Cena Returns And Has A New Heel Foe

John Cena made his return to Raw on Monday. He was confronted by AJ Styles. Anderson & Gallows then came out. Next thing you know, AJ attacks Cena and has rejoined The Club. He is now an official heel.

If it was the WWE's plan the whole time for AJ to break up with his buddies just so they could pull off this swerve, it was a good move. If the WWE just had no idea what to do and went back and forth, they at least did something that excited wrestling fans for at least a little while.

A sense of doom then set in for many fans. Looking at how some fans are reacting, they feel Cena will bury AJ Styles. I think they are overreacting. Kevin Owens lost a feud to Cena last year. He went on to be treated pretty well since then. Seth Rollins lost the United States Championship back to John Cena. Rollins has not been buried. John Cena then took time off a little while after that and has not won a feud since. AJ Styles will be fine, whether he wins this feud or not.

The only way The Club could be featured properly is with the main spotlight. That means working with the centerpiece. John Cena may not be the current centerpiece anymore, but working with him is about the same as working with Roman Reigns. This will be good for the group. This will help them look impactful, especially now that the storyline about whether or not AJ Styles will turn has been put to rest. Just let the group look strong and look strong against a credible opponent.

I still feel like AJ Styles has not really broken out to his full potential. Will a heel turn and embracing leading a stable really help him? He needs storylines to help showcase some personality. It seems like all his feuds since debuting have been pretty routine for a guy like him. His first feud is against a WWE veteran. He moves on to a title feud against the new top star of the company. He moves on to a feud with the previous centerpiece of the company. Throughout it all, it seems like the story has always just been either putting over that fans like him or basing it off of his stuff before the WWE. Where's the character development? I mean more than just turning him heel. That will help him to get over with the wider audience. A depush to the midcard might not be the worst thing in the world for him. Getting as over as you can is more important than winning as many titles as you can. Even then, a midcard title run would not be bad for AJ Styles.

Time For Paige In The Periphery?

Despite certain changes with the WWE women's division, a lot of things are still the same. They still seem to want their division to revolve around a centerpiece. That would currently be Charlotte. And women are still not being given fair opportunities to earn that better career for themselves. Beyond that, there are still divas. There are still those eye-candy women. They may not be dominating title feuds, yet, but they are getting things to do in the periphery.

Interesting things happen in the periphery. It was that way in the beginning of the diva division. It was that way during the first dark age. It was that way in the golden age. Even during the recent dark age that ultimately brought about the supposed end of the "diva" agenda, you had interesting things going on outside of the title matters in the women's division at times. The periphery is where you see unique characters that stand out, like Chyna, Lita, and AJ Lee. The periphery is where you see eye-candy divas doing their thing, like Lana and Maryse. The periphery is where you see women interacting with the men, which can usually add some flavor to storylines.

The periphery scene right now is pretty weak. There are no unique characters for the women like those I just mentioned. Eye-candy divas cannot be utilized the same way now as they were a decade ago. There are also not a lot of great storylines featuring men and women interacting. The storyline between Dolph Ziggler, Lana, Rusev, and Summer Rae last year had potential, although wrestling fans hated it and circumstances led to the WWE botching it. That doesn't mean they should not do storylines where men and women interact. I am not talking about just a woman valeting or managing a man. I mean an actual storyline and the woman being better involved in the the guy's feuds than you see Lana and Maryse being used.

Who should get that push? Sasha Banks? I don't think so. I will talk about her another day. How about Paige? I am going to admit something that might make me look stupid. I think about the women's division every day. It is still my favorite topic to talk about here. And there have been some days that I'm thinking about what's going on and completely forget Paige is there. Paige is my favorite female wrestler currently on the roster. But the WWE doesn't utilize her well and most wrestling fans I come across are busy talking about Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Emma, Dana Brooke, and other women that have been a little more relevant. That's the problem with credible jobbers. That inconsistency with how they are utilized can kill their momentum, and the WWE also pushes other women in their place to make it even easier to forget about them.

