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 Battleground 2017 Men's Matches

It is sometimes amazing how the WWE can hype a crappy kickoff match like it is something special on their website. Tye Dillinger faces Aiden English. I don't care. Dillinger wins.

Climbing the ladder of relevance, Mike Kanellis vs. Sami Zayn. This is just a rematch. Nothing too special. But this is another match I just don't care about. The gimmick Mike and Maria have might have some potential, but boring feuds against a midcard jobber like Zayn won't bring that out. I will say Mike Kanellis wins.

Baron Corbin faces Shinsuke Nakamura. The fact that Corbin has the briefcase means nothing. The WWE has a history of having the person with the briefcase lose a lot. On the other hand, the WWE has a recent history of overpushing people they are grooming to be main-eventers, like Jinder Mahal. But I don't think that happens at the expense of Nakamura this Sunday. He wins.

New Day get another title shot against The Usos. The tag divisions are just so terrible on both shows. There probably won't be a Twitter movement to turn things around. The WWE might as well let New Day win the titles. If The Usos do retain, who is left to take the titles off them? They could go back to Tyler Breeze and Fandango. They have been gaining momentum. But New Day will likely get a reign before them.

Kevin Owens tries to win back the United States Championship from AJ Styles. No reason for Styles to drop the title so soon. That is, no GOOD reason to do it. The WWE might do it if they want a lame excuse to prolong this feud. Just end it either here or Summerslam. Create some fresh feuds with these midcarders many people, including myself, don't care about.

John Cena takes on Rusev in a Flag match. I'll give them credit for a gimmick match. But these two? Again? They feuded with each other before. The rivalry just isn't fresh. I am going to tell you what I would have done with both guys a little later. As for this match, Cena wins.

And inside the Punjabi Prison, Jinder Mahal defends the WWE Championship once again against Randy Orton. This feud should have been over already. And it just wasn't heated enough to deserve this gimmick match. Some people are speculating The Great Khali will return to help Mahal. We'll see. If nothing else, this match should give Jinder Mahal further credibility. He should be retaining.

How would I have done things with the last two matches I just talked about? Switch the opponents around. Jinder Mahal could have been entering a feud against John Cena. It could have been the same pro-USA feud you have in Rusev/Cena. Meanwhile, Rusev feuds with Orton. That is a fresh feud. These two have never feuded. Rusev was wanting a title match a couple months ago. Just have Randy Orton go out there after losing to Jinder Mahal at the previous Smackdown PPV and start talking about wanting another shot. Instead of getting it, however, Rusev shows up to continue his angle of wanting a title shot. Those two then feud. If the WWE wanted to put a title opportunity on the line, fine. It would have taken things in a fresh direction and not messed up the storylines that were going on too much.

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.

Previewing The Backlash 2017 Undercard

Let me continue previewing this lackluster PPV with Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin. Both of these guys should be doing better. Which one of them can afford to lose this feud? I can see this one lasting another few weeks. I will say Baron Corbin wins this encounter.

Luke Harper faces Erick Rowan. I remember some fans groaning when Rowan beat Harper a little while ago. Some fans defended it by saying Rowan needs momentum. Why? There are ways to build a feud without having the two sides involved actually pin each other. Harper is likely to win here.

The tag titles will be defended. The Usos defend against Breezango. I am all for new tag teams getting the spotlight. Breezango's current gimmick is just stupid. It is hard to take them seriously. The Usos have not done much since winning the tag titles a few months ago. I will say they retain against the comic relief and eventually defend them against New Day.

Kevin Owens defends the United States Championship against AJ Styles. This feud is still too young to feel as major as it should. You also had Owens having to finish his feud against Jericho. Those two juggled the title between themselves. I won't say it hurt Owens vs. Styles too much, but it was there as a distraction. AJ Styles should not win the title here. I would say he should not win it at all. He doesn't need it. Give the midcard titles back to the midcarders. AJ Styles does not need this to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, which is an excuse some of his fans might make for why he should get it. Sting got inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Sting never won a title in the WWE. Sting never even won a PPV match in the WWE. AJ Styles is already doing better in the WWE than him. I will say Owens retains here. It might be by DQ or by getting counted out.

The Ups And Downs Of Chris Jericho And The United States Championship

An unexpected title change at Payback was Chris Jericho winning the United States Championship from Kevin Owens. That sent Jericho to Smackdown. And he immediately lost the title back to Owens. Owens then destroyed Jericho so he can go back to his music career.

It seems like the only thing this whole thing accomplished was sending Jericho to Smackdown. He certainly didn't need another title run so soon, especially one so short. But was it really worth it? Send Jericho to Smackdown just to write him off? I have pointed out that Smackdown lost a lot of top guys and did not get the same number back from Raw. But a part-timer like Jericho might not really be the best option.

Even then, there were better ways to have handled the situation. They could have traded Jericho to Smackdown along with Owens. That might also settled the hypocrisy of Jericho getting his rematch for the United States Championship, while Bray Wyatt did not get his rematch for the WWE Championship. Jericho would be getting his rematch because he is on the same brand as Owens and the title, while Wyatt was not getting his rematch because he was on a different brand from Orton and the WWE Championship. They also could have had Owens retain at Payback and destroy Jericho there. Jericho gets written off and can eventually return one day on whatever brand Owens is on.

The whole thing just created a momentary distraction in the feud between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles. I would not have done it the way they did it. I can understand wanting another big name on Smackdown and I can understand needing to write off Jericho. But the whole situation could have been handled a lot better. Smackdown gains a guy that immediately takes time off. That sounds pretty dumb. In any case, the WWE can now move on and go back to the story they were building on Smackdown.

Previewing The Payback 2017 Undercard Matches

Even though this Raw PPV is missing the Universal Championship, there are still a lot of big matches on it. I am going to talk about the undercard today.

Enzo & Cass will take on Anderson & Gallows. Ideally, the tag titles would have been involved in this feud, whether it was Enzo & Cass defending the titles or finally winning them here. That isn't happening. The faces should at least win this match. Throw them a bone.

The tag titles will be defended when The Hardys face Sheamus & Cesaro. The Hardys just won the tag titles earlier this month. Is there a good reason for Sheamus & Cesaro to get another run? It might just be time for those two to split. The Hardys retain.

Moving out of the tag division, let's go to the cruiserweight division. Neville once again defends against Austin Aries. The WWE has been tossing this title all over the place since it was created last year. Austin Aries seems like someone likely to get it. Might as well happen here.

Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens is an interesting match. Not only is the United States Championship on the line, but these two will be switching brands if the title change happens. Will it? Probably not. Owens has a feud brewing with AJ Styles already. Jericho won't be here much longer. Owens wins.

Did Smackdown Shake Things Up?

It seemed like Raw took a handful of major players from Smackdown. To be specific, I would say Raw getting Miz, Ambrose, and Bray Wyatt was huge. Did Smackdown get back as much as they gave?

