Reigns also being paired with someone rowdy smarks love in an attempt to help him get over with those fans. Sounds like something the WWE might do, but I am hoping for better.