The Great Khali Returns

Jinder Mahal did indeed retain the WWE Championship against Randy Orton at Battleground. And he did it thanks to The Great Khali.

I have said for a while now that the WWE should stop bringing back people. There are various reasons why. First, it costs money to pay all these people. A lot of fans are unhappy with certain cuts that have been happening recently. Some of those cuts are due to budget issues. There hasn't been mass releases this year, however. Second, the WWE has so many workers already and can't do a lot of them justice. Instead of spending time properly building stars and utilizing talent right, they just look for easy answers by bringing in all these people. Lastly, it doesn't do anything in the long run. After the initial buzz, the WWE just goes back to fumbling around. Ratings continue to decline. Fans are not consistently energized. The company finds themselves in these situations where they need to cut costs. Bringing in all these people just doesn't solve the issue, so why rely so heavily on this? Stop it.

Bringing back The Great Khali is just scraping the bottom of the barrel and shows the WWE has no solid direction right now. For a while, it looked like they were going in the direction of treating wrestling with more respect. You had the women's revolution. You had the return of the cruiserweight division. AJ Styles. Nakamura. A lot of guys from NXT. Roman Reigns has not held a World title in a year. But then the WWE does stupid stuff, like all the crap with James Ellsworth. The Great Khali returning just fits in with that garbage. He is not a great wrestler. Of all the people to bring back, not him. You have already had the return of Mickie James, Kurt Angle, and The Hardys this year, among some others. But these names I just mentioned are at least known for being good in-ring workers. Even if age has slowed some of them down, they are still known by wrestling fans for being good in the ring. The Great Khali is not. If the WWE is going to bring people back, they have to know what they want to be and try to stick to that identity. That doesn't mean they should never sign anyone that goes against that identity, but don't make it a habit. And don't sign someone as terrible as The Great Khali.

It doesn't matter how long he is back for. He should not get too physical at all. He obviously will. He cannot attack Randy Orton and think nothing more will come of it. Some people have talked about the idea of The Great Khali being Jinder Mahal's bodyguard. On paper, it sounds nice. But when you take into account the WWE's budget issues, all the other workers being misused, these returns not helping, and The Great Khali just not being great, it isn't a good idea in reality.

The Punjabi Princess

The Great Khali, Hornswoggle, and Natalya. An odd team. They have been together for a number of weeks now. Hornswoggle and Khali have actually teamed up. Natalya has just been inserted in there. This is obviously not something that will do too much for the diva division, but it would be scary if the WWE tried to do something with the tag division with this team.

What does this mean for Natalya? Are they developing her to be a periphery diva? I don't think so. First, there is no real development for her. Second, she is not exactly paired with a guy that is being pushed well. The Great Khali has not been relevant in years. He beats jobbers under him, but is frequently used to put over stars above him. Third, I cannot imagine the WWE being consistent with Natalya after this team breaks up. Consistency is one of the main things to look at when figuring out what kind of career a diva is getting. Go back to when Victoria had that long partnership with Stevie Richards. How would you compare Stevie Richards back then to The Great Khali now? Regardless, Victoria didn't get another good relationship with a superstar after that. Victoria was an obvious credible jobber, much like Natalya. This isn't Natalya's first time paired with the guys, but DH Smith and Tyson Kidd were not exactly pushed well for years. Getting to the point, going back to the original question, what does this mean for Natalya? Don't get your expectations up for anything too great.

It is still good that Natalya is getting featured, even though the development is not there to help her get over. Just like the WWE did more with the divas during their first dark age, you had to wonder how long it would take for them to do it now. That dark age started after the centerpiece left the company and they did not have a proper replacement already on the roster. This dark age came about after years of failure to recreate a good centerpiece. Even though they have a solid centerpiece now, I wouldn't say the problem solved until Eve has really solidified herself in that position. Beyond that, they have a shortage of good credible jobbers. Natalya is one of the good ones. Using her against Eve would not be enough to fix things and get out of this dark age, but I would not be surprised to see them feud in time. Kaitlyn will most likely win the title, but Eve will regain it in time. After that, unless they make the better decision of debuting someone fresh, Natalya is a good choice to feud with Eve. Until then, Natalya is benefiting in this current dark age by getting some periphery angles.

And what about Khali and Hornswoggle? Could you imagine them winning the tag titles? It obviously doesn't look like the WWE will head in that direction, but this tag division revival is slowing even further with only two teams getting the main spotlight. The WWE just cannot bring themselves to use The Usos or The Colons better. Jobber teams. The WWE has now formed another random team with Khali and Hornswoggle. If this trio ever feuds with 3MB, Natalya would make Jinder Mahal tap in under a minute.

Elimination Chamber 2012 Preview

Since Elimination Chamber is this weekend, I am going to look at the four major matches announced for the PPV card.

First, Raw's Elimination Chamber match. CM Punk defends against Chris Jericho, Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, and R-Truth. Obviously, you have some great workers in this match. Match quality should not be a problem. But how has the WWE been doing in building up the idea that every man involved really has a chance at winning? I have said before that this is really a feud between Punk and Jericho. I am not expecting any of the midcarders and upper-midcarders in this match to win. It is going to come down to either Jericho winning or Punk winning. I am not saying either will necessarily be the final two. I'm just saying the winner will most likely be one of those two guys. I am not going to bother picking the order of eliminations. Personally, I would have Jericho win the title. That sets up the rematch at Wrestlemania.