The last female wrestler to get a great push in the periphery was AJ Lee. She was pushed with a unique character and given numerous storylines alongside top talent in the men's division. The WWE never pushed any woman to fill her spot. I think now is the time. Paige debuted right into an angle with AJ Lee and the two had a feud/partnership for months after that. But that's not why I think Paige should be the next top woman in the periphery. I think she has potential to be a unique character. She has a unique look. She has a personality. She doesn't need to be a psycho character like AJ. She doesn't need to be a character that wrestles men like Chyna. She doesn't need an extreme character like Lita.

The trick is to pair her with the right person to let her get that character rub. I read somewhere a while back that they were considering putting Paige with Bray Wyatt to play the role of Sister Abigail. I am sure there will one day be a woman paired with The Wyatts. I just don't think that needs to be Paige. This is a group of jobbers to the stars, after all. Unless the WWE actually plans to push the group well and not just to build them up to feed to someone, putting Paige with them would not be good. Paige also has a relationship with Alberto Del Rio. A pairing between those two might be interesting. One is British and the other is Mexican. But the characters might clash. I would also not put her with an authority figure. The drama going on with Shane and Stephanie does not call for someone like Paige getting involved.

How about Seth Rollins? If they are grooming him to follow in the line of Edge and CM Punk, he can use someone at his side. Edge had Lita. CM Punk had Paul Heyman. Rollins had those stooges, but he needs better than that. Despite smarks loving this guy, I do not think he really has broken out as a true superstar. Paige has already dropped more pipebombs than Rollins. She is charismatic. Rollins can help give her a main-event rub, while she might help him look more interesting. Paige doesn't even need any over-the-top gimmick or treatment. Just put her in this kind of position where she gets to work with someone else that can give her a rub and let her get involved in his storylines and his promos and his matches.

Paige definitely does deserve better than she is getting. Total Divas and those WWE movies don't mean anything. I see lower-midcarders being cast for those movie roles. Natalya, a credible jobber for her entire career in the WWE, is on Total Divas. These things do not take the place of how you are actually pushed. Paige has potential to do better than she is now. She has no chance to be the centerpiece of the women's division and you can't tell when she will be used as a jobber to the centerpiece or interim centerpiece again. The only other option is pushing her in the periphery. And the WWE might as well find something now.

Smackdown Gets An Upgrade

The WWE has announced that several changes will be made to Smackdown. First, it will be going live on Tuesdays. Second, there will once again be a brand split. That has a lot of fans talking about which titles will go where and which McMahon will run what show.

The best decision the WWE made here was to make Smackdown live. Regardless of anything else, that should help the show's ratings. A lot of fans just read spoilers and skip the show. Fans can just read a recap of the show and still skip it, but it seems more likely that more fans will now tune in to watch it live. Besides that, there will be no regular NFL action for the WWE to compete against on Tuesday.

How about the brand split? That is where I think there might be a problem. If this were a short-term brand split just for the sake of pushing a feud between Shane and Stephanie McMahon, then it would be fine. A long-term split is another issue. The WWE couldn't handle the brand split that ended just a few years ago. Their star power on the roster has not really improved since then.

Raw stands to suffer more from this than Smackdown. Important things are going to start happening on Smackdown. Raw, the show where big things are usually expected to happen, will be losing its full deck of talent. How can they fill three hours with the guys they will have left? Some fans are speculating that Raw goes back to two hours. That might be a good decision to further put Raw and Smackdown on equal ground. If they do not do it, Raw's ratings might suffer even more than they already are.

Let me bring up something else I do not like. I do not like how this whole thing just came about. The WWE just said it is going to happen. It is on their website. Why not have an angle? Announce it in a segment. They had a segment a few weeks ago where Vince McMahon named both Shane and Stephanie in charge. He could have made them both in charge of their own brand. They could then later announce on one of the shows that there would be a draft. The McMahon running Smackdown can announce making Smackdown live so it could be better competition for Raw. Everything that was announced on WWE.com could have played out in segments on TV. And it should have. Instead of making this feel like a storyline, it just feels like a business decision.

The WWE has had Stephanie McMahon act friendly towards her brother. The idea many fans expected was that Stephanie would eventually betray her brother. That payoff will not matter now. If the two McMahons go their separate ways with their own brand, then whatever angle the WWE had planned here doesn't matter anymore. Why not continue to tease tension between the two? Act like they cannot coexist sharing power. Have Vince McMahon come back and say that the only way to stop the chaos between the two is to have a brand split. That would have been a better way to handle things.

