A Laptop Runs Raw

Week 2 of an "Anonymous GM" running Raw. It had some promise when it was first announced. Who would it be? What would he do next? The mystery is still there, but I am getting annoyed.

I am hoping the WWE intends for this guy to be a heel. If not that, they want him viewed negatively until he is revealed. That may be why they have Michael Cole reading the messages, not Lawler. The laptop gets a podium now? Even I found that to be too much. And that stupid noise...THAT NOISE. It irritates me.

I am still hoping that Michael Cole has a greater role in something, whether it be the GM angle or Nexus. He has been near to all the things so far. He would definitely be a guy you would not suspect easily to be the mastermind of anything. I wouldn't mind.

And They Won't Die Young

Reports say Wade Barrett is missing due to issues with his work visa. If you cannot tell, the guy is from Great Britain. The leader of Nexus, the winner of NXT1, is out of the picture, at least for the moment. That is a heart-breaker.

I said that the WWE did not need Daniel Bryan to have that NXT angle work. I stand by that. He was not the winner of the competition. He was doing more to make himself stand out in the initial attack than the WWE would have intended. Wade Barret was the one meant to stand out. He had his contract. Bryan and the other losers were all in the same boat. Barrett, who also had a title shot coming up sooner or later, was the one that the WWE had to build as a leader so they can credibly put him against a World Champion. Point is, Barrett was the one that mattered the most in this angle. Without him, what do you have?

And then there were 6. Who is the leader of the group? The group does need a leader. They cannot stay a unit forever. When they break up, the WWE must have invested more in some than in others. That is how they will get certain of them over more in relation to the rest. That is how they will build momentum in the ones they plan to really push. If the WWE just pushes them equally, who are the fans really supposed to latch on to? The black one? The sexy guy? The dude who does the cool flips? Even if that is how it works, the popular member may not have the momentum for a good push after the group if all are pushed evenly now. Moreover, they need someone to really give the group directionality and focus. Without it, they just seem even more mindless, which begs the issue that someone else has to be pulling their strings.

Who steps up? Assuming Barrett, who I liked as leader, is written out, that leaves 6 men. Otunga finished in 2nd place. He would be an obvious choice. Heath Slater looked like he could step up on Monday. Honestly, whatever they choose, the angle seems damaged now. They started with 8, did not lose much momentum at all after Daniel Bryan was released, but now lose their leader and the man who had the most credibility to gain, and had to gain, from being in front of a group like this. Sad. The chosen ones have dropped. Soon there may be only one left. Speaking of all that, how's Drew doing?

Why Do We Still Have Guest Hosts?

My first thoughts for tonight's Raw have nothing to do with the superstars or storylines of Raw. No. I am going to talk about Rob Zombie. Did you miss his 5 seconds out there? He was the guest host tonight.

The guy comes out to the ring, without even bringing The Bellas with him, talks about crap, names the people in Raw's Money in the Bank match, has a meaningless exchange of "who dumped who?" with Edge, and that was basically it. Never saw him again. HUGE disappointment. I hate guest host crap, but if you are going to bring them just for boring crap like that, it still gets on my nerves. Speaking for myself, as a horror fan, I may have been interested if he incorporated that into the show somehow. Nope. I would still be somewhat unhappy that time is being wasted on guest host nonsense, but at least it would be interesting nonsense. I do not know whether they had a better plan and changed, but this was a waste tonight.

Why would celebrities still want to host with Nexus running wild? That could be the kayfabe reasoning for ending this thing. Nexus could have easily have come after Rob Zombie tonight. He is not a superstar in wrestling. Maybe they will in the future.

Bischoff Should Have Stayed Heel

Many people are feeling that TNA is sliding into ruin before it even won a big battle against the WWE. Knockouts division is going down. TNA is giving away great matches on free TV, yet they cannot get great ratings. There are a lot of things I can talk about. All of that aside for now, I want to talk about one of the problems that deal more with storyline.

Flair's group is pretty lame. When was the last time any member won a really big match at a PPV? They get a few mediocre wins on Impact here and there, and sometimes not even enough of that. They are booked poorly. Moreover, how can these guys really compete against Hogan and the rest of management, who are all faces? They faces can try to be fair and all that, but "fair" to heels is usually what is "fair" to them.

