Random WWE Thoughts

A lot of small things going on right now that I want to give my thoughts on. First, Brodus Clay is back to being a heel. He was a heel prior to the whole dancing gimmick. This has also coincided with the debut of Xavier Woods. The supporting players, R-Truth and Tensai, also end up with something to make them relevant for a while. Given the WWE's lack of pushing midcard workers consistently, I would not imagine them to go too far with anyone involved in this feud. What was Brodus Clay doing prior to this push? Nothing. He will be doing that again soon. The same goes for Tensai. And R-Truth. As far as Xavier Woods, I cannot imagine great things for him. Nevertheless, give the WWE some credit for creating a storyline for some workers that have not been pushed well for a while.

"Bad News" Barrett. Wade Barrett has himself a gimmick. It is getting him some segment time. I like it. I really like his character. Of course, the obvious problem is that he is not getting any feuds or actual storylines, yet. All he has is this gimmick and a small amount of segment time to do his promo. This is better than nothing. He has not been relevant since he held the Intercontinental Championship earlier in the year. But it shouldn't be too hard for this to branch into a feud for Barrett. Just have him say something that offends one of the faces. The face comes out to confront him, and there is a feud. How long before they do that? Normally, I would say that doing the same thing over and over again will lead to things getting stale and you have to know when to develop things. In this case, I think Barrett handles these segments well enough to keep this going for a while. That is, as long as they have fresh material for him.

Alberto Del Rio suffered a concussion that has kept him away from wrestling recently. This seems to be the only December injury, so far. December has proven to be the month in recent years where you get injuries to big stars or performers that were in the midst of important pushes. Del Rio is a former World Champion, but he wasn't doing anything too important. He was involved in that mini-feud with Sin Cara. Seems like basic filler. Now that there is only one World title, what is a guy like Del Rio to do? A lot of fans say that this guy has always been chasing after a World title since he debuted. He has spent a lot of time doing that. They are going to have to think of something else for him. I have always said this guy's character has a lot of potential. Will they finally start utilizing that more?

Big Show and Rey Mysterio are a tag team. Another instance of the WWE simply sticking two guys together that they want to feature, but cannot come up with good solo feuds for at the moment. Moreover, they are in the tag title hunt. I am not going to complain about trying to get these two something to do, but the WWE continues to keep more legitimate tag teams down in favor of having these kind of tag teams made up of singles wrestlers getting the title feuds. Some fans point out that the WWE has so many tag teams. Some say that this is great for the tag division. Problem is, a lot of these teams are just being used as filler. Have Los Matadores gotten a legitimate feud yet? Are The Usos ever getting the tag titles? What can you expect from Xavier Woods and R-Truth? Having Kane and Daniel Bryan dominate the tag division for a while was acceptable, since there was a good angle between them, but I hope Big Show and Rey Mysterio do not last too long as a team.

Finally, let me talk about Layla. Layla? She's not doing anything. What is there to talk about? Well, I think she should get something to do. Of the divas currently on the roster, she is my favorite. That was not true during her first few years. Maybe I just didn't like her hair? And I didn't like her during her run in LayCool. Not only did I not like the gimmick, but Layla and McCool did not perform it well to make me like it. They were often too dry and annoying in their execution. A little more arrogance/cockiness and youthfulness would have been nice. They were the kind of heels that made me want to change the channel, not like them, which I usually do for good heels, or see them get owned by the faces. Enough of that. Since then, Layla has grown on me. I liked her face run after that. Nice fresh spirit. She has definitely become very good in the ring. And she is sexy. Of course, she is an eye-candy credible jobber, so I don't need to ask why the WWE is not pushing her. Nevertheless, I still believe the WWE needs more creative depth in the diva division right now. Give Layla something meaningful to do. Periphery angle or an in-ring push? I don't know how well she would work in a periphery angle. If the WWE starts developing a better midcard, that might make things better for a periphery angle for her. Give her a feud. I would make her face. Given the WWE's desire to push eye-candy divas as the centerpiece of their diva division, I would have Layla get that position. Not happening. I wouldn't be surprised if Layla is not kept around by the WWE. They aren't exactly treating her as someone they would keep around.

Wrestlemania 29's Diva Match

This is the worst diva match at Wrestlemania in a long time. That is really not a shot at the women involved as much as it is a criticism of how the WWE has been developing those involved. Tons of Funk and Naomi and Cameron will take on Rhodes Scholars and The Bella Twins.

Brodus Clay and Tensai have been lower-midcarders prior to the recent push they are getting. Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow are solid midcarders. The problem with them is the WWE has not been able to decide whether to push them as a team or solo over the last few weeks. Cameron and Naomi have been eye-candy periphery divas since their debut. This is their first real push. The Bellas just returned a few weeks ago. This match was just randomly developed over the last few weeks, but at least there is development.

When you look at the past diva matches in recent years, the quality of the feud and match have been brought down by having too many divas involved and sometimes bringing in celebrities. This is another multi-diva match, but at least no celebrity is involved. Nevertheless, in terms of star power, the divas in this match are pretty weak. Should they have ran with the feud involving AJ and Kaitlyn? I would say so. Even if not a title match, get them involved in some kind of diva tag match. AJ Lee is the top diva right now, as a periphery diva. I doubt the WWE will be developing any of the women in this tag match as the next centerpiece. Who wins? Should be the faces.

