Previewing The Fastlane 2017 Main Event

I was going to title this "Should Kevin Owens Get Squashed?" What else was there to really talk about with this match? It just seemed obvious what the outcome would be. Kevin Owens does not need the Universal Championship for his feud with Chris Jericho, who still holds the United States Championship. The WWE loves giving big names that are coming back as part-timers title reigns. Goldberg vs. Lesnar might be better if something more was on the line than just Lesnar trying to finally beat Goldberg. Fans were just anticipating Goldberg getting the title. Even without bringing up dirtsheet reports, it just seemed obvious that Goldberg wins. Now that there is more speculation about a possible finish that might lead to Owens retaining, I have to bring that up.

But let me start with the original question I brought up. Should Owens get squashed? Why even ask such a thing? Because Goldberg's last singles match was him squashing Brock Lesnar, a guy that no one expects to get squashed. After something like that, you just expect to see Goldberg run over basically anyone else, and that includes Kevin Owens. It would just look weird to see a competitive match between Goldberg and Owens.

Of course, they could give Owens some time to put up a fight. Maybe not for his own benefit. They might expose some weakness in Goldberg to make him look more human for his rematch with Lesnar. Fans have already seen Goldberg get the best of Lesnar multiple times, including the squash I brought up. Maybe the WWE might feel fans won't be as interested as they were the last time these two wrestled each other at Survivor Series. Adding the title is one thing, but they might lower Goldberg's power level a bit to make people think Lesnar vs. Goldberg III will be competitive.

Looking at both arguments, I say the former option is the best. Let Goldberg squash Owens. Keep him strong. Make it look like Lesnar has a real challenge in front of him. Too many of Lesnar's matches since he came back as a part-timer have been him just dominating. A lot of fans want to see something else. This could be the best singles match Lesnar has had in a while. And it would help the feel of this feud even more if Goldberg was kept strong heading into it.

Or will Goldberg even have the Universal Championship? There is speculation and rumors that the WWE might officially make Triple H, Kevin Owens, and Samoa Joe a stable at Fastlane. I brought up the possibility of this stable recently. The group could screw Goldberg out of the title. I just think now is not the time to do that.

So many of the feuds for this Wrestlemania season have just been developed poorly. I could just run down the list, but it would take me an hour. You have Triple H not showing up for months and Seth Rollins getting injured hurting that feud. You have the WWE getting way too fancy in the feud between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt. You have John Cena stuck in a feud with Miz that was just thrown together a month before Wrestlemania.

Even this feud with Goldberg and Lesnar is not something I would have done. Even then, it could have been handled better. Goldberg comes out after beating Lesnar at Survivor Series and says he's coming after the Universal Championship and entering the Royal Rumble to get there. The WWE once again proves that wins and losses don't matter. Goldberg loses the Rumble, shows up on Raw to accept Lesnar's challenge, and then gets a title shot against Owens, anyway. He doesn't even need to win a #1 contender's match. The WWE could have done better to build an epic feud. And if the title is not involved in Goldberg vs. Lesnar, that might hurt this feud even more.

Of course, there is a counterargument. If Goldberg wins the title and loses it to Lesnar, does Goldberg get a rematch? The Rock didn't get a rematch at the WWE Championship after losing it to Cena a few years ago. And if Goldberg does get a rematch, and likely loses, guess what? They're tied! Both Goldberg and Lesnar would have beaten each other twice. Doesn't that call for another match? Enough is enough with this feud. Both of these guys should be having fresh feuds with new people. They are still in a rivalry that started over ten years ago.

All that out of the way, who wins and how? I will say Goldberg wins and it is a squash. Save the shenanigans for after Fastlane. What about Jericho? What about Triple H? What about Owens getting a rematch? If the WWE does do some stupid booking, well, they boxed themselves into that corner.

Previewing The Fastlane 2017 Undercard Matches

The Raw Tag Team Championships will be decided between Anderson & Gallows and Enzo & Cass. Enzo & Cass deserve an eventual title win. Last year might have been a good time for it, but New Day happened. Anderson & Gallows just won the titles not too long ago, however, so they should win here. Build up the feud to make the eventual title change mean something more.

Neville defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Jack Gallagher. This is another title where they have just been tossing it around in recent months. I will say Neville manages to hold onto it for a little longer.