Second, Smackdown's Elimination Chamber match. Daniel Bryan defends against Big Show, The Great Khali, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, and Santino Marella (replacing Randy Orton). Remember what I just said about match quality not being a problem in Raw's Chamber match? You might have some problems here. Santino is a joke character. The Great Khali is not so great. Luckily, the type of match this is should allow for some impressive spots, regardless of the type of workers you have. Obviously, this match has been ravaged by injuries. The Great Khali came back to fill in for Mark Henry. Santino is in for an injured Orton. I would rather have a healthy Mark Henry and Randy Orton in this match. I'm sure the WWE would too. Nevertheless, the Smackdown title picture is not set yet for Wrestlemania. Who will Sheamus face? I am not thinking they will insert him in Punk/Jericho. I still don't feel Sheamus vs. Bryan for the title is that epic, no matter how they try to build it. If there is going to be something controversial in either Chamber match, I am thinking it will be here. Title change? Someone takes out Santino and robs him of his spot? Who do I think will win? Out of the men in the match, judging by the build they have been giving them, it really is a toss up. They have brought down Barrett's momentum recently, which is a topic for another day. Cody Rhodes already has a title, and I doubt he will be holding two right now. Big Show might win from how the storyline is going. Santino is doubtful. The Great Khali winning would show that the WWE is really in a desperate position. And you have to give some credibility to the notion that the WWE will continue Bryan's pattern of sneaking out wins to somehow have him retain. Whatever the case, this match will most likely not end the way the WWE would have wished it to before all the injuries. Unless there is some kind of switch in who is in the match, I wouldn't be surprised if the Champion retains.

Third, the Ambulance match. Cena and Kane will end the feud here. Time for Cena to start moving on to The Rock and Wrestlemania. That kind of already started before the end of the current feud between Kane and Cena, but that was to be expected. Had Orton not gotten injured and taken out the PPV, I was going to spend the other day talking about the Kane/Cena development from Raw. It was great. I won't go into it too much, but I feel the WWE both developed the storyline and hyped the match. Will Cena embrace the hate? I still doubt that will be happening this Sunday. If Cena turns heel, it would make more sense to do it when The Rock is around. Match quality? This is the kind of environment where this feud will make for a good match. Eve involvement? Will they stretcher out whatever remains of Zack Ryder? As for the winner, it would make sense for John Cena to overcome Kane.

Fourth, the match for the Diva's Championship. Tamina will take on Beth Phoenix. This is a filler feud and a filler match. It is funny how they have developed this feud on both Raw and Smackdown, yet I think you can see that it is not even as hyped as Kane/Cena, which has really only been developed on Raw. There are numerous reasons for this. Obviously, the feud between the two men may only be progressed on one show, but it is progressed in many segments in a given night. Most importantly, there is an actual storyline there. In this diva feud, it is just a basic title feud. They loaded Tamina up with wins, credibility, and some attention, while still keeping Beth Phoenix strong, then have them meet at a PPV for the title. Tamina winning the title is doubtful to the highest degree. Whether they want Beth Phoenix to face Kharma, Layla, or Kelly Kelly at Wrestlemania, or whatever, they are keeping her strong for something. They are just gliding her through. Her overness? Outside of Buffalo? Not too great. As for Tamina, this treatment will do about as much for her overness as Natalya's title run a little over a year ago did for her. Nothing. Neither diva will gain too much from this, not that they are supposed to, but Beth will probably walk out with the title, for what that is worth.

Nexus Wants Khali?

A few weeks ago, I talked about how I did not like how the WWE went from talking about The Great Khali leaving to refocus, then returning as an even bigger joke as he was before. Last week, when he was announced as a member of Team Cena, that was a step in the direction that can at least make him look credible again.

The plot thickens. Not only is Khali the obvious powerhouse on Cena's team, not only have they had him tease friction with Edge, but now they are teasing the idea that Nexus wants Khali on their side. Without spoiling what happens next week, you can also say that Nexus is just scared of having to deal with him. This is definitely an interesting element in this whole mess.

There is also the issue of what Ranjin Singh will do in all this. He turned slightly against Khali in the backstage segment that first really tied Khali to this feud many weeks ago. The WWE jas not really developed on that, until now. I know Khali is a joke in the ring, but I think it is clear that even the giant joke can be treated seriously to help further a storyline like this. It is definitely easier for me to handle than the WWE pretending Bret can still wrestle.

The Other Great Superhero

Other than Bret Hart, the interesting pick for Team Cena is The Great Khali. I had said that it was pathetic how they hyped him as taking a break to refocus back when he was on Smackdown, but then turn him into a joke on Raw. But going from that to getting involved in the Nexus angle so quickly? Nexus never attacked him. The closest Khali ever came when it comes to getting involved in this angle in a personal way was when his manager said he would be the first one to run if Nexus attacked.

What can Khali offer to this angle? Well, he is a powerhouse. Team Cena can benefit from that in a way. He can also be showing that he is not a coward. This may lead to Ranjin turning heel. This may also be the start of using Khali as a main-event jobber again. Sounds terrible? Well, how awkward does it look to have a former World Champion playing with Doink? I hope it plays out well for Khali.