Looking at the list of male wrestlers that went from Raw to Smackdown, the only name that stands out is Kevin Owens. Not Jinder Mahal? No, not Jinder Mahal. Everyone else is just midcarders and tag teams. These are all guys that were not doing anything much in the last few months. None of these guys were ever a WWE or Universal Champion. That is why I say Kevin Owens is the only one that stands out. Smackdown lost three former WWE Champions that were all featured pretty well in the last few months. They gain only one main-eventer that was being pushed well in the last few months.

And I do not like that Kevin Owens was the guy chosen to switch brands. It has nothing to do with the fact that he is United States Champion. There is still title drama going on that will impact things, but I am ignoring all that and just looking at the names changing shows for the sake of this discussion. What I do not like is that I felt there was more he could do on Raw. Specifically, there was more that they could have done with his relationship with Triple H. Triple H literally handed him the title last year. A few months after that, Triple H was involved when Owens decided to turn on Chris Jericho. One of the WWE's biggest problems these days is not following through properly with a lot of angles that have potential. In some cases, they don't follow through at all. In other cases, they botch how they handle it. There is nothing wrong with having a heel authority stable. The issue with the last such stable involving Triple H and Stephanie McMahon was it just wasn't handled right. Some might say it lasted too long. There is also the issue of too much fighting within the group way too often. You can talk about Stephanie McMahon not getting her comeuppance enough. All these issues do not mean the WWE cannot try it again and fix some of the issues. And Kevin Owens could have been one of the guys in this new stable. Samoa Joe is another. What has happened to him is also an issue I will get into on another day.

If I would have kept Owens on Raw to eventually do more with Triple H, whom would I have chosen to be the main-eventer going from Raw to Smackdown? Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns. You can send Strowman to Smackdown to continue the Reigns/Strowman feud, or make a special arrangement so Reigns can have one last match with Strowman to write that feud off. If the WWE is so determined to keep The Shield on Raw, send Finn Balor to Smackdown. He just came back. He just got injured again, but it is likely not too serious, hopefully. Interaction between Balor and AJ Styles should make a lot of smarks happy.

So, which brand won the shake up? In terms of the actual moves, I would say Raw won. They gained three top guys, while Smackdown only gained one. Raw gained two women that can both be useful, Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. Smackdown gained Charlotte. Tamina officially joined the brand, but she has never been over and is not really that highly-praised for her in-ring work. Smackdown gained New Day, which might help their weak tag division. Or New Day might bury it. Overall, just getting three of Smackdown's top guys easily made Raw the winner in terms of the moves.

In terms of the overall rosters, I think most smarks would say Smackdown is still the stronger brand. They are so in love with AJ Styles, they would have crowned whichever brand he ended up on. Smackdown also still has Nakamura, another smark favorite. They have their part-timer, John Cena. Don't forget Randy Orton. I almost did, despite him being WWE Champion.

The last thing to take into account is how both brands utilize talent. They obviously didn't trade writers and bookers. Both brands have issues being efficient, including Smackdown. And even Smackdown has made some dumb decision with some talent that has really made them look bad, like what they did with Ziggler. Nevertheless, Smackdown still seems to be the better of the two brands. They can probably get something out of guys like Sami Zayn and Rusev that they have not been getting since the brand split started with them on Raw. And they will need to with some of the guys they have lost. Over on Raw, some of these guys they have gained might be hurt by bad booking. Overall, I would say Smackdown still has a solid roster and can continue doing what they have been doing for the last few months. It is up to Raw to take advantage of the talent they took from Smackdown. 

Wrestlemania 33 Preview: Part 2

I will be talking about the Raw matches today. Goldberg vs. Lesnar will be saved for Friday.

Neville defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Austin Aries. Austin Aries can be seen as TNA's answer to CM Punk. He was definitely a poor man's CM Punk. He knows how to wrestle. In the WWE, he currently finds himself in the cruiserweight division. Even though I dislike too many multi-man matches, I wouldn't have minded a few more cruiserweights in this match. It just seems too soon to push Austin Aries. And yet, the WWE has shown that they will push men in this division too quickly, then pull the rug out from under them. Let's say the tradition continues. I'll say Austin Aries wins.

There will be a multi-man match for the tag titles. Anderson & Gallows defend against Sheamus & Cesaro and Enzo & Cass. Enzo & Cass should have won the titles since last year. This is the stage for them to do it. I will say they win.

The United States Championship match will not be a multi-man match. This is a personal feud. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens has arguably been developed better than any other feud. It does not feel rushed. The development has not been inconsistent. Injuries have not screwed it over. This is what I had hoped for with the Jericho vs. Styles feud from last year. Owens and Jericho were friends for a good while. They both held titles at the same time, although not the tag titles. There were a few great elaborate segments. They just developed things well, building up to the obvious split and match coming up.

Who wins? It just seems obvious that Kevin Owens will win. Jericho doesn't need the title anymore. Moreover, he already got a Wrestlemania win he did not need last year against AJ Styles. No need for two in a row. I have seen some fans say Jericho will retain here and lose it to Samoa Joe after Wrestlemania, likely due to Owens interference. There is also the point of Owens eventually going back after the Universal Championship. But that will probably happen down the line. Right now, let Owens get his Wrestlemania moment. This feud is fit for a title change.

Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker was another feud that just felt thrown together in the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania. That might be because it was just thrown together in the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania. And it has been a pretty lame feud. The WWE is once again selling it like this can be Taker's last Wrestlemania. They did the same thing last year to try to draw in more fans. There are also dirtsheet rumors about it. As I have seen other fans point out, if this is Undertaker's last Wrestlemania, the WWE has done a terrible job making this feud feel more special. I do not think The Undertaker's career ends here. The WWE has been pretty mediocre with a ton of things these days, but I doubt they treat the end of The Undertaker's career with such mediocrity. A feud over whose yard it is? Passing the torch to Roman Reigns? No, I would expect something bigger. Then again, that feud leading to Lesnar ending Taker's Wrestlemania streak was also pretty mediocre.

Who wins? Reigns winning this could very well make him hated. Would they then turn him heel? I don't know if he can even carry beating The Undertaker, and possibly retiring him, like Lesnar could carry ending The Streak. I don't know how much that rub would do for him. But I will still say he wins. This can build up to Undertaker's last match next year.

Triple H faces Seth Rollins in an unsanctioned match. On paper, this should have been the best feud this Wrestlemania season. You can say it was years in the making. Triple H chooses Seth Rollins to be the next big star. Seth Rollins fails to deliver. Triple H betrays him. Wrestlemania match. But the WWE just did such a terrible job after Triple H screwed Seth Rollins last year. Triple H never showed up. Seth Rollins lost his edge. There was even a span where it seemed Seth Rollins had forgotten Triple H. What was the story? Triple H didn't want to fight Seth Rollins? If you don't want to fight him, why screw him out of the title? Because you don't want him as Champion? Okay, so why didn't you try to screw him those other times he got title shots? And you are still going to fight him now? They just took what could have been an amazing feud and ruined it, and for lame reasons. Seth Rollins getting injured also hurt things, but you can argue that it added some value back into the feud.

