Are We Still Talking About Barrett?

He had a good feud with Randy Orton. After that, he still seemed to be on the verge of a main-event push. Injury struck him down. Months later, they hype that he will return. He finally does return.

Where is Wade Barrett now? A few weeks after his return, he is still squashing people below him. He is still without proper focus. He definitely had more credibility and momentum prior to his injury. What they are doing with him now is not helping him that much. Time to play fantasy booker. What are some options for Barrett? Let me bring up three possibilities.

First, starting with the big one, have him feud with Sheamus over his World Championship. If they are finally going to move past Alberto Del Rio, have Big Show do something else, and give Barrett a big push now. He doesn't have to win the title, but this could be a good, fresh feud. Of course, the issue there is that they might want Big Show in the picture to have him destroy Sheamus, which will lead to Ziggler cashing in. I don't want to say much about Ziggler now, but there is still a lot of time left for that briefcase to be valid. While Ziggler is still getting developed, Wade Barrett could have gotten a good push. Depending on how the WWE had handled his return, Barrett would have had the momentum for this kind of push very easily.

Second, how about a midcard title feud? When I saw Ryback face Miz, I could picture Ryback winning the title down the road. After that, why not bring Barrett in? There is history there. Both were a part of Nexus. Instead of having Ryback just mow over an opponent, you can have more of a story here. Depending on how they handle that story, this can be the best feud Ryback ever had. Barrett used to be Ryback's leader. Have Barrett play some mind games off of that. Ryback is just so dominant now, they are going to have to find some good way to break him down a little. And this may lead to Barrett winning his second Intercontinental Championship. The problem here is, with Ryback entering something with CM Punk, they might not even follow up properly with Ryback and Miz. Ryback vs. Barrett does not need to be a title feud, but I think it would make it better.

Third, since I mentioned Nexus, how about developing another Nexus incarnation for Barrett? I heard people talking about that as a possibility. Problem is, who would they really destroy? Nexus was created, John Cena was put over them, and they crumbled. CM Punk became the new leader, Randy Orton went over that, and that group eventually fell to pieces and was phased out. The Corre seemed to just break itself. Had Edge not retired around that time, I honestly believe he would have went over them, then the group would have collapsed. What top face is there right now for a new Nexus to work against? Is Barrett going to form a stable just to gang up on jobbers and midcarders? It wouldn't have the same edge to it. Without a proper top target to go after, the group would look stupid. And if you do have such a target, why not just have Barrett go at it alone? That's the problem, there is no target for him.

Of all the options I just talked about, I like the idea of having him feud with Ryback the most. Both would have momentum and a history they share. Throw in the Intercontinental Championship, you would have a great midcard singles feud.

Raw's September 2012 Ratings

The final Raw of this month is already in the books and the ratings are out. I read that it was a 2.72. Yes, that is down there for lowest of the year. Memorial Day's episode a few months ago also did poorly, but that was to be expected.

Look at the numbers for Raw throughout this month: 2.83 for the first week, 2.89 for the second, 2.86 for the third, and I already mentioned the most recent episode. Not one episode has gotten to a 3.0. This happened in December 2011, less than 12 months ago. Not one episode of Raw got to a 3.0 in that month, either. Back then, you at least had a few numbers get to a 2.9. This month has been horrible for Raw's ratings.

What do you blame? Football? Of course. What about the extremely horrible rating this week? There was some controversy in the Packers/Seahawks game on Monday, which is definitely being talked about all around the nation, even by politicians, but the big play that caused the uproar happened long after Raw ended. You can't say that everyone tuned away from Raw to see how the officials would handle that call. And yet, that game did draw a large audience. You also had other top TV shows having big nights, which obviously hurt Raw. I don't feel Raw really had any big draws to compete with all that. Had the controversial call in that football game came at 11:00 PM EST, that would have sapped away viewers from Raw's final segment. I watched that football game on TV. I know I watched it all the way to the end, even for the meaningless extra point after the Seahawks "won" the game. It was definitely interesting.