Go back to Wrestlemania. Shane McMahon had to beat The Undertaker to get control of Raw. He lost. The next night on Raw, Vince just gave Shane control. That was a mediocre way of handling things. You just made the storyline irrelevant. I feel like recent developments fall into the same area as what happened back then. The WWE is not doing a good job creating a storyline with this power struggle. After acting like he hated his son, Vince McMahon just hands him power. After acting like there was tension between Shane and Stephanie, which should have led to an obvious brand split, the WWE announces the brand split without the televised drama that might actually have had some entertainment value to it.

Of course, fans don't care too much about this stuff I have brought up. They are busy making mock drafts and talking about what they should do with the titles. I won't do that. From the standpoint of a writer, the WWE didn't handle this in a creative, linear way. Let's see if they make up for it in the coming weeks.

Dana Brooke: The Next Layla?

Michelle McCool was not a great worker. Great workers get the job done. They don't just get pushed like they are getting the job done. They don't just have the talent and attributes to get the job done. They actually go out there and get it done through their own abilities. McCool never got over at the level she should have. But the WWE pushed her like she was great. She was solid in the ring, but one of her biggest issues was a lack of charisma.

One of the things the WWE did to help her was give her a sidekick. There was a span where Vickie Guerrero was involved with Michelle McCool, but McCool's real memorable sidekick was Layla. Layla was charismatic. Did it really help McCool or the duo to get over? Not really. But it was a tool the WWE used to help McCool get over.

Just a few years after McCool retired, there is another woman in a similar position. Charlotte is pushed as the centerpiece. She is very athletic. But her main issue is her lack of charisma. She is not as over as she should be. The WWE has already handed her history, much like they did with Michelle McCool several times. They used Ric Flair to give her a rub. You can say that is comparable to Vickie Guerrero giving McCool a rub. Use a non-wrestler that is getting a better reaction from the fans to help the woman you want to push as a star. Ric Flair is now out of the picture. But someone else just entered the picture.

Dana Brooke has aligned with Charlotte. With Emma injured, you had to wonder what the WWE would do with her. Dana's best attribute, in my opinion, is her charisma. It certainly isn't her wrestling ability. Layla was not a great wrestler when she started in the WWE. She improved. Maybe Dana will continue to improve. Regardless, Charlotte has a charismatic diva to help her look more interesting. In this way, Dana Brooke looks like the new Layla.

This kind of thing didn't really work for Layla and Michelle McCool. Will it work here? The WWE pushed LayCool with an overbearing gimmick and stifled a lot of the other things that could have been going on in the division. LayCool was all there really was to talk about for a while. Charlotte doesn't have a big gimmick, especially now with her father gone. There are also other minor periphery pushes going on, like Lana with Rusev and Maryse with Miz, but nothing too huge. Fans will talk about Charlotte, but how over will she actually become? A lot of people are talking about Roman Reigns. Most of it isn't always positive. Same thing here with Charlotte. Fans talking about Charlotte does not mean she is actually over.

Just to make it clear, Dana is there for the benefit of Charlotte. Charlotte isn't there to give Dana a big rub. The WWE wasn't trying to get Layla over back when she was with Michelle McCool. If they were, they would have done a better job pushing her the final years of her career after McCool retired. As long as Charlotte doesn't do anything to seriously screw herself, she will continue to be pushed at a high level until she leaves the WWE. Dana Brooke will eventually be phased out.

A lot of what has been going on recently seems very diva-like. I see some fans unhappy about short matches. Dana Brooke definitely is not someone with respectable wrestling ability. Sasha Banks has injury issues. Ric Flair was arguably taking too much of the attention for a while. Fans that were so eager for a revolution are not seeing a lot of the things they were hoping for. It is still a dark age. The WWE is definitely not efficient. Is a woman that is obviously not an eye-candy diva being pushed as a centerpiece a sign of things changing? Or is this just dark age shenanigans? I had some hope that the WWE might be doing something different. But they are showing signs of still sticking to their old ways. They had to go beyond this feminist-inspired division they were having for a while. The goal is to entertain, not get too self-righteous. At the same time, the WWE has to do a better job than they are. They are failing to create stars and create an entertaining women's division. Worse than that, they might risk another Twitter uproar if they keep going in the direction they are going.