What can you expect in this match? Samoa Joe will likely get involved. He doesn't have anything else to do. Stephanie McMahon will also likely be around. She might take a bump, like she has at Wrestlemania recently. Mick Foley might even show up to stick a sock in her mouth. As for the winner, part of me believes Triple H should win here and this feud should continue to Summerslam, where Seth defeats his former mentor. But I'll go against that and say the WWE has Seth Rollins overcome the odds to win it.

Previewing The Fastlane 2017 Main Event

I was going to title this "Should Kevin Owens Get Squashed?" What else was there to really talk about with this match? It just seemed obvious what the outcome would be. Kevin Owens does not need the Universal Championship for his feud with Chris Jericho, who still holds the United States Championship. The WWE loves giving big names that are coming back as part-timers title reigns. Goldberg vs. Lesnar might be better if something more was on the line than just Lesnar trying to finally beat Goldberg. Fans were just anticipating Goldberg getting the title. Even without bringing up dirtsheet reports, it just seemed obvious that Goldberg wins. Now that there is more speculation about a possible finish that might lead to Owens retaining, I have to bring that up.

But let me start with the original question I brought up. Should Owens get squashed? Why even ask such a thing? Because Goldberg's last singles match was him squashing Brock Lesnar, a guy that no one expects to get squashed. After something like that, you just expect to see Goldberg run over basically anyone else, and that includes Kevin Owens. It would just look weird to see a competitive match between Goldberg and Owens.

Of course, they could give Owens some time to put up a fight. Maybe not for his own benefit. They might expose some weakness in Goldberg to make him look more human for his rematch with Lesnar. Fans have already seen Goldberg get the best of Lesnar multiple times, including the squash I brought up. Maybe the WWE might feel fans won't be as interested as they were the last time these two wrestled each other at Survivor Series. Adding the title is one thing, but they might lower Goldberg's power level a bit to make people think Lesnar vs. Goldberg III will be competitive.

Looking at both arguments, I say the former option is the best. Let Goldberg squash Owens. Keep him strong. Make it look like Lesnar has a real challenge in front of him. Too many of Lesnar's matches since he came back as a part-timer have been him just dominating. A lot of fans want to see something else. This could be the best singles match Lesnar has had in a while. And it would help the feel of this feud even more if Goldberg was kept strong heading into it.

Or will Goldberg even have the Universal Championship? There is speculation and rumors that the WWE might officially make Triple H, Kevin Owens, and Samoa Joe a stable at Fastlane. I brought up the possibility of this stable recently. The group could screw Goldberg out of the title. I just think now is not the time to do that.

So many of the feuds for this Wrestlemania season have just been developed poorly. I could just run down the list, but it would take me an hour. You have Triple H not showing up for months and Seth Rollins getting injured hurting that feud. You have the WWE getting way too fancy in the feud between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt. You have John Cena stuck in a feud with Miz that was just thrown together a month before Wrestlemania.

Even this feud with Goldberg and Lesnar is not something I would have done. Even then, it could have been handled better. Goldberg comes out after beating Lesnar at Survivor Series and says he's coming after the Universal Championship and entering the Royal Rumble to get there. The WWE once again proves that wins and losses don't matter. Goldberg loses the Rumble, shows up on Raw to accept Lesnar's challenge, and then gets a title shot against Owens, anyway. He doesn't even need to win a #1 contender's match. The WWE could have done better to build an epic feud. And if the title is not involved in Goldberg vs. Lesnar, that might hurt this feud even more.

Of course, there is a counterargument. If Goldberg wins the title and loses it to Lesnar, does Goldberg get a rematch? The Rock didn't get a rematch at the WWE Championship after losing it to Cena a few years ago. And if Goldberg does get a rematch, and likely loses, guess what? They're tied! Both Goldberg and Lesnar would have beaten each other twice. Doesn't that call for another match? Enough is enough with this feud. Both of these guys should be having fresh feuds with new people. They are still in a rivalry that started over ten years ago.

All that out of the way, who wins and how? I will say Goldberg wins and it is a squash. Save the shenanigans for after Fastlane. What about Jericho? What about Triple H? What about Owens getting a rematch? If the WWE does do some stupid booking, well, they boxed themselves into that corner.

Time For Another Authority Stable?

The Authority has not been a true stable for a while. Even before Triple H turned on Seth Rollins, Rollins was out with an injury for a long time and it was really just Triple H and Stephanie feuding against Roman Reigns without a real group around them.

Fans are anticipating a new Authority. Triple H has been working with Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens in recent weeks. That could be a new stable right there, or the start of one. Of course, Stephanie McMahon would also be included.

Is it a good idea? On the one hand, a strong heel stable can make for some interesting storylines and feuds. On the other hand, the WWE has not exactly done a great job with most of the things they have tried to do these days. They are very inefficient.

It has been so long since The Authority was a group, I am a little rusty on why it flopped the first time around. I do remember that they just teased friction within the group way too much. It is one thing to do that when one of the members is likely splitting from the group. But the WWE did it way too much. They did it with Randy Orton. They did it with Seth Rollins. This internal drama made it hard to build the stable into something great for faces to eventually overcome and get a great rub off of. If the WWE is going to try again with a heel authority stable, they should cut this friction out.

Another issue to consider is that both Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens are not young guys. This wouldn't be really building the future, like how the WWE could sell that Seth Rollins was being groomed to be the next top guy when he was in The Authority. Seth Rollins is still younger than both Owens and Samoa Joe. The WWE could still try hyping it like these two are the future of the WWE, but it would be pretty laughable with Samoa Joe being 37, the same age as Mickie James. When you reach this age range, your time is now. You're not being groomed for the future. You are either being pushed as a top star or not. Look at how fast they pushed AJ Styles. I don't think they should have rushed like that, but I can understand why they did it. There are organic ways to build all these guys properly. Nevertheless, putting Owns and Samoa Joe in a top stable would be a big step to get something out of them now.

Is it likely the WWE pulls the trigger on this? Probably. What else is Triple H supposed to do in between feuds? Just hide in the background? And Stephanie McMahon might look better with some henchmen to go after whomever she dislikes. I think this can benefit multiple individuals. The WWE just needs to handle it better than they did The Authority the first time around.

Owens And Jericho Break Up

Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens have been partners for a few months. Their partnership included both winning some titles. They have had their ups and downs. Friction has been teased. Overall, there were a lot of good segments and most fans will call this a successful partnership. I wish the storyline between Chris Jericho and AJ Styles lasted this well. Anyway, it looks like it is over now. Owens turned on Jericho on Raw this week.

Did it need to happen now? I am not raising the question because I worshiped this partnership like some fans did. Just in terms of storylines, did it need to happen now? Kevin Owens has Goldberg as the next challenger for the Universal Championship. Shouldn't the WWE be trying to really put over that feud? After Owens loses to Goldberg, he can turn on Jericho the next night on Raw. Jericho was the one that put him in the position to face Goldberg. The two could then feud for the United States Championship for Wrestlemania. The way the WWE handled it, this could be viewed as a bit of a distraction.