Let me switch gears and talk about football. Have faith, I'll go back to wrestling. I was never a fan of it when I was a younger, but I watch it very often now. It seems like almost every game I see features some new play, new way to botch a play, and some other drama that is new. That is the way pro wrestling should still be able to be. You could understand why the WWE might want to take ideas from the NFL and try to act like it can compete with something like that. But who cares if the WWE has more Twitter followers than the NFL? The wrestling product just cannot compete right now at all. What I see playing out in these football games is so interesting, I can definitely find myself relating it back to things going on in the WWE. I think it can definitely provide me with new ways to articulate the things I usually talk about, especially with the diva division. Maybe I will give that a try one day, maybe not.

While Cena's Away, The Ryback Will Play

Raw ended with a backstage segment involving CM Punk attacking Mick Foley. When CM Punk turned back around, he saw the man he will now be entering at least a mini-feud with. To be honest, I was expecting it to be Big Show. He had returned earlier in the night. The WWE probably figured a lot of fans would have been expecting him, then they went with a swerve. It was Ryback.

Yes, it's not as shocking as someone like Undertaker standing there, but it still is big for a midcarder with all that momentum to be pushed against the WWE Champion. Given the fact that Ryback looked to be feuding with Miz, it was even more unlikely that he would be the guy to confront CM Punk.

John Cena is not out of the picture completely. Depending on how he heals up, he may still be getting a title shot at Hell in a Cell. Until then, the WWE needed someone for Punk to work against. I said before that they had some options. They went with Ryback. Given the fact that he does have that angle with Miz, you can easily picture Miz interfering in an eventual match between Punk and Ryback, allowing Punk to be the first man to beat Ryback. Even though I am not really a fan of the guy, that would not be a way I would have liked to see him have his first loss. Build him up further. Look at the two other big men who had some undefeated streaks going for them this year, Brodus Clay and Tensai. Both got punched out by Big Show on Raw. Once Ryback suffers that first defeat, it is not likely that they will still hype him as hard. He may still win the Intercontinental Championship from Miz, but his momentum would be hurt. Until all that happens, it is good the WWE is building midcarders up.

Therapy With Chairs

You had a very interesting Smackdown last week. Did it revolve around the World Heavyweight Champion, Sheamus? No. A man who was definitely at one time the centerpiece of that show, Randy Orton? No. How about that Jinder Mahal? Not this time. The show actually revolved around Kane and Daniel Bryan, culminating with them teaming up in the main event. This would not be the first time a Raw or Smackdown ended with neither the major Champion or the centerpiece. Remember Trish Stratus vs. Lita for the Women's Championship? TNA frequently does this kind of thing more. Remember Mickie James vs. Tara in a steel cage?

The top story of Smackdown was the issues with Daniel Bryan and Kane. They are the Tag Team Champions. After the main-event match, they even destroyed the other tag teams with chairs. That was the kind of thing I imagined would happen when the titles went on two guys like this. Depending on how long the WWE runs this team, they will probably be getting a Slammy at the end of the year. If they are going to push them, they will push them hard and well.

Since the revival of the tag division doesn't look like it is going to continue to properly develop the legitimate teams that were already on the roster, I might as well move on, myself. The kind of tag division you have now is similar to what you had when Jericho and Big Show had the titles. It was a great reign and you could see attention put on the titles, obviously because the titles were on two guys the WWE wanted to have attention. Throw in guys like Sandow and Rhodes teaming together, as well as Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara. This is becoming a playground for midcarders and upper-midcarders. And that is actually a good thing. I may sound like a hypocrite for changing my tune on what is going on in the tag division, but if the WWE is not going to follow through, there is no point in analyzing and over-analyzing what is not going to happen. I might as well talk about what is actually going on. And what is actually going on is good for those individuals the WWE may obviously want to push, but cannot find an easy means of featuring well. And putting the titles on a team you will feature properly is better than putting them on a team you will rarely have on Raw. In the end, this is not the revival I was hoping for, and I know a few other fans out there are disappointed too, but it is still putting interest in the tag division. A lot more fans are interested in Daniel Bryan and Kane than any other team that was being featured during the revival.

