People Power Ends

Let me go back to what I said before No Way Out.

Unless the WWE plans to bring in a controversial replacement for Laurinaitis or make their summer angle revolve around Laurinaitis trying to revolt in some way, John Cena should be the one losing.

Obviously, John Cena did not lose. No clear signs of Laurinaitis trying to regain his power have popped up. How about a controversial replacement? The WWE has decided to run with interim GMs. That is not something I had in mind, and I definitely would not consider it controversial, but it is an interesting thing to do. There have been a lot of legends who have been in charge in the last few years. We have already seen Mick Foley. How about Bret Hart? I would be happy to see Stephanie McMahon again. And even though William Regal is still on the roster, it would be nice to see him used in a relevant role again, even if only for a short period. Moreover, depending on what the WWE does with the future GMs to come, this can branch off to that controversial summer angle. Simply rotating GMs is not good enough to count as a big angle. Nevertheless, it does get people interested in who may be coming back to run the show and the kind of things that might happen.

John Laurinaitis is gone. Would they bring him back for a run as interim GM? It would be funny if that somehow led to him regaining full power. As of now, he is gone. I honestly think he should have lasted longer. And then you have the issue a lot of people may have. Did Cena have to be the guy to get rid of him? I would have had a good feud between Laurinaitis and Triple H, but that was long before Triple H and Brock Lesnar started their issues. Before that, everyone would have said that CM Punk should be the guy who topples Mr. Excitement. CM Punk's whole gimmick last year was that he was anti-establishment. Laurinaitis was his enemy. I wouldn't say that the WWE shifting away from that is an example of bad writing or not being able to follow a storyline through. I would say that it is an example of once again putting the centerpiece in a spotlight where he may not have belonged. Did Cena really need to look like a hero here? Whatever some people want to say, he did end up looking like a hero. They spent a long time building up Laurinaitis, and it paid off for Cena.

And ratings? I read that it was a 3.42 for Raw this week. That is a very good number and will definitely help elevate the low yearly average Raw has gotten so far in 2012. For the sake of comparison, not one Raw during the summer of 2011 saw an average rating as high as a 3.4. People tuned in to see Laurinaitis go? Fans are always talking about this guy being the reason for bad ratings, but if ratings do eventually sink back to anything around a 3.0 or lower (before football season), what will the excuse be then?

Jobbers Take Over Tag Division

The direction the tag division has taken recently is kind of funny. In the last few weeks, you had Ziggler and Swagger, who are arguably the top heel team, split up for the benefit of Ziggler getting more of a singles push. As far as R-Truth and Kofi Kingston went, they were obviously the top tag team of the division and held the titles. Problem is, R-Truth got injured. That pretty much leaves your two major teams broken.

What does the WWE do? With the tag division showing even fewer resources to run optimally than the diva division, they pulled in four tag teams for a #1 contenders match at No Way Out. There were actually four other teams other than Ziggler/Swagger and Truth/Kingston? Yes. They were hidden away in the lower-midcard. These teams would be lucky if they even got to job on Raw in recent weeks.

Darren Young and Titus O'Neil have been getting some good exposure lately. They are the ones who ended up winning the title shot. They also have developed a little feud with Epico, Primo, and Rosa, after A.W. betrayed his former clients. An actual storyline in the tag division? Epico and Primo have held the titles before, so it is good that the WWE is still giving them attention. I did find having them win on Raw this week stupid. If you are going to build up Darren Young and Titus O'Neil, they will need some wins to build up their credibility. Even a cheap win would do. Instead, Epico and Primo get the cheap win. But I do realize that the WWE pretty much needs to do this. Even if the current Tag Champs were at 100%, they would have to break up eventually. And then what? You start building up new teams? Why not start now, especially when R-Truth is not ready to go? Overall, I have to give the WWE credit for their recent interest in the tag division. It's too bad it took the possible short-term collapse of the division for them to do it, but still good.

Brodus Matures

Brodus Clay is still undefeated. Otunga did not defeat him in the pre-show match last night. More importantly, Brodus was an instrumental part in Big Show's loss in the main event. Obviously, Big Show made a few enemies during the course of the storyline, and that came back to haunt him.

This is the kind of Brodus Clay that I was hoping for 2 or 3 months ago. This is more than just squash matches against the regular jobbers on the roster. The WWE is finally having this guy show he is more than just a dancing comedy character. This is good character development. From here, Brodus can continue to be used in more regular feuds.

Where should he go from here? An obvious answer would be a legitimate feud with Big Show. I don't see any need to continue Cena/Show. As everyone knows, those two have already been in various feuds over the years already. I would also say that now would be the time to finally develop a midcard title feud for Brodus, but there is an obvious problem with that. The U.S. and Intercontinental Championships are held by faces. A heel would have to win them first, then eventually transition to a feud with Brodus. That would take a while. Big Show and Cena does not need to continue, and some fans may hate if it does, so a feud between Big Show and Brodus Clay would be great. Start developing a new big man.

And in something completely unrelated, I was watching one of those old-time shows. It wasn't a wrestling show. The host passed along some interesting words of wisdom. He said, "A rumor is like a check- don't endorse it until you're sure it's genuine." Probably heard it before, but just keep it in mind.

Dance Or Die

I'm not allowed to ever mention my favorite singer, am I?