Let me bring up another "distraction" so you can see what I mean. Go back a few months to when Seth Rollins was feuding with Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. This was coming off of Rollins looking so heated off of Triple H screwing him. Pretty soon, that emotion just died. I will never forget Rollins goofing around with Jericho's list. It just ruined his character. Not all faces need to be pandering for laughs. And I have seen many fans say that The List of Jericho was burying Owens. It was more over than Owens. It just became a distraction. Yes, fans loved it, but it was one of the reasons the development of certain things back then got hurt. There were other factors, like the WWE just not pushing guys right, but it was part of the problem.

Of course, you probably need a distraction right now. You have a feud involving a part-timer, and those people tend to not be used every week to help further whatever they are involved in. What is Kevin Owens supposed to do? Just beat up Gillberg? They could have continued to tease the issues between Owens and Jericho, but just not pull the trigger on the break up yet. You now have more people interested in that this week than the actual feud between Owens and Goldberg. It is just not smooth feud development. It wasn't that necessary to have the betrayal happen now.

You also have Triple H involved in this. He is in the ear of Kevin Owens. There you see another part of the problem. With Seth Rollins injured for at least a few weeks, Triple H has nothing to really do. They have to come up with something for him. And this is what they decided to do. I still think they could have waited. But I will admit the WWE is in a tough spot with what happened to Seth Rollins.

Proper feud development matters. That is why I spent yesterday talking about Smackdown's women's feuds. You have a feud between Nikki Bella and Natalya that just needs to end already. You have a feud between Becky Lynch and Mickie James that could have been booked to be a lot better than it is. You have Alexa Bliss losing the title when it looked like they could have built her to be a great heel character. You have them rushing the title onto Naomi when they could have built up to it better. The wider audience are not going to tune in for a match just because it is stealing the show. As far as matches go, people will tune in based on how well it has been hyped and the development of the feud/storyline leading up to the match. The feud between Goldberg and Owens has not had great development. It is getting buried by the distraction of Owens turning on Jericho. The WWE is just going to run on the hype of Goldberg + Title Match = $$$. Okay, but it seems like Goldberg has already lost some of his luster in terms of drawing in viewers. Let's see what he does in terms of selling tickets and getting WWE Network subscriptions.

Previewing The Royal Rumble 2017 Undercard Matches

I talked about Raw's women's matches yesterday. Smackdown has since added a women's tag match, but it is really just filler, lumping together the various feuds they are developing there, so I'm not going to go back to talk about that. Today is about the men's matches at the Royal Rumble, outside of the actual Royal Rumble match. I will get to that on Friday.

Sheamus & Cesaro defend the Raw Tag Team Titles against Gallows & Anderson. And the WWE is highlighting that there will be two refs for this match. There are just times when the WWE tries to get too fancy. It is nice that they are trying to develop a storyline for a title feud that goes beyond just the titles, but this is a pretty dumb story. It is based on a story of clumsy officiating. You had an awkward ending to a match a few weeks ago between these two teams, and that has led to this rematch with two refs. The awkward ending you had to Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker at Summerslam a few years ago was one thing. But the WWE needs to realize that they didn't strike gold with angles like this.

If you can ignore the ref drama, there are two teams fighting for the tag titles. Sheamus and Cesaro just really got the reign started. Anderson & Gallows still don't feel like they deserve a title run. I will say the titles stay with Cesaro and Sheamus.

Not everyone that gets a title reign is being groomed to be a star. Some people are given title reigns so they can drop the belt to the person the WWE intends to be a star. Some people are given title reigns just for the sake of filler, such as when a star is injured and the WWE is just killing time until they return. When I look at the cruiserweight division, I don't think the WWE is trying to make stars at all. None of the three men that have held the title so far look like stars. It looks like the WWE is just going through the motions with everyone. I won't say too much about that here. Maybe another day.

The Cruiserweight Championship will be on the line between Rich Swann and Neville. Neville turned heel and is getting the best push he has gotten on the main roster. He was on the main roster before the cruiserweight division returned. He has had his ups and downs, including an injury and coming back to not much of a response from the fans. But he is at least refreshed by this heel turn. Given what I just said about the WWE not developing stars in this division, I don't think they will have a problem taking the title off Rich Swann and putting it on Neville. But will it happen here? I will say the title change happens.



Onto the World Championship matches. For Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens, the match will be No DQ. Oh, and Chris Jericho will be locked in a shark cage above the ring. Here is the WWE just going too goofy again. I'm surprised they are not forcing Chris Jericho to also dress up as La Luchadora. Why not? He wore a mask a couple months ago to screw Seth Rollins. I am sure they can work the angle in there somehow. The WWE definitely should do more to make the atmosphere more fun, but there are just some ideas that are really stupid. They can ruin a storyline or hurt the performers themselves. There was a serious, strong storyline with Seth Rollins for a while, and that was good. But then the WWE couldn't sustain it and Seth started acting goofy at points, losing his edge. That storyline between Seth Rollins and Triple H, which I will talk about another day, has definitely lost value. As for individuals not working out when they get a goofy angle, remember Gallows & Anderson trying to be comedians? That flopped.


Chris Jericho being locked in a cage is bad enough. And then suspending it above the ring? I know this kind of thing is not unheard of, but it still seems dumb. Why not just say Jericho will get fired if he gets involved in any way? He has a title now. Why not say he will be stripped of the title? Why not say Kevin Owens will be stripped of HIS title if Chris Jericho even thinks about getting involved? Face it, Jericho is still likely to find a way to get involved anyway. They just wanted to come up with a goofy angle for this feud. In some cases, it could be a distraction.




If people watching this Sunday can direct their attention a few feet below Chris Jericho, they might see a match going on for Raw's top title. I cannot picture Kevin Owens heading into Wrestlemania as Universal Champion. I can picture him facing Chris Jericho for the United States Championship, which will be a feud featuring their friendship finally coming to an end. For that to happen, Owens must lose the Universal Championship. Losing it to Reigns at the Royal Rumble just makes sense. They can have their rematch next month, where Jericho will inadvertently screw Owens and set their feud up. Roman Reigns then moves on to a bigger opponent for Wrestlemania.

John Cena faces AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. Cena needs one more World title win to tie Ric Flair's record. He has had multiple opportunities to do it over the last few years. It is going to happen sooner or later.

Before considering the match, look at the feud between AJ Styles and John Cena. It has been the same complaining and self-righteousness you have seen a lot over the years with John Cena. It caused some buzz when CM Punk did it. It didn't draw, but it created buzz with smarks. And smarks are once again eating this stuff up. They have done it multiple times now. It isn't fresh anymore. It isn't entertaining. It isn't helping the WWE's numbers. If anything, I am getting to the point where I am ready to say that all this is laziness on the part of the WWE. They cannot come up with entertaining storylines, so they just look at smarks and base their promos and storylines off of what they want to hear. And they keep rehashing the same thing. There might be a different variation here and there, but it is all pretty much the same thing. There is a reason the Nexus angle led to a better ratings bump than the summer angle of CM Punk dropping pipebombs and walking out on the company. The Nexus angle did not even lead to any of the members becoming as big a star as CM Punk ended up, ignoring Daniel Bryan, who was kicked out of the group early. The Nexus angle was pure kayfabe, rookies going crazy and trying to take over. CM Punk's angle was based on reality, his issues with not being pushed better. AJ Styles is definitely following in the path of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, another guy that got a big push involving real issues of the company not wanting to push him better. But the whole storyline just doesn't work as well here. AJ Styles has not been held back like other guys have been for years in the WWE. John Cena has not been pushed as annoyingly as he has in the past. A lot of these promos with Styles and Cena is just beating a dead horse. They are not really saying anything new to spark interest.