John Cena Injured

Last time I remember talking about John Cena being injured and possibly taking time off, he ended up not taking any time off and bounced back like he usually does. That was earlier this year, when Brock Lesnar "injured" Cena in the same manner as he would later "injure" Triple H and Shawn Michaels. This time, it seems real.

There were initially some conflicting reports on how long Cena will miss action, like there usually is in situations like this, but Cena himself gave some info about how long he will be out. He will be out for over a month. Big Show has been scheduled to cover house shows for him. Cena may very well end up missing a title match against CM Punk at Hell in a Cell. 

Just because Cena is injured, that does not mean he will not still show up on Raw for promos. It will depend on him, his doctor, and the WWE. Of course, it is more fun to talk about what will happen if you do get no Cena for about a month. Last time this kind of thing happened was all the way back in 2008. Cena was injured and missed about two months. Chris Jericho got a good push during that time. CM Punk would be the obvious choice to benefit in the next few weeks. The WWE Champion might finally start getting main-event attention without Cena needing to be involved again. But who is pushed as the top face until Cena returns? Smackdown has Sheamus, so he is out. Would they really turn Big Show completely face for this? Seeing as how you will only need a face to work on Raw to further some kind of feud with Punk, they could go with Randy Orton. He has that movie, but it is not impossible to make a movie and still have a part-time push in the WWE. Cena has made a few movies in the past few years. How much time has he missed on Raw for that? You also have Rey Mysterio. Point is, you have options.

If Cena does miss time on Raw, seeing what happens to the ratings will be very interesting. Football season is already here and making an impact on Raw's ratings. Three hours of Raw are already causing lower ratings. In the last few weeks with this 3-hour format, Raw has failed to average at least a 3.0. Cena is pushed as the centerpiece. He is the top guy. Ratings are already doing badly with him there, but what will happen when he is away, if he does leave? A huge bump in ratings is not going to be likely. If Cena is so vital, you would assume ratings to dip without him. However, if ratings don't, is that even more reason to start developing a new centerpiece or change how you handle the booking altogether?

Cena, Punk, And Refs

Continuing with the theme of bad officiating, the feud between John Cena and CM Punk recently picked up on this storyline of the refs making mistakes or controversial decisions. At Night of Champions, Cena pinned CM Punk in a manner in which both wrestlers' shoulders were down. Draw. But no restarting of the match? The match was restarted at Summerslam when there was a controversial ending in that WWE title match. No GM skipping out at Night of Champions? On Raw, there was that issue with CM Punk having his foot on the ropes, but the ref missed it and Cena got the win. It was just a tag match, so no big deal.

In his promo on Raw, John Cena even made a football reference. How would you feel if the Super Bowl, the biggest football game of the year, ended in a tie? Better yet, what if it ended like that due to bad officiating? Once again, it seems like the WWE is drawing inspiration from the current events in the NFL.

Did this feud really need it? I can understand not wanting Cena to lose in his hometown to CM Punk, but did you really need to create this kind of controversy to make things more interesting? You already have a storyline involving CM Punk wanting respect. You insert Paul Heyman into the mix. That is a lot right there. You can definitely develop on just what I just mentioned. It seems like they are needlessly tossing too many things into the pot.

I am not against CM Punk and John Cena continuing this feud. The reason I want Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus to stop feuding is because it has been going on for months now. During that same time, Cena has feuded with numerous individuals. CM Punk has feuded with Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, and Kane. Even though Cena and Punk feuded last year, both have gone their separate ways since then, and the WWE has done a good job in making this rivalry fresh as they once again are feuding. It is about more than just the title. CM Punk wants respect. The insertion of Paul Heyman was good. Combine those two things with the history Punk and Cena have, you have a good feud. Del Rio and Sheamus did not have that history. It is feeling forced.

How will the WWE play out this storyline of the refs making bad decisions? Will they? I can imagine them slowly phasing it out without much effort. There have been a few angles in the feud between Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus that were there one minute, gone the next. They really could have done more with the stealing of the car, in my opinion. Anyway, since these refs cannot be trusted in the Punk/Cena feud, the logical thing to do would be to bring in some kind of special guest referee. What else could they really do with this?