Samoa Joe faces Sami Zayn. This is obviously not the first feud the WWE would have liked for Samoa Joe on the main roster. He had a feud with Seth Rollins right in front of him. That would have been a bigger deal than this feud with Sami Zayn. No offense to Sami Zayn. These two can put on a great match, unless the WWE just wants to sell Samoa Joe as a destroyer and have him wreck Zayn. Either way, Joe is going to look strong. I will say he wins.

The feud between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman is the top Raw feud outside of the Universal Championship feud. Some might say it has been treated even better than that feud. The contract signing for this match closed Raw this week, the last Raw before Fastlane. And it's not like this is football season, where they sometimes do some questionable booking. They could have ended the show with an angle to hype Goldberg/Owens. Even Seth Rollins could have closed Raw. There was a nice brawl between Reigns and Strowman that saw a bit of destruction, but I don't think that meant the segment had to go on last.

It seems like it is a sign that Reigns is still the centerpiece. John Cena frequently went on last even when he was not involved with the main title matters, and sometimes at the expense of CM Punk. But I don't think the WWE should be doing this with Reigns right now. His push has obviously hit multiple snags. Even Cena's rise to the top was smoother than what has been going on with Reigns. I would keep him in the midcard, especially when he is only feuding with Braun Strowman. Wait until he has a bigger feud, like what might be coming for Wrestlemania.

Some fans are dreading that Braun Strowman will lose to Reigns and get buried. They point to Rusev, who has lost to the likes of Cena and Reigns and suffered depushes after. He has now been stuck with Jinder Mahal, a fate worse than being fired. Some guys only get great pushes because they are being built to put someone else over. And after that push, they typically will get some kind of depush. It is just the way things are. It happens all the time in the women's division. It is one of the reasons most female wrestlers did not become very over in the diva era. Once they were done being pushed to serve whatever purpose, they got depushed and lost their momentum. There is more space for men to be featured, so don't cry too much for a depush that Strowman will eventually be getting one day. He can at least get something to do elsewhere.

Who wins this match? Let it be Reigns. If Strowman gets this big win, where would he go after? Would he be the one feuding against The Undertaker? Will he be added to Lesnar vs. Goldberg? Does he have any great possibilities? If not, what's the point in giving him this kind of win? He would have all that momentum and nothing to do with it. Let Strowman just be a jobber to the stars in this feud. If there was a good storyline reason for Reigns losing, then I would say he would lose. I just can't picture it. Reigns wins.

Previewing The Fastlane 2017 Women's Matches

Another PPV with more than one women's match. I will start with Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax. They have been feuding for a while now. But that feud hit a snag in recent weeks when Sasha Banks spent more time in Bayley vs. Charlotte than feuding with Nia Jax. That feud just became a bit of an afterthought. There is a difference between two feuds crossing paths and one feud just becoming an afterthought. You might have something like Roman Reigns feuding against Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins feuding against Chris Jericho. Those feuds obviously crossed paths, but the individual feuds still remained strong. The WWE just could have done better with Nia Jax in recent weeks.

Who wins? If the WWE had done a better job with this feud, this might be the point where Sasha Banks wins it. But they have not. Since that is the case, they might as well keep Nia Jax strong for Wrestlemania. She'll get another win against Sasha. Will that lead to Sasha turning heel? That is another issue. I do not think the WWE should do it. We have already seen what bad depth can lead to on Smackdown recently.

Onto the title match. Bayley defends against Charlotte, who seems to have a fetish for being handed title reigns at PPVs. She only loses them on Raws. Speaking of that, there was an issue that Bayley is not a draw with the young female demographic. The Raw main event where she won the title did not do as well in that demographic as Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte, so some people want to spin that to mean Bayley is not a draw. There are a few points I want to bring up.

First, the female demographics for that final hour of Raw that night were still better than numbers Total Divas and Total Bellas have been getting this previous season. And all I hear is that these shows are great draws with women. Well, if that episode of Raw, including the third hour, did better ratings in the female demographic, including with younger women, why should you worry too much?

Move on from the fact that the main event still drew decent numbers, when compared to the reality shows the WWE has out. It did do less than Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte. But is it a fair comparison? Sasha and Charlotte were feuding for months before they main-evented Raw, without even including NXT and their feud with Becky Lynch also involved around Wrestlemania. The WWE stuffed a whole bunch of history into this feud. I think they could have booked it better, but you can see why it might draw good numbers. Even then, I wouldn't overrate the numbers it did get.