Last thing to consider, should this have been the match bumped off the card and put on the pre-show? Would it really have upset Diva-Dirt that much? This is the only match on the Wrestlemania card that does not involve a former World Champion. The Intercontinental title match deserves to be on the card more. That is a title match. What is really on the line in this 8-person tag? Nothing. This is one of those matches that would be fine at any other PPV of the year, but just doesn't seem big enough for a Wrestlemania. 

Santino Is Still Champ, Right?

I was thinking about current things in the WWE that I may have been overlooking. How about that Santino? He is still United States Champion, but he really hasn't done anything relevant with the title for a while now. That is not surprising. Before him, Jack Swagger was not doing much with the title. Before him, Zack Ryder had a bad reign. Dolph Ziggler was the last well-booked U.S. Champion.

The WWE still seems to be continuing issues between Santino and Ricardo. Both are comedy characters, but both can wrestle. Why not make more of a legitimate feud out of this? For the title? Yes. Crazy? I don't think it is as crazy as putting a title on a popular worker and not doing anything relevant with him. Am I saying Ricardo should win the title? No. But this can at least make for an interesting feud in the midcard.

Getting serious, who should be the real person to actually take the title off Santino? No need for him to lose it to another comedy character, but I think he has held the title long enough. What heel could use it? Give it back to Swagger? I could only see him getting it if they wanted to transition it to another face they wanted to develop. They definitely do not care about developing Swagger, at the moment. Now that Tensai is heading into a direction that may fit him more, the midcard, I don't think it would be bad to give him a title run. Have him beat Santino. If the WWE had lost all faith in the guy, they would have just dropped him completely, especially after his loss to Cena. They didn't drop him. They had him lose to Sheamus this week. Then, Tensai beat up his buddy. He is pretty much crumbling before our very eyes. But he has to level off somewhere. Or get released. This guy isn't so horrible that he needs to go to FCW. There is also Otunga. Again, people may criticize his wresting ability, but he has never held a singles title. And he has definitely gotten a lot of good solo attention lately. Other than those two, I cannot think of a heel on Raw that really deserves a title run and is not already involved in something more. Santino definitely does not need the title to be used.

Cena Overcomes Cole And Tensai

John Cena sure made up for not being in a televised match on last week's Raw. This week, he defeated both Tensai and Michael Cole. When they announced that Michael Cole would be facing Cena, you could almost feel it would be one of those crappy Raws. If you are a fan of comedy, you might have thought the main event was great.

CM Punk was once again left out of the main event for the sake of Cena. When this happened for Cena/Rock, you could understand. For Cena/Lesnar, you could let it go. For Cena/Laurinaitis, you can even allow it, since Cena was feuding against the GM. Last week, Big Show's "match" against Brodus Clay trumped WWE title matters. That is where things, speaking for myself, really started to get stretched. But the show closing with Cena vs. Michael Cole? Above Kane vs. CM Punk, which was a match hyped as having to have a winner? I know Cena is centerpiece, but they really need to give it a break. That was just too much of a waste of time. And they decided to not even use Big Show, which makes up for not using Cena during the program last week. But for the sake of just allowing Cena to humiliate Cole? Stupid.

Of course, looking at what happened before Cena beat Michael Cole, Cena avenged his loss to Tensai. Not shocking at all. Even if Tensai had not dropped down in the ladder for the sake of Big Show, he still would have ended up losing to Cena. Cena officially looks like the hero that toppled Tensai, handing him his first official loss. Did he need it? As I said before, it would have been stupid to waste it on Brodus Clay, or anyone lower than that. Cena and Punk were the only two real options on Raw to beat Tensai first. Tensai did return later to try to cost Cena the match, but it didn't work. It doesn't really matter. Tensai's downfall will still continue. I think he will be extremely lucky just to win a midcard title from here.

The Fall Of Tensai

He is no longer a "Lord", but he didn't lose this week. Nevertheless, Tensai's momentum is slowing down. The Big Show has become the top heel aligned with John Laurinaitis. Tensai has taken a slight demotion. He was featured in a main event against John Cena and World's Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, teaming with two former World Champions, and I call that a demotion? Yes. As much focus is not on him as was for a while.

Does he deserve to be moved down? I never really had faith in this guy. When he did finally get put in regular matches, he seemed sloppy at times. And his moves still do not seem that impressive to me. He might as well be used to put over a top face, get shoved around the card for a while, maybe be given a different gimmick, and then leave. If he manages to somehow get over in between all that, then they would have good reason to keep him around. Until that potentially happens, he is a pain for me to watch. I usually don't say that about a lot of wrestlers, but I am disappointed in this guy. Aside from the gimmick, nothing interesting here.

I talked about who should be the guy to beat Brodus a while back, so I might as well do the same for Tensai. Say what you want about Brodus, he at least entertains the crowd. And I see him as a little more smoother in the ring than Tensai. I had said that Tensai should be the top choice to beat Brodus. That would build up Tensai more before he put someone over. Should Brodus be the guy to end Tensai's streak? I wouldn't say so. Brodus does not need that. And unless Brodus starts getting serious, I don't see why he should be the one to beat a guy treated like a threat like Tensai. I wouldn't be surprised if Tensai loses to Cena in the weeks building up to Cena vs. Big Show. If not Cena, Tensai will lose to CM Punk. I don't think the WWE will even bother trying to keep Tensai that strong until a potential title feud. Any midcard face beating Tensai would be degrading and a waste. He may not be great, but he doesn't deserve that.