As for the match, the outcome might not matter. Smackdown has already announced an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship. I don't think John Cena will have to wait much longer for his next title run. But I think AJ Styles will retain at the Royal Rumble. Cena can then win it inside the Elimination Chamber.

Roman Reigns Continues Against Kevin Owens

The Universal Championship match between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns obviously did not end cleanly and decisively last Sunday. That means Reigns will get a rematch at the Royal Rumble next month. They are also trying to make it more interesting by putting Jericho in a cage so he can't interfere like he usually does.

There is one problem. Roman Reigns is still the United States Champion. I don't like it when titles get hijacked. I didn't like New Day's long reign that recently ended. I didn't like the title being stuck between Charlotte and Sasha Banks for almost half the year, although that has also come to an end. Roman Reigns getting one title opportunity against Kevin Owens while still being United States Champion is nothing to get too upset over. It is better than the endless title matches Seth Rollins has gotten. It created an interesting feud. Would Roman Reigns end up holding two titles? But prolonging it becomes problematic. Other people could be chasing after the United States Championship in this time Reigns is feuding for a more important title.

Of course, the WWE can have Reigns lose the title in the coming weeks due to interference from Kevin Owens. It adds a little heat to the feud and gets the title off Reigns. Chris Jericho might seem like the obvious choice, but it really does not need to be him. Pick another heel. Braun Strowman? Rusev doesn't need the title back right now. There are other heels on Raw, although some of them may lack credibility. People said a few months ago that Raw won the draft. Maybe in terms of numbers, but questionable in terms of quality. When it comes to midcard heels, they need to do some work. Maybe getting the midcard title off a main-eventer and putting it on a midcarder would help.

John Cena winning the United States Championship last year was refreshing. Even smarks, his biggest critics, liked it. Why hasn't this title reign for Roman Reigns worked out anyway like that? I think one of the biggest differences is that you did not have the brand split last year. Rosters are limited now. Seth Rollins has been getting endless title matches. Who takes his place that has the credibility to go after the title? It would have been nice if the WWE took a chance on a midcarder, like Cesaro, but not too shocking that they did not. Even in terms of just looking at Roman Reigns and the United States Championship, the brand split hurts the number of free challengers he can have. Last year, Cena was having title matches with a variety of guys. Right now, as I just pointed out, you have a lot of midcarders already tied up with something or just lacking credibility. Does anyone want to see Jinder Mahal get a shot at Roman Reigns? Roman Reigns is needed to give the Universal Championship scene someone new. The heel midcard pool isn't too great. Brand split just hurts the depth. The WWE needs to make better use of the roster. Just signing guys is not the answer, especially if they are not handled right.

Previewing The Roadblock: End Of The Line Top Matches

Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins are the four top guys on Raw right now. That is not just a statement regarding their credibility. Their paths have been intertwined in recent weeks.

Seth Rollins had been getting title shot after title shot for a while now. Chris Jericho finally screwed him out of the title to a point that Rollins is moving on to feuding with Chris Jericho. Roman Reigns, having finished his United States Championship feud with Rusev, is now in the title hunt for the Universal Championship against Kevin Owens.

Even though I am all for Seth Rollins getting out of the title picture, I don't like how it was done. Go back to that title match on Raw Rollins and Owens had. There was a stipulation that Chris Jericho could not come out to ringside and interfere. What happened? Jericho put on a mask, attacked Rollins from the crowd, and did end up at ringside to interfere enough to help Owens retain. How can you make a rule that Chris Jericho can't interfere, have the rule be broken, and not say Rollins has a legitimate claim to a rematch? If the WWE never made that stipulation, there would be no issue. Jericho interferes and that transitions to Jericho vs. Rollins. But the stipulation was there. What's the point of having that rule if it is broken that easily? No, it is not still real to me, dammit, but it is bad writing. How you start a feud matters as much as how you end a feud. And all the stuff in between matters, as well. The WWE could have handled the storyline development smoother.

Who wins between Jericho and Rollins? Rollins. The part-time jobber to the stars has picked up some wins this year that he obviously did not need, but that is just to build him up to put over the stars. After losing so much, the WWE probably will give Rollins this win just for the sake of some momentum.

Onto the Universal Championship match. If Roman Reigns wins, he is a dual Champion. Some people are groaning like it is going to happen. I don't see it happening. Roman Reigns is obviously not in the doghouse for his suspension earlier this year. But I just don't see him winning the title.

Will Chris Jericho get involved? The WWE has been teasing tension between Owens and Jericho for a while now. It is likely that Jericho will show up during this match. But whose side will he be on? I will say he once again helps Owens retain the title.

Two Endless Rivalries

Seth Rollins has been feuding with Kevin Owens over the Universal Championship and Sasha Banks has had that feud with Charlotte over Raw's Women's Championship. Both feuds have been going on longer than they need to.

Let me start with the women's feud. It has been going on for longer than Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens. On the main roster, you can say Sasha and Charlotte have been feuding since that night they both debuted last year. In terms of feuding over a title since then, you can say they got started at Wrestlemania season this year. Becky Lynch was also involved back then. That feud took a hiatus as Charlotte went against Natalya. Sasha Banks then took back the feud. And they have been feuding since. They have already juggled the title between them a few times. Charlotte recently won back the title at Hell in a Cell last month. Sasha Banks never got her rematch. That is what she will get on Raw next week.

I was all for Sasha Banks retaining the title at Hell in a Cell. I don't think she deserves to be pushed as the centerpiece, but she certainly deserved the opportunity to legitimately show what she could do when the spotlight is truly on her and she's not just being used as a jobber to the centerpiece for Charlotte. Problem is, that didn't happen. She didn't retain the title. And since that is the booking decision that has to be lived with, they should not just shoot the title back to Sasha again. Not so soon. Charlotte is likely to retain against Sasha Banks, then move on to Bayley.

What about Sasha Banks? She can move on to Nia Jax. She is lucky she even has that to do. In the previous era, credible jobbers would be treated a lot more poorly. They would have complete mediocrity to do, if they were even lucky enough to have that.

Onto Seth Rollins and his never-ending quest to burn Raw to the ground and get back at Triple H. Or not. He just seems to get title shot after title shot. He had one on Raw this week. Pretty good match. But it ended in a controversial way that pretty much makes it obvious that he will still be feuding with Kevin Owens.