Compare that to Bayley vs. Charlotte. First of all, Bayley had her push against Charlotte killed off twice because the WWE went back to Sasha Banks. How is that going to make her look? Second, when they finally did let the feud really get started, it had only been going on about two months before the main event happened a few weeks ago. It was a fraction of the development Sasha/Charlotte had. It also does not help that it was not a fresh storyline connected to the feud. Viewers say this story already. It's just not fresh. You can say that Bayley just got Sasha's leftovers. There is a reason I frequently talk about feud development. If you do not develop a feud properly, don't expect it to draw for you as well as a feud that was developed a whole lot better. Bayley should not be blamed for the numbers.

Last thing to consider, Sasha Banks and Charlotte, the two supposed draws of the previous two women's Raw main events, were also involved in this. Why should they not shoulder the blame for numbers not being better? I would say they are not draws. What was the draw before was the hype and development. Because that was lacking here, even Sasha Banks and Charlotte being involved in the story could not help it. The WWE probably should have just spent the time properly pushing Sasha Banks against Nia Jax. If they expected her to give this feud a rub, it didn't work. Or is she just in the picture for a heel turn? Again, not what I would do.

Who wins between Charlotte and Bayley? If history is any indication, Charlotte is winning the title. And if I still cared enough to watch this stuff, I would probably throw my TV set through a window. The WWE could pull some swerve and have Charlotte win in some manner that she doesn't get  the title or have the match just get thrown out. Nia Jax can come out and destroy everyone. Charlotte's PPV streak is not broken and Bayley gets to defend the title at Wrestlemania. But I'll go with Charlotte winning, because the WWE seems to want her to be a 16x Champion.

Time For Another Authority Stable?

The Authority has not been a true stable for a while. Even before Triple H turned on Seth Rollins, Rollins was out with an injury for a long time and it was really just Triple H and Stephanie feuding against Roman Reigns without a real group around them.

Fans are anticipating a new Authority. Triple H has been working with Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens in recent weeks. That could be a new stable right there, or the start of one. Of course, Stephanie McMahon would also be included.

Is it a good idea? On the one hand, a strong heel stable can make for some interesting storylines and feuds. On the other hand, the WWE has not exactly done a great job with most of the things they have tried to do these days. They are very inefficient.

It has been so long since The Authority was a group, I am a little rusty on why it flopped the first time around. I do remember that they just teased friction within the group way too much. It is one thing to do that when one of the members is likely splitting from the group. But the WWE did it way too much. They did it with Randy Orton. They did it with Seth Rollins. This internal drama made it hard to build the stable into something great for faces to eventually overcome and get a great rub off of. If the WWE is going to try again with a heel authority stable, they should cut this friction out.

Another issue to consider is that both Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens are not young guys. This wouldn't be really building the future, like how the WWE could sell that Seth Rollins was being groomed to be the next top guy when he was in The Authority. Seth Rollins is still younger than both Owens and Samoa Joe. The WWE could still try hyping it like these two are the future of the WWE, but it would be pretty laughable with Samoa Joe being 37, the same age as Mickie James. When you reach this age range, your time is now. You're not being groomed for the future. You are either being pushed as a top star or not. Look at how fast they pushed AJ Styles. I don't think they should have rushed like that, but I can understand why they did it. There are organic ways to build all these guys properly. Nevertheless, putting Owns and Samoa Joe in a top stable would be a big step to get something out of them now.

Is it likely the WWE pulls the trigger on this? Probably. What else is Triple H supposed to do in between feuds? Just hide in the background? And Stephanie McMahon might look better with some henchmen to go after whomever she dislikes. I think this can benefit multiple individuals. The WWE just needs to handle it better than they did The Authority the first time around.

Naomi Surrenders Title, Alexa Bliss Gets It Back

I can say I take no satisfaction in Naomi's injury, but then I would sound like Donald Trump. And I don't want to sound like Donald Trump.

Even before Naomi won the title at Elimination Chamber, I said she should not have. One of the reasons I felt she should not win the title yet is because she was just returning from being injured. In 2016, there were at least two occasions where Naomi needed to take time off due to an injury. Before the WWE makes the decision to put the title on her, one of the things that needed to happen was that she needed to prove she could stay healthy. They did not do that. They put the title on Naomi just a few weeks after she returned to the main roster.