More Brogue Kick Controversy

I'm not going to pretend to be the first person to note the similarities between some of the recent WWE storylines and what is currently going on in the NFL. If you don't watch the NFL, there is currently a controversy with the officials. The regular officials are not working, so the NFL is having replacement officials, which are minor league officials, handle the big games. Following some of the games, I have seen issues with taking too long to decide what to do, awarding a team an extra timeout, not handling penalties correctly, and a few others. Life goes on. There have been no huge disasters from this pro football mess. But I'm not here to judge that.

The WWE is definitely paying attention. I am just going to talk about the issues with Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio. Cars, shoes, injuries, and David Otunga have all become a part of this long feud for the World's Heavyweight Championship. The recent development revolves around the Brogue Kick, which is the finisher Sheamus loves to use the most. It was banned up to just before the match at Night of Champions officially started. Alberto Del Rio is complaining about it. JBL, who is back in the absence of Jerry Lawler, agreed that removing the ban at that time was stupid. By his logic, the move should never have been banned in the first place, but removing it at the time Booker T did was just unfair to Del Rio. I really don't care too much to argue one way or the other. This is a kayfabe controversy. It is part of the storyline. It definitely does match something I would expect to see in a football game.

Is this an interesting way to draw in viewers? It may just be because I have been watching wrestling for so long, but it does not feel fresh or interesting to me. This entire feud has gone on for too long. By recent developments, it is not ending just yet. Whether the title is held by Sheamus or Del Rio, get a new challenger. To me, that would be the freshest option. Enough with coming up with new angles to try to keep this one feud fresh. The seeds were planted since April for this feud. Five months later, they are still at it. They are trying too hard. Let me look at it from the standpoint of being a football fan, and I only started being one a year or two ago. I don't find these refereeing issues to be a draw. It takes a lot of time to sort through those issues. Just like it can kill the momentum of the players in the game, it can take the fans out of it a little. People just want to see the game. Going back to pro wrestling, those fans just want to be entertained and see some action. The WWE has done enough to make this feud interesting over the last few months. All that is left is to follow through and move on.

Friendship Prevails

Daniel Bryan and Kane have beaten Kofi Kingston and R-Truth for the tag titles at Night of Champions. That was not a shocking outcome at all. There are a few things to say about this.

First, what does this mean for the tag division revival? Legitimate interest was being put into the tag division for months now. The Prime Time Players looked to be the chief benefactors of it. It looked like they would finally win the titles. Had this storyline between Kane and Bryan not have come about, I think they would have won it. Kane and Bryan did not win the titles to improve the revival. The proper way to do that would be to bring in more legitimate teams. Do more with the teams you have. People can say that Young and O'Neil are not over, but how can you expect them to get over if you do not follow through with how you are pushing them? The titles were put on Kane and Daniel Bryan to further their storyline. The revival, if you ask me, is done.

Is Daniel Bryan face or heel? Kane seems to always be a tweener. Daniel Bryan seems to be in that zone again. He has been so entertaining with his current heel character, the fans are cheering for him. A true face turn should be coming for him very soon. Keep him heel by having him eventually turn on Kane? That is the other option, but you might as well just run this storyline to it's eventual finish and have them finally be "friends" in the end.

In less than one year, Kane goes from being a monster to being a comedy character. Aside from going from heel to face rather easily, that is something else you see the WWE do with Kane a lot. He can destroy multiple people is a single segment. When that's over, he can be involved in a comedy segment with Santino. I know a lot of people prefer the monster, but it is good to have that versatility. If nothing else, he's winning titles.

Finally, what happens to R-Truth and Kofi Kingston? After the rematch, assuming they do not win the titles back, where do they go? As I have pointed out before, if they were not paired together and holding the titles these last few months, they would have gotten lost in the shuffle. Good thing is, since the U.S. Championship and Intercontinental Championship are both held by heels, R-Truth and Kofi can eventually be challengers for that. How about both at the same time in a triple threat? Turn one of these guys heel? I don't think that's necessary. Point is, the WWE will either have to work something out for these two midcarders or they will be on Superstars more often in the coming weeks.