Now, Rollins and Owens have not been feuding as long as Sasha Banks and Charlotte have. But the problem is that Seth Rollins has been involved in every PPV World title match he could legitimately be involved in since first winning the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania last year. The only exceptions have been the period in which he was injured, Smackdown-exclusive PPVs recently, and Survivor Series recently, where neither World title was defended.

While on a message board recently, I came across another piece of trivia about Seth Rollins that shows just how overbearing his booking has been. Someone pointed out that he has been involved in every Universal Championship match. The title is only a few months old, but it is kind of ridiculous that this one guy has been in all the matches, despite never winning the title. This is worse than Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns never had a stretch like this.

Seth Rollins is supposed to be feuding with Triple H. That whole storyline has just lost almost all its edge. The WWE has failed to properly follow up with this at all. Some fans point out that it was created at the last minute when Finn Balor got hurt. So what? Injuries happen all the time in sports. The "Next Man Up" philosophy doesn't just mean you throw someone out there when an injury happens and let whatever happens just happen. You try to help the replacement to succeed. Okay, an injury happened to ruin what the WWE had planned. But they did a good job in laying the seeds of a big angle when Triple H showed up to screw Seth Rollins. But they have not nurtured this storyline well at all. I don't care if this is going to culminate at Wrestlemania, they should have handled these few weeks better. And if they had no intention to, they should have come up with a different angle when Finn Balor got injured to cause some buzz.When they eventually do go back to Triple H vs. Seth Rollins, I doubt that feud will have that same feel to it that it could have.

What could Seth Rollins have been doing now? Why is he not feuding with Jericho? Jericho has been a torn in his side. Those two could have feuded for one or two PPVs. By the time it was all over, it's Wrestlemania season and Triple H can take over against Rollins.

Where does that leave Kevin Owens and his title? Pick any legitimate contender in the men's division and have him go against Owens. The men's division has a lot more bodies than the women's division. In the women's division, moreover, there are just some women you would not expect to be treated as legitimate contenders for the title, like Lana. But there are so many options for the men. Why is it Seth Rollins, Seth Rollins, Seth Rollins, and Seth Rollins in the title picture so much? Especially in the brand split era, this kind of thing is just not going to work. There are so many guys being underutilized, while one guy just gets pushed in the title scene too much. I wouldn't even mind Roman Reigns getting a brief push against Kevin Owens again. He has taken a few months off from the World title scene.

Just like great booking can help a wrestler get over, terrible booking can hurt a wrestler's overness. I don't think either Sasha Banks or Seth Rollins have A+ overness, but the booking they are getting is not helping. Especially in the case of Seth Rollins, they are obviously not screwing the guy. He is a guy they want to be a top star. But they are botching. No one needs to be in the title scene this much. As a Mickie James fan, I have said in the past that I wish she had gotten some great periphery angles like Lita got. It would have helped to extend her career and take her to another level. But they only pushed her as a credible jobber. Being in the title scene so much for her was not a good thing. They were just using her to put over whom they wanted over or using her as filler. Sasha Banks looks like she is following in that path, although the new era will be kinder to her. But back to Seth Rollins, it is just so much easier to keep men relevant outside the title scene than it is for the women. There are so many men on the roster for him to feud with until Triple H continues the storyline. But this booking is just going to turn some fans against Rollins. I doubt he gets as bad as Roman Reigns, but he is not reaching his full potential.

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.

Previewing Seth Rollins Vs. Kevin Owens For Hell In A Cell 2016

This is the match that should be the main event. The Universal Championship is on the line. This feud is part of the bigger storyline between Rollins and Triple H. It has just gotten the main attention for a while now. Even then, there have been some issues that have ruined the feel for this feud. That is what I am going to start out talking about.

There are just some guys that do not have the ability to play serious characters and more comedic characters. Anderson & Gallows flopped as the WWE tried to figure out what kind of characters these guys should be. What about Roman Reigns? His issues over the last few years have been talked about very much. The WWE tried to take a guy that got over in a badass stable and turn him into this more witty character that he really couldn't handle. He doesn't have the mic skills. He's not The Rock, a guy that does have the ability to play various characters in an entertaining way, which is why he is so successful in Hollywood. I am not saying these other guys can never expand themselves to have that depth, but they just don't have it.

Even if someone does have that acting depth, there are just certain storylines where you should not want that person to drop a serious character and start acting like a bit of a clown. Pro wrestling is supposed to be about entertaining, but you don't need to be funny all the time to entertain people. Look at the heated feud Randy Orton and Triple H had a few years ago. Orton had attacked Triple H's wife, Stephanie. There was a storyline reason for Triple H to be intense and vengeful. If he started acting goofy, like he has proven he can over the years, especially with DX, that would have ruined the feel of the storyline.

What is the issue here in Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens? Specifically, look at Rollins. Some people don't like him as a face, but that happens a lot. A lot of smarks prefer heels over faces. This new face character for Seth may have some flaws, but I think the real issue is that the character he is showing recently is just inappropriate for this storyline. He's been goofing around a little, stealing The List of Jericho. Chris Jericho's list is probably the most popular thing in this storyline, but it really doesn't need to take over like it has.

Seth Rollins was screwed by Triple H a few weeks ago. He was intense about it. He was getting in Stephanie's face, even though there was no clear reason why Stephanie McMahon should be blamed for what Triple H did. He was attacking Kevin Owens. There was entertainment value in this intense character. And now, he just seems to have lost some of his edge. Without even considering whether his attempt to be more entertaining in a comedic way leans more towards The Rock's side or that of Roman Reigns, it just doesn't fit with what has been going on for all those weeks before that. That intensity over Triple H screwing him is gone. One of the issues is obviously that the WWE is dragging this on and Triple H has not given his motive yet, but I think the WWE could have done better.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with testing Seth Rollins by seeing if he can play this kind of face character. He has never been a solo face on the main roster. Challenge him a little. But doing it now hurts the feel of the storyline and the feud with Owens takes a bit of a hit because of it.

Onto the match. Who wins? Seth Rollins has failed to regain the title for months now. He needs to take a vacation from the title scene. I am expecting shenanigans in this match. It might not just be Chris Jericho, again. Triple H, himself, might once again pop up to give Seth Rollins a reason to intensely hate him again. The only way I can picture Seth winning is if he gets screwed again soon after. Think back to Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Championship a few times three years ago. All those reigns were short, The Authority screwing him out of the title multiple times. It would be better to just get Rollins out of the picture. Kevin Owens wins by shenanigans and something happens to add more fuel to Rollins vs. Triple H. That is what I am expecting. 

Let me do an aside about the WWE Network. The WWE recently revealed that they had close to 1.46 million subscribers for the last quarter. That is more than I was expecting, but still less than the WWE's own projections of 1.49 million subscribers. I had said a few months ago that the WWE should not be too confident to retain that much of the 1.52 million they had for Wrestlemania. This quarter, the return of Goldberg is something they will be leaning on to sell Survivor Series. Let's see if that investment leads to a gain in subscribers this time.