Styles Without The Club

After a very mediocre feud with Roman Reigns that did not see the storyline raised to another level to make things interesting, how did the WWE follow up with AJ Styles? He separates from Anderson and Gallows on Raw. He then loses to Kevin Owens. And his former partners didn't even screw him out of the match. This is all extremely dull.

AJ's entire run in the WWE has been mediocre so far. He debuted to a lot of buzz, but the feud against Jericho went on longer than it needed to, and AJ ended up losing. His feud against Roman Reigns, even though it involved Bullet Club members and references, just felt like they just went through the motions without taking it to another level. The WWE has just really coasted on what AJ Styles is and things has done prior to coming to the WWE. They have not invested in him more than that.

Yes, the likely betrayal by Anderson and Gallows will still probably happen. But can you really see it as a betrayal now? And you might still get Finn Balor debut to feud with Styles, or whatever has planned for the two. But this angle has lost some of its edge. There is something to be said for developing a story, but there just comes a time when you pull the trigger on whatever it is you are doing. If you don't, you run the risk of your readers or viewers just losing interest. Wrestling fans will be hooked on this whether the payoff takes months to come about or it happened at Extreme Rules last Sunday. But there are a lot of other fans the WWE might have been able to interest with a better storyline than this. The WWE has already planted the seeds of something happening. Whatever it is just seems like it would be boring to the wider audience. AJ Styles has not broken out yet to connect with these fans. Why should these fans care about Anderson and Gallows? Why should these fans care about Finn Balor? A lot of these type of fans don't even follow NXT. The WWE needs to stop coasting and invest better in these things, as well as create some real swerves.

This all isn't crying about AJ Styles now losing 3 PPV matches in a row. This isn't about how the WWE can honor AJ Styles for being a great wrestler. This is about how the WWE can use AJ Styles better to help them. It starts with helping him to connect with the wider audience. Simply tossing a title on him will not do. Storyline development must improve.

Seth Rollins Returns, And That's About It

What was the story told in the main event match between Roman Reigns and AJ Styles last night at Extreme Rules? It was more of the same. The Usos and Anderson & Gallows got involved. In the end, Roman Reigns once again retained. And then Seth Rollins returned.

Before I talk about Seth returning, let me talk about how the WWE handled the storyline between Roman Reigns and AJ Styles. This was terrible. Just to make it clear, I am not saying anything about match quality. I am just talking about the storyline. People were anticipating so many things to happen with this storyline. The WWE can obviously still go somewhere with AJ Styles and the other two goons, but it will likely not have the same impact to it that it could have had if it had the main-event spotlight and WWE Championship involved.

The feud development for the last few weeks was just flat. It was Roman Reigns and his sidekicks going against AJ Styles and his sidekicks. I have seen a lot of fans eat this feud up like it was something amazing. No, it isn't. And how the WWE handled the match at Extreme Rules just further makes me stand by my point. Again, just looking at the story of the match, not anything about match quality or Seth Rollins, this was just more of the same. This was the same thing you had at Payback. The only twist you had was Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon each altering that match. But that was more their own story being developed. It didn't change the story of AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns. This isn't even about Roman Reigns retaining against AJ Styles. This is about the WWE not taking advantage of the situation to have something big happen.

Is Seth Rollins returning something big? He never broke out as a star. He has main-event credibility. He held the WWE Championship for a long time. He won it at Wrestlemania. He never officially lost it. He beat a lot of top guys. A lot of his title defenses ended by shady means, but he has been pushed at a high level. But all the credibility in the world is not enough to automatically make you a star. Overness is based on more than just credibility. Seth obviously has the wrestling talent to get wrestling fans to love him. And this is an era where the WWE doesn't seem to know how to please the wider audience anymore, or they just don't care. Point is, this guy is not a star and the ratings issue will not be fixed just because he returned. He needs to break out beyond just connecting with those wrestling fans.