They needed leverage. TNA teased having Eric Bischoff be heel and align with Flair months ago. That would have been so great for the group. What happens? Bischoff realigns with Hogan. Was that really necessary? Bischoff does not even come off as that believable a face a lot of the time. Hogan is way more popular than him.

Flair's group still needs that leverage. Can they still get it? Why not? Make this great battle really heat up. Make it seem like it will be more of a war. I think that will draw viewers' interests.

What's More Important Than The World Titles?

For both of the main WWE shows, the major thing going on in the main event seems to be storylines revolving loosely around the World Champions. Raw's NXT angle does not have to tie into the title scene, but it has. Smackdown's Taker angle does not have to either, but Kane's involvement in the match was responsible for a lot at Fatal Four Way.

On Smackdown this week, it seems the World Championship took a vacation from being the focus in the main event. Many can say there is a good reason for that, but I say you do not need Rey Mysterio there to hype the title in the main event. Jack Swagger is the former Champion. He gets a rematch. He had a match that night against a former top contender, Big Show. That could have been the main event right there, and I am not talking about dark matches. Instead, we get a wild brawl between CM Punk and Kane. The angle involving Kane is the most interesting thing going on in Smackdown's main event scene. That is what the WWE is pushing to draw the fans. Not a bad choice. Is Swagger getting screwed? I would say not.

Is CM Punk getting screwed? Kane is getting an angle he probably would not have gotten had Taker not been injured, so I am not crying for him. CM Punk seems like just an innocent body they threw in Kane's path to prolong the angle. Yeah, Punk is heel, but I am guessing he is innocent as far as the guy who beat up Taker goes. Punk could have been involved in an angle involving the development of his own group. He could have been hanging on the fringes of the title scene, at least until Swagger got his rematch. He could have been doing a lot of things besides this. Point is, he may be getting the short end of the stick. I will be watching how the feud develops, but Punk has beaten Kane and Kane has beaten Punk. There is no fresh statement to really make there. What will be said for Punk?

Swagger Reborn?

Jack Swagger lost his World title to Rey Mysterio last Sunday. That was the end of a reign that saw Swagger drop the usual goofy demeanor he had since he came to the WWE in ECW. Even though he lost his title, however, he continues down the path of being a serious contender.

On Smackdown, in addition to saying when he will be taking his rematch, he faced Big Show. Big Show is a man Swagger has had really no luck against. When they first started this feud, I was hoping that Big Show would be used to show that Swagger can hold his own against a real main-eventer. That did not happen, until tonight. Ankle lock? Swagger showing a vicious attitude to get himself DQed and "injure" Big Show? It took losing the title to have the WWE push this intensity in him? This is what the fans need to see. I think it is a great development.

Make all the comparisons to Kurt Angle you want. When I first saw Jack Swagger, with his cocky gimmick and that pose he did, I thought of him as a Randy Orton dunked in toxic waste. He was a clown. Now he has definitely developed further to follow the path of Kurt Angle. Excuse me. The WWE has developed him further to follow the path of Kurt Angle. Honestly, he is a poor man's answer to Kurt Angle. He is going to have to develop himself further to really stand on his own, not to mention really surpass Kurt Angle. The WWE can try their little tricks to get the job done, but I doubt that will do it for me. It may con some of the fans. If it needs to be said, this is coming from a Swagger fan. I like him. I would rather the WWE stop using certain people to be answers to what TNA has, but that is another issue.

Poor Desmond Wolfe?

A lot of them hardcore wrestling fans out there would think Desmond Wolfe should be the centerpiece of TNA. It is those fans who voted this guy to get a title shot against Rob Van Dam a while ago. I like what I like. Should I be shedding tears for Desmond Wolfe?

Desmond Wolfe is pretty much on the same level as Daniel Bryan and Kaval when it comes to how hardcore of a fanbase they had before even making it into a major promotion. Honestly, I am liking Desmond more than some of the other things internet fans like to push down my throat. As I have said before, I only started to pay real attention to TNA once Hogan hype developed. I had not much of an impression of Desmond Wolfe before then. All that I knew was that the internet loved him. I saw him, and he has grown on me. Again, maybe it is the British thing.