Previewing The Clash Of Champions 2016 Main Event

This match seems pretty straightforward. The winner seems obvious. But I will also take this time to look ahead to what the WWE should do with the Raw main-eventers after Clash of Champions.

First, you have Seth Rollins. He obviously has his drama with Triple H. Rollins is slowly turning into a full face. What some people might not be thinking about is the fact that Seth Rollins has been in every World title PPV match for about a year and a half now that he could possibly be in, not counting the time off he took for being injured and the recent Smackdown-only PPV. It made sense when he was WWE Champion last year, but he has just gotten title shot after title shot this year. He has even gotten some non-PPV title matches in recent months. It is just too much Seth Rollins. Even if they have decided to groom him as the centerpiece over Roman Reigns, it is too much.

In the other corner, you have the Universal Champion, Kevin Owens. He just won the title a few weeks ago. He won it in a cheap way, Triple H pretty much handing him the title. Kayfabe aside, he has not been built up for this big push like certain other guys are prior to a World title win, like Rollins and Reigns. But there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with a surprise big title win like this. The WWE shouldn't telegraph everything they are going to do. Fans will complain about them being predictable.

When these two come together this Sunday, who wins? It makes sense for it to be Kevin Owens. If Triple H screwed Rollins on Raw a few weeks ago, he's not going to let him get the title at Clash of Champions. The WWE should keep the angle going of Rollins being screwed. But will Triple H show up and do the same thing he did on Raw a few weeks ago? Will he Pedigree Rollins and hand Owens the title? Some variation of that? Will Stephanie McMahon be the one to screw Rollins? He has been taking out his anger verbally on her. Whether the story is about Stephanie legitimately not knowing her husband would screw Rollins or not, Rollins is giving her a reason to screw him herself. No matter how exactly it goes down, Kevin Owens will end up retaining the title thanks to shenanigans.

What happens after that? Seth Rollins really should move on from the title for now. He would want to get revenge on Triple H, or Triple H and Stephanie, depending on how the WWE handles the story. The WWE might try to drag this all the way to Wrestlemania, so don't expect Triple H vs. Seth Rollins for Survivor Series. What does Seth do in the meantime? What about Roman Reigns? He was also screwed by Triple H a few weeks ago out of the title. Moreover, he just beat Kevin Owens in a cage match on Raw this week. Does that create an argument for him getting a shot at the Universal Championship?

Let me start with Roman Reigns. Let him win the United States Championship from Rusev and continue that feud for a little while longer. No need to put him in a feud for the Universal Championship. Wrestling fans would dislike that even more than the endless title shots Rollins has been getting.

Speaking of Rollins, he should not be getting another shot at Kevin Owens so soon after Clash of Champions. Enough of Seth Rollins in the title scene. But if you cross that out and are not giving him Triple H immediately, what's left? How about a feud with Chris Jericho? He is friends with Owens. He might even be the one to screw Rollins this Sunday, which would make that feud even more obvious. Even if he doesn't screw Rollins, he can come out and rub it in that Rollins lost to Owens. He can mock Rollins for getting screwed. There is no real stable around Triple H and Stephanie McMahon anymore. If there was, Seth Rollins could just feud with their henchmen. He's not going to wrestle Mick Foley. The next best thing is feuding with another top heel outside the title picture. That's Chris Jericho.

Where does that leave Kevin Owens? Roman Reigns is busy with Rusev. Seth Rollins is busy with Chris Jericho. Have Owens face Cesaro. Remember him? He should be winning that series against Sheamus, and the winner gets a title shot. I have seen fans come up with some interesting scenarios with that Sheamus/Cesaro match. The WWE has been a little vague with what "title shot" actually means. Which title? I have seen one fan bring up that Cesaro will take his title shot and use it for Smackdown's World title. I have seen some fans talk about one of the two men winning the series, then being informed by Mick Foley that the title opportunity that he won was for the tag titles and his partner will be the guy he just beat at Clash of Champions. There is some room to get fancy with this angle, but I don't think there is any need for that. Give Cesaro a shot at Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship.

Wrestling fans have been wanting Cesaro to get that big push for years. I am not against him winning the series and getting this big push. I just hate the booking of the series. I can understand a face overcoming the odds, but the odds were just annoyingly against Cesaro in the series. And I would say this is the perfect time to give someone like Cesaro the push. It obviously wouldn't be the biggest story going on Raw. That would still involve Seth Rollins, but he does not need to be involved in the title chase for that story. Even Roman Reigns might still be featured better than Cesaro, but people would be happy that Reigns is out of the Universal Championship hunt. There is enough going on to still keep things going. And with the WWE Network, it's not like the WWE really needs to work hard to sell each individual PPV. For $9.99, just in terms of PPVs, you get one for Raw and one for Smackdown in a given month. The WWE's success in October does not have to hang entirely on Cesaro. But this will be a push wrestling fans can enjoy. And the WWE does seem to be interested in feeding those fans these days. 

New WWE Universal Champion: Kevin Owens

Around this time last year, many people seemed to be writing the career eulogy of Kevin Owens. He lost a feud to John Cena and some people acted like he was buried. He went on to win a feud against Cesaro and get a few midcard title runs. He has been featured consistently. He lost his feud against Sami Zayn, but has ended up being featured better than Zayn since then. And to top it all off, he won the Universal Championship on Raw last night.

He did have a lot of help. Not from Chris Jericho, his partner. Nor from Rusev, who had issues with Roman Reigns recently. Enzo Amore didn't do anything. Triple H made his return and screwed Roman Reigns. It then came down to Seth Rollins and Owens. Triple H teased helping Rollins, then screwed him, handing the title to Kevin Owens.

It is probably for the best that Finn Balor got injured, as for as creating excitement goes. The WWE created an exciting moment last night and now have people wondering why Triple H did what he did and what will happen to the various people involved in this drama, including Reigns, Rollins, and even Jericho. The "Demon King" gimmick had potential, but the WWE didn't handle it well. They didn't treat it dominantly enough. If Finn was around now, they probably would have had a very mediocre angle going for him.

Some might say that the reason they cannot book Demon Balor as something dominant is because they will book themselves into a corner. Why wouldn't Finn just use it all the time? Just have him explain in an interview that it takes a lot out of him or that he's afraid of what he might do when he goes into that zone. By doing something like that, the WWE provides a reason for Balor not going into his dominant side more often and makes that side look more intriguing. It's not like the WWE is afraid of dominant characters. Look at Brock Lesnar.

Back to Kevin Owens. I would say giving him the title is a good choice, beyond just creating drama. He can wrestle. He is charismatic. He has credibility. His only real negative is his look. They say Vince McMahon likes big men. They don't mean guys like Kevin Owens. It's not like Vince McMahon has never allowed a top title to go to a fat guy. Mick Foley held it a few times. But one hasn't held it in a while. Of course, this is a new era. Vince McMahon is more open to giving big pushes to men that would usually only get it if the fans complained heavily on their behalf or there was a whole bunch of backstage complaining.