Vince McMahon returned on Raw, made fun of Jim Ross, danced a little, put John Laurinaitis in a "Do or Die" situation, and got killed off again. On Smackdown, it will be revealed that John Cena might end up being fired, if he does not defeat Big Show in that cage match. In other words, someone is going to lose their job.

Did the match really need that added stipulation? Just go back to how the match looked before this week. John Cena vs. Big Show in a cage was going to be the main event of a PPV, trumping World title matches. These two have faced each other before in PPV matches that did not involve a title. It wasn't the main event then, so what makes this feud worthy of it now? Enter Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis. Putting the GM job on the line definitely makes it worthy of the top match on the card. But making it seem like Cena now has something to overcome? He has beaten Big Show lots of times. I have to admit, they at least made things more interesting to try to draw in buys.

Who will win? Obviously, no matter what happens, it can all be undone very easily. Cena has been "fired" before. Remember when Cena was drafted to Smackdown? That didn't last long. But how should the WWE handle this situation? Laurinaitis losing his job will lead people to wondering who will be in charge next. How will that person run things? Will Laurinaitis try to fight back? If Cena loses, that will cause even bigger controversy. Of course, they didn't exactly follow up with that kind of direction the last time they did it very well. Unless the WWE plans to bring in a controversial replacement for Laurinaitis or make their summer angle revolve around Laurinaitis trying to revolt in some way, John Cena should be the one losing. That would be the only real outcome that will get people wondering whether the status quo will really change or not.

Del Rio Out, Ziggler In

I was hoping Alberto Del Rio's injury would not have been serious enough to make him drop out of his title match against Sheamus. Sadly, it was. He had just returned from a serious injury a few months ago. It forced him to miss competing at several pay-per-views, including Wrestlemania, although they probably still could have used him there.

Dolph Ziggler will be taking his spot. Not a bad choice at all. A former World's Heavyweight Champion will be challenging for the World's Heavyweight Championship. His reign was pathetic, but I don't need to remind anyone of that. Question is, what will the WWE do with this push? Go back to January. Dolph Ziggler was feuding with CM Punk for the WWE Championship. However, Ziggler was really just a pawn or supporting player in the larger storyline between CM Punk and John Laurinaitis. Not surprisingly, he soon got phased down after he got his shot at the title. The WWE cannot afford to do that kind of thing again. Why do I say that? Look at all the injuries, suspensions, and flops that have been going on in the last few months. Alberto Del Rio is injured. Randy Orton was suspended. Tensai flopped. Those are just some of the issues. No need to list them all. Fact is, there is definitely a need to develop new stars. Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio may be back soon, but neither are too reliable, despite being great workers when they are around. Jericho has a music career that cuts in on his availability with the WWE. Mysterio gets injured a lot. You can say that they have Sin Cara to replace Mysterio, but who can really replace Jericho? CM Punk still seems to be in a league of his own right now. Dolph Ziggler may not be at Jericho's level on the mic, but he can deliver in the ring. This is a guy they should develop to be a star.

Should Ziggler win at the PPV? I think they should develop him, but not necessarily push him to the moon. Sheamus should retain at No Way Out. If the WWE is not going to give Del Rio back the push after that, continue to develop Ziggler to win the title. That is how I would do it.

Big Red Monster Inserted Into A Wrestling Classic

Kane has been inserted into the title match that will be happening between Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. Good or bad? Considering how good CM Punk and Daniel Bryan work together, inserting a big guy like Kane may ruin the potential of the match for those kind of fans who love the style Punk and Bryan bring. In that sense, adding Kane is bad. On the other hand, Punk and Bryan have already been facing each other way too much in recent months. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing? In this case, it just might be. It might run stale after a while.

Speaking for myself, someone who does not consider himself as elitist in my opinion as certain other fans, I think they should have kept Kane out. There was already AJ Lee in this storyline to make it interesting and more than a basic title feud. Even though I don't watch wrestling simply for great wrestling matches, I was imagining the idea of having Punk and Bryan face in an Ironman Match. It has been a while since you had one of those. And a match like that between these two would definitely be a classic and please a lot of fans. Of course, problem is, if Daniel Bryan does win the title at No Way Out, that would have to lead to a rematch. That would mean even more matches just between these two within the span of a few months. If that is where the WWE goes with this, you have to accept Kane being inserted into this as a welcomed break from the same old thing. However, if the WWE does not plan to have AJ turn on Punk and help Bryan win the title, and Punk thus ends up retaining, adding Kane was just unnecessary baggage.

From the standpoint of a Kane fan, adding Kane is not too bad. What else would the guy really have had to do in the last few weeks and at the PPV? Look at how far he has sunk since his return. He returns to put over the centerpiece of the company. He then gets demoted down to putting over the "Franchise Player" of Smackdown. He spends a few weeks not being relevant, defeating Zack Ryder in a pre-show PPV match. Ryder? Seriously? Woo Woo Woo? Point is, Kane really has fallen. And it is pretty clear that he has been forced into this feud. This feud was already good with the storyline involving AJ. Now they have this second storyline of Kane trying to get revenge on Punk and Bryan and possibly win the WWE title. It definitely makes things interesting. But if Kane was not getting this, how likely would it have been that he would still be lost in the shuffle?