Previewing The Extreme Rules 2016 Main Event

Roman Reigns & his bloodline and AJ Styles & his club have seen a lot of each other these last few weeks. Maybe a little too much of each other. And they will be seeing even more of each other at Extreme Rules.

First, The Usos will face Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. This is a match for Anderson & Gallows to obviously win. They just debuted a little while ago. Give them the momentum. The WWE has not booked these guys as completely unbeatable, but a win here would be good.

There is only one way I can picture them losing. The WWE can have them lose to sell the idea that they turn on AJ Styles later in the night due to frustration. AJ Styles wasn't there for them during their match, so Anderson & Gallows decide they are done with AJ. I would rather a swerve happen.

Back to the main feud. It has been getting a little lackluster recently. Having Roman Reigns and his group facing AJ Styles and his group might have been exciting the first time the WWE booked it. Even the rematch might have had wrestling fans excited. But the WWE has had these guys face each other in some form every week. They should have thrown in some other supporting characters or rely more on segments and not just matches. We have seen AJ Styles face Roman Reigns already. We have even seen The Usos vs. Anderson & Gallows already. Gimmick matches may make things a little fresher at Extreme Rules, but this rivalry is pretty much spent. The WWE cannot keep it going as it is after Extreme Rules.

So what happens at Extreme Rules? How does the WWE handle this storyline to take it to another level? Or do they just have Reigns retain and end the feud? I can talk about all the possible turns and debuts you can have, but I already brought that up for the previous PPV. The WWE went nowhere then. There is something to be said for developing a storyline, but I already brought up how the WWE hasn't really done anything too interesting with this storyline in recent weeks. It is just more of the same. They should have done something more at Payback. Smarks are still eager for whatever happens at Extreme Rules, but I am not that excited for what might happen. And as far as exciting and drawing in that wider audience, I think the WWE dropped the ball in creating a situation that could deliver for them sooner.

Since anything goes in this match, Anderson & Gallows can get involved without the match ending in a DQ. Of the many possibilities, I will say they turn on AJ Styles and screw him out of the title. Finn Balor eventually debuts, whether at Extreme Rules, the Raw after, or a few weeks later. "The Club" can then get a better name and AJ Styles feuds with them. Does Roman Reigns stick with this storyline or move on to something else? Or does a returning John Cena get involved with this? Let's wait to see what happens with AJ and his friends, then worry about all that.

Previewing The Extreme Rules 2016 Undercard Title Matches

New Day defend the tag titles against The Vaudevillains. I have said before that New Day should have lost the titles already to other teams that had the momentum. I do not think they should lose it here. The Vaudevillains don't look like they are ready. Have New Day retain here and eventually drop it to Anderson & Gallows to give The Club some credibility. 

Kalisto defends the United States Championship against Rusev. Rusev looks monstrous again. They are even running an injury angle with Kalisto. Or is he really hurt? Can't even tell these days. Are they doing all this to make Rusev look dominant and give Kalisto a bit of an excuse when he loses the title? Or is this just to stack the odds against Kalisto so he can overcome them? Speaking of overcoming the odds, I see some fans dreading that the only reason Rusev looks strong again and might win the title is to drop it to Cena when he returns. That doesn't really make sense to me. Cena does not need a title to be pushed well. Beyond that, Alberto Del Rio was the guy that beat Cena cleanly for the title last year and retained it again against Cena prior to Cena's injury. Wouldn't it make more sense to give the title back to Alberto Del Rio so he can drop it to Cena, if the plan is for another United States Championship run for Cena? In any case, I will say Rusev wins the title at Extreme Rules.

The Intercontinental Championship will be decided in a fatal fourway. Miz defends against Cesaro, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn. Cesaro just felt like he had the momentum when he returned last month. It felt like he would eventually win the title from Miz. Inserting Owens and Zayn certainly confuses things. These two could have had their own gimmick match at Extreme Rules. Make it a Last Man Standing match, or something like that. Owens and Zayn do have that history together. Leave the title to be decided between Miz and Cesaro, where Cesaro would win it. The WWE can still have Cesaro win it, then feud with Miz, while Owens and Zayn go back to killing each other, but I think a lot of Cesaro's momentum is hurt. I will say Miz retains.