Is he the centerpiece? Holding the top title does not always automatically make you the top star of a company, brand, or division. Let's face it, Finn Balor was supposed to be holding the title right now. If that was the case, I would be asking if he was the centerpiece. Is Kevin Owens the centerpiece? Is he interim centerpiece? Is it Seth Rollins, who will likely be turning face? Is it still meant to be Roman Reigns, who was dominating last night when Triple H came out and screwed him? Despite his title win, I would say there are too many other top guys ahead of Owens to say right away that he is the centerpiece. Nevertheless, he is going to be the longest-reigning Universal Champion so far. He is going to get some credibility. His son is going to have a new title belt to play with.

What about Seth Rollins? This will be his first face run since going solo. More importantly, he now officially gets separated from The Authority. That will be good for his development. Making him look like a weasel for so long just hurt his character. More importantly, he can finally drop the Pedigree as his finisher. A guy that talented should be able to come up with his own finisher, and hopefully one that isn't too dangerous.

And Roman Reigns? As I said, he was starting to look dominant in that match before Triple H cut him off. And it wasn't Rusev that screwed Reigns? A lot of fans were expecting that. What happens to that feud? Both Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns have a reason to want some of Triple H. Both have an argument that they were screwed out of the title. There are a couple possibilities for Roman Reigns. You can say the WWE has overbooked things, but that's what they chose to do off Finn Balor's injury. A lot of angles they had planned will have to get changed.

I am not going to leave out Big Cass. I noticed he was getting a pretty good reaction. Should the WWE accelerate his push? Should he be a WWE/Universal Champion by this time next year? No. Slow down. I remember when John Cena was getting a pretty good reaction as a midcarder and the WWE eventually gave him a big push. The fans turned on him. The WWE turned him into something that the fans hated. I can picture that happening to Cass. He is not really that great on the mic. His wrestling ability is not that amazing. Take away his gimmick, he is pretty much exposed. Start by giving Enzo & Cass the tag titles. If it wasn't for Owens winning the Universal Championship, I would say New Day should retain the tag titles against The Club, drop them to Jericho and Owens, and have them eventually drop them to Enzo & Cass. I am sure they will be holding titles one day. The wait will make the moment mean more. But as far as Cass getting a big solo push, not yet.

Previewing The Sumerslam 2016 Undercard Matches

Cesaro and Sheamus are going to have a "Best of Seven" series, the first match happening at Summerslam. These two have already faced each other multiple times. This is a boring feud that did not need to be extended this long. I would have expected this feud to end at Summerslam and both men to move on to other things. This was not even a feud that felt heated enough to need a gimmick to it, like I have said about certain other feuds, like Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn. There is a feud where a "Best of Seven" might have been more appealing. In any case, who wins this Sunday? Doesn't matter. I will say Sheamus. Let Cesaro have to come from behind. This is flavored filler for a few weeks, I'll give the WWE that.

Enzo & Cass take on Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. I am not going to call the heels by their team name. These kind of teams never last long and there is no point getting hooked. Enzo & Cass are a hot act and I will say they win here. The heels have the momentum heading into Sunday. I will also say that the feud continues past Summerslam. There is more potential for good promos here than with Cesaro vs.Sheamus, one of the things that makes extended feuds more bearable and even enjoyable.

New Day defend the tag titles against The Club. No Big E in this match. New Day already has the record, so the WWE might as well take the titles off them. I just don't think Anderson & Gallows look that great right now. I have talked about it before. Are they destructive badasses, which helped groups like The Shield be successful? Or are they a new kind of DX? I see some fans a little unhappy with how they are now being featured. Other fans like the humor. Either way, most wrestling fans would probably like them getting the titles, and they probably will.

Miz defends the Intercontinental Championship against Apollo Crews. I just don't feel like Crews has really broken out yet. He probably will win the Intercontinental Championship one day, which won't help him break out, but I will say Miz retains here. Make it a journey for Apollo Crews. Maybe that will help fans buy into him more.

Outside of the title feud between Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler, Smackdown's big feud is AJ Styles vs. John Cena. And it has been pretty routine. It feels like a weaker version of Cena vs. CM Punk. Styles is following in the path of workers like Punk and Daniel Bryan. But those two workers just had pushes that helped them to break out, whether the WWE wanted it or not. AJ Styles just feels like a guy that has gone with the flow of wherever the WWE had taken him this year. Although they have treated him pretty well, Styles does not look like an A+ player. As for who wins this match, AJ seems likely to win. Cena destroyed him on Smackdown this week. Besides that, Cena will eventually take time off again. Will Styles be the one to write him off eventually? If that is the case, maybe they will let Cena win at Summerslam and let AJ Styles look even more impressive down the line against Cena when they do give him time off. For now, I will stick with AJ Styles winning at Summerslam.

Raw's big match, outside of Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor, is Roman Reigns vs. Rusev for the United States Championship. It has even gotten the main-event slot the last two weeks. Is that because the WWE still wants Roman Reigns as the centerpiece? Or do they just realize the third hour is doing poorly most of the time and will stick their #2 feud there? Whatever the case, Roman Reigns is still being pushed better than some fans might have expected.

He might even be getting pushed better than some fans actually want. I see some fans talking about how it would send a terrible message if they let him win the United States Championship. What do some fans want? Reigns fired? He served his time for what he did. He did not win back the WWE Championship. He is not in the main event of Summerslam. William Regal screwed up when he got suspended in 2008, but they still gave him a run with the Intercontinental Championship a few months later. Some fans are just not being fair. Yes, a lot of fans hate Roman Reigns, but that doesn't mean the WWE needs to punish him even more than they have.

Back to the feud with Rusev, the WWE had them go at it on Raw this week. That match will probably be better than PPV match this Sunday. And they had Reigns win on Raw. Does that mean he loses at Summerslam? It might. Prior to this week, it just seemed like giving him a midcard title run might be likely. Cena gained some points with smarks last year when he was depushed and defending the United States Champion. A depush has eased the hatred towards Reigns in the past. It just made sense that a depush and a solid run with the U.S. title would do him some good.

The other story the WWE might want to tell is that Roman Reigns is having the worst year of his life. Remember when Cena lost to The Rock at Wrestlemania and the year he had that followed? The WWE sold it like Cena needed to redeem himself, and he obviously did it when he beat The Rock one year later for the WWE Championship. Roman Reigns lost the WWE Championship. He got suspended, something the WWE acknowledged even in kayfabe, and has been moving downwards ever since. Failing to win the title this Sunday would just further drive that point. Will they keep holding him down for a whole year? Or just until Wrestlemania next year where he might regain the the top title, likely the Universal Championship, and be the top guy again? The WWE might hope fans are sympathetic towards Reigns and it helps him get over better. Tricky plan, but the WWE might try something like that.

Which way will the WWE go? Solid midcard push? Or the redemption story? Going by how they let Reigns win the non-title match on Monday, I will say he loses to Rusev and they go with some kind of redemption story. Whether it lasts a year, a couple months, or a few weeks, the WWE might want to try the sympathy route. Let fans believe he is being punished and try to make him earn his spot back. Might not work, but they still might try it.