Besides the fact that he has not had a big, significant win in I don't even know how long, I now see rumors popping up that the new TNA management is not very high on him. Boo hoo? In all honesty, yeah, boo hoo! I think this guy at least deserves a good push in the midcard. I could complain about how Flair's whole group is being booked too weakly overall, but that is too great a matter for right now. If they do work Desmond Wolfe completely away from the group, I am having a tough time saying that he will have many options in the midcard. So much on the show already revolves around either matters involving Flair's guys or narrow title feuds involving the lesser titles or other main event matters, I do not think Wolfe would get anything. Too much attention right now seems to be put on the ranking system. Too much attention on the main event. TNA should develop the midcard better. That is where a guy like Wolfe can come in.

Of course, I am not saying to keep him in midcard hell. Build him up there. In a perfect world, what this guy has already done in TNA would have earned him the right to be in Flair's group. But if the rumors are true, Desmond Wolfe has to be pushed well in the midcard or he may be treated even worse than some have been complaining about.

Savannah Released

Savannah (Angela Fong) has been released by the WWE. You may know her as the announcer on what used to be ECW and now NXT. Only those who cared to look it up would know that she was training to become a wrestler. She was wrestling in FCW. She got released before her first official match in the WWE. I am not counting tag matches in house shows.

This woman was rated extremely well by many while she was still just in FCW. They said she had a lot of natural talent. The fact that she was nothing more than an announcer in the WWE is very disappointing. She did not even get to develop her character anywhere, not to mention wrestling in televised WWE matches. She did not get a proper break at all. Lilian Garcia got more of a chance to develop her character in angles than Angela Fong did. Hell, Lilian even performed in more "matches" on WWE TV than Angela Fong did, and Lilian does not even have Angela's level of skill in the ring.

I would have released Rosa Mendes. She had her shot to develop both character and her style in the ring. She not only failed to get over with that, she brought down the quality of matches on more than one occasion. A woman like this had enough chances, which other women are not getting. How do you solve the problem of Smackdown losing pretty much the only heel diva jobber they have? They could have started an angle to transition Savannah from announcer to Smackdown diva, and as a heel. She gets her shot, and if the WWE really needed to release someone, Rosa Mendes would be free to go.

I do not think there is a chance of the WWE wanting her back. If Angela Fong is still serious about wrestling, that hype she garnered while in FCW may interest TNA in developing her further. Whatever the case, I am not happy about this choice from the WWE. Should have given her a fair chance to be something first.

A Midcard Hero

Miz regains the U.S. Championship. After disposing of R-Truth as a threat to his title, what does he do now? Pretty much forget that the U.S. Championship is something to be defended, not a prop to hold. Excuse me, that is the WWE's booking really, not necessarily Miz's choice.

He interrupted Randy Orton, who was giving a promo about winning the WWE Championship down the road. Miz mentioned that no man has held both the WWE Championship and U.S. Championship at the same time. Anyone who knows Miz knows that he thinks the U.S. title is only good to hold along with another title to make history. Other midcarders can mess around with Jericho. I cannot say that I am upset that Miz is being elevated a bit by associating with Orton and Edge. I did have a feeling that they would do something like this for him after his alliance with Jericho would end. However, I am not happy that they had to bring the U.S. title back into the picture. Miz really does not need it for this.

So will Miz stand a chance of winning Money in the Bank? Could be a good way to really push him into the main event. Even should he fail, getting involved with Randy Orton and Edge cannot hurt. What if Edge and Miz team up? Win some tag gold? This will be another top heel giving Miz a rub by tagging with him. Big Show did it before. Edge can do something similar. Problem is, once again, the U.S. title does not need to be involved here. They are not building Miz to be a great Champion. Just holding the title for a long time does not make you great by itself. Some fans may be stupid enough to believe otherwise, but it is not true.

NXT Got Vince!

First, Bret Hart is fired as GM. I am glad. As bad as this guy was in the ring since his triumphant return, I thought I could put up with him as GM. He was not doing a good job. If he returns to the WWE again in the future, we will see what happens. Until then, things get more interesting.

The new GM sends e-mails. Also, looks like guest host crap may be done. Now we have a mystery over who the new GM is. This is the stuff that attracts viewers. There were those rumors about The Rock coming back. That is the only guess I have right now.

As one mystery rises, another folds. Vince McMahon revealed that he had a hand in NXT1's attacks over the weeks. Sadly for him, they attacked him too! Love that! They show no allegiance except to themselves. Thing is, they already have their contracts and were a bit apologetic. They even had the boss on their side. Why would they screw that? Were they upset that Vince thought he could use them too? That is what I am expecting to be the reasoning, but I do wish there would be something more to it. In any case, the plot developed well tonight.