The Miz Vs. Rey Mysterio Vs. Sin Cara Vs. Cody Rhodes

This is the kind of multi-man midcard title feud I like. It kind of reminds me of what you would see a decade ago. It isn't four guys randomly getting into a feud for the title. Cody Rhodes and Sin Cara have been feuding for a while over Sin Cara's mask. Rey Mysterio also wears a mask, so that brings him into the picture. Rey Mysterio was also given a somewhat random shot at Miz's Intercontinental Championship at Summerslam. Bring Miz into the mix. Put it all together, you have a title match for Night of Champions. Could it have been developed a little better? Yes, but this is still better build for a midcard title match than I would have expected. If you look over at what is going on with the United States title, you would see no real build at all. They will find a contender and give that guy a shot. Simple. But who should win the Intercontinental title?

Rey Mysterio has held this title before. If they really can't think of anything else for him to do, they might put it on him, but I don't think they should. He doesn't need it. If the World's Heavyweight Championship was on a heel, Rey would definitely be a contender for that. But it would be annoying to put it on Rey when you realize that the current IC Champion and previous holder of the title were both former World Champions, as well. How about giving a midcard title to a true midcarder?

I have to admit, Cody Rhodes looked good holding the title on Raw. I'm not a big fan of the guy, but the belt seems to just fit him. It could be because he held it for so long. He has two reigns with it already. Does he need a third so soon? That would mean the title goes from a heel to another heel. It is not unthinkable for it to happen, but I don't see why it should.

If the title is going to change hands, I think it should go to Sin Cara. This is a guy they should want to build into a star. Rey Mysterio will not be around for decades and decades to come. Sin Cara is the guy to build to follow him. It is time to get to work on his title resume. He has never held a title in the WWE. If he does win the title, that would give his feud with Cody Rhodes more merit. I could also see them putting the title on Rhodes first, still continuing the feud between the two, and leading up to a "Title vs. Mask" match. However it goes, the title should go to Sin Cara to build him up properly.

Miz just won the title a few weeks ago. He is the incumbent. If they cannot come up with a reason to put the title on someone else, no reason to take it off of Miz. There are still other midcard faces for him to feud with. Seeing as how easily Miz got lost in the shuffle earlier in the year, you might worry about what will become of him without the title.

Out of the four men in this match, I would say either Miz or Sin Cara should win. Cody Rhodes regaining it to continue the feud with Sin Cara would also make sense. I don't see Rey Mysterio winning it. No good reason for it. If I really had to choose one, I would say Miz retains.

Layla Vs. Kaitlyn, With Eve Nearby

I am not going to go back to that battle royal and try to figure out whether or not the match ended the way it was supposed to. Fact is, they are running with Layla vs. Kaitlyn for Night of Champions. Eve has been involved in this storyline, as well. Without that, you would have gotten a basic title feud for the Diva's Championship.

This is really not even about Layla or Kaitlyn. Although Layla is holding the Diva's Championship, she has not been given the treatment to consider her the centerpiece of the division. If there was not a PPV coming up where all titles are defended, you have to wonder whether they would even bother featuring as much of her as they have recently. Kaitlyn is even less featured. She had a minor purpose alongside AJ earlier in the year. More recently, they were using her with Eve. Even though she is now getting a title shot, I don't expect much to come after it. Even if she does win the title, they will not run with her.

Eve is the one to keep your eye on. I have said before that she is a better choice to be centerpiece than Kelly Kelly. In terms of wrestling ability, she is better. She started out the year in a storyline involving Zack Ryder and John Cena. She moved on to aligning with Laurinaitis. She got another spot on the periphery recently. They did not need to throw her into title matters. They could have had her get more involved in Booker T's current storyline issues. This face turn you are seeing is most likely a fake turn. Act like a face, then strike when the time is right or mock the faces that believed in you. But it is an angle that puts interest in Eve. I believe they are about ready to pull the trigger on pushing a new centerpiece.

Who wins between Kaitlyn and Layla? Layla should retain. Eve is obviously the one on the horizon to get the title shot after the coming PPV. Eve vs. Layla or Eve vs. Kaitlyn? The former will make for a better match. The latter, moreover, has already been done in recent weeks. Go for the better match and fresher option.