No title is on the line, but I want to talk about Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose. This is an Asylum match. WWE must like Dean Ambrose a lot to let him have his own match. He might just be the new Mick Foley. Foley got a few runs with the WWE Championship, but he was never the centerpiece. That will be the story with Ambrose. He will eventually win the WWE Championship, but he will not take the true top spot. Until any of that happens, he has Chris Jericho. They have been murdering the other guy's favorite inanimate object. Might as well try to murder each other in an extreme environment. Logic might say that Ambrose wins this match since it is his match, but he seems to have too much of the momentum. I can see Jericho winning this to make the rivalry more interesting and extending it.

Charlotte Vs. Natalya At Extreme Rules 2016: Final Preview

Raw this week ended with the contract signing between Charlotte and Natalya. It went against the NBA playoff game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors. Which would I rather watch? Basketball. But I did watch most of the final segment on Raw.

The WWE is certainly putting work into Charlotte. If it really needs to be said, Shane and Stephanie McMahon weren't really out there to give Natalya a rub. Charlotte is the one the WWE is going to stick with and they intend to push as a star. It was just a few months ago that Charlotte and Paige closed out Raw. What has Paige been doing since? Charlotte, on the other hand, is still pushed very well. As long as she doesn't flop or do anything to screw herself, many more main-event segments will be coming for Charlotte. I do not think she has earned the career she is getting, but that's another issue.

Charlotte has been getting help from her father to retain the Women's Championship. This Sunday, Ric Flair will not be allowed at ringside. To make things more interesting, this is also a submission match. If Charlotte does retain, will she get Natalya to cleanly tap out? Or will there be more shenanigans? There were shenanigans the last time these two had a title match on PPV. Natalya got the momentum on Raw in a big way. It seems likely that Charlotte retains. But how will the WWE have her do it?

Or should the WWE just let Natalya get the title? Let her have a short reign. Not as short as what Zack Ryder got last month. She can drop it back to Charlotte next month. That's typical centerpiece booking. The WWE has done a pretty good job with this feud. With someone they want to push as a star involved, that's not shocking. This feud might have been developed well enough to deserve a title change. I was in the group that believed the WWE should just move on to someone else for Charlotte to face, I admit that, but they have done a good job since then. Many fans might have written Natalya off as just someone to feed to Charlotte, but I wouldn't mind her getting a short title reign. Once this feud is truly done, then Charlotte can move on to Sasha Banks.

How Goes Things For Baron Corbin?

One of the debuts this year from NXT is Baron Corbin. He won this year's Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Don't make too much of that. No huge push has been associated with that win. But it is still a nice thing to do yearly. Back to Corbin, how goes things for him since his Wrestlemania moment?

He has been feuding with Dolph Ziggler. They have traded wins already. That kind of kills some of the hype for Corbin. Remember the last fresh NXT debut to feud with Dolph Ziggler? Tyler Breeze hasn't been doing too well since that. I am not saying Dolph Ziggler buries people. But I just find it hard to get excited for this feud. I am not saying the WWE needs to put Corbin in a title feud for him to be interesting, but this feud against Ziggler just doesn't feel that fresh. I feel like they just did this thing a few months ago with Ziggler and Breeze. There may be a few differences, like Summer Rae not involved in the current feud, but it still feels like the same feud. Ziggler vs. NXT call-up. It might have been fresher to have Corbin feud with any other available face. The issue isn't even whether or not he loses so soon after his debut. Just give him someone else to feud with.

How far will Corbin go? I can picture him winning a midcard title one day. I do not think he will end up exactly like Tyler Breeze. The WWE has shown some signs of interest in him since his debut. They can just do better. A little win streak might have been nice. As I said, however, he just really needs some fresher guys to feud with. Then they can move him up the card and give him a title reign.

What about overness? Like everyone that gets called up these days, Baron Corbin had the opportunity to get over with vocal wrestling fans that follow NXT. A lot of these fans don't seem to have been too impressed by him for a while during his time in NXT. But he has shown signs of improvement. How about connecting with the wider audience? They still matter, right? I don't think this guy has what it takes to stand out on his own. That's where proper booking comes in. If the WWE books him right, I think he can get over with the gimmick he has. Time will tell how that works out.