And she got injured. It looks like she got injured in the very match she won the title. Last week, they just mentioned it in a segment. I don't think most fans took it seriously that she was so hurt that she would have to surrender the title. This week, however, she did have to surrender the title due to her injury. It is the rise and fall of Naomi, all within about a month.

I don't blame Naomi for this situation. Yes, she could do some work cleaning up her in-ring style a bit. But the WWE were the ones that booked her to win the title. They should have been smarter. They should have realized this is a woman that has had some injury issues in recent years. They should not have rushed the title on her like they did. The smart thing to do would have been to monitor her and make sure she could stay healthy. As I mentioned before, see if she can clean up her in-ring work. The WWE put themselves in this situation.

You can say that you cannot predict injuries, and I would agree with that. You can't tell when someone is going to get injured. However, I think you can at least determine if it is likely someone might get injured. Look at three things. First, does the person in question have a history of injuries holding him back? Second, is the person in question doing something physical where injuries frequently happen? Third, is the person in question doing what is expected of him in this physical environment in a safe manner or a manner in which injuries might be even more likely?

If the WWE was smart, they would have this kind of thought process. They know Naomi has a history of injuries taking her out, especially in the last year. They know the kind of environment pro wrestling is. Keep in mind, they are giving women more freedom to go at it in the ring in this era. And they should have been able to look at how Naomi performs and see that it was likely she would get injured again. She does a lot of high-risk spots. Her execution is not always smooth. And you also have to worry about the people you are working with not doing their end of spots properly. Alexa Bliss is not a great wrestler. I am not blaming her for Naomi's injury, but these are all the things the WWE should have thought about. And if they had done that, I don't think they would have given Naomi the title as quickly as they did.

Is this the end of Naomi? I think it would be fair to give her one more chance when she does come back from her injury 100% healthy. That doesn't mean they dump the title in her lap 5 seconds after she returns. They should learn from their mistakes. Naomi needs to stay healthy. I think it can be done. Look at Sean Lee of the Dallas Cowboys. For years, he had injury issues that left many people thinking he was a bust and would never reach his potential. He was healthy enough to be available for every game this previous season. The only game he did not play was the meaningless regular season finale. He found a way to stay healthy. I think Naomi can do it. But she needs to actually do it. There are other women deserving of title reigns on the main roster. There are women in NXT that can earn them. There are women not even under contract yet that would love to get a title reign.

The WWE wasted no time in crowning a new Smackdown Women's Championship. Alexa Bliss faced Becky Lynch. Alexa Bliss got the win by cheap heel tactics. I am not going to criticize having the title be decided by these two and having Alexa Bliss win.

I will say something about how they decided to have Alexa Bliss win. It just looked clumsy. I am not saying it was botched. I am saying it looked poor. It lacked more of an impact. They had Alexa Bliss grabbing onto the ring apron and all that. I believe Alexa Bliss can be built to be a great heel, but I do not believe that because she is a great wrestler. If she was a great wrestler, maybe the WWE could have come up with a better finish to put her over as a great wrestler. But in terms of looking like a great heel character, winning like she did doesn't make Alexa Bliss look that great. It was just a cheap, clumsy win.

What should they have done? Why did they not have Mickie James be the one to screw Becky Lynch? Whether they did that or the way they ended up doing it, the face, Becky, gets protected by not taking a clean loss. And it would have looked even better. It would have looked even more like Becky got screwed. Becky Lynch and Mickie James are supposed to be feuding. Mickie James is supposed to be this thorn in the side of Becky Lynch. Not having Mickie James screw Becky Lynch is a missed opportunity that I would say in unforgivable. It would also do something for Alexa Bliss. If you want her to look like a boss heel, give her a competent sidekick that could actually help her. I will give the WWE credit for letting Mickie James get a win over Becky Lynch last week without Alexa Bliss. Mickie James is a veteran female wrestler. It is good to let her get a win through her own heel tactics. But Alexa Bliss is not what Mickie James is. She can use the sidekick rub.

As I said before, I did not think the WWE should bring back Mickie James, I did not think they should bring her back the way they did, I did not think they should have her play the heel character they want her to play, and I do not think they are handling this feud with Becky Lynch right. But if this is the way they are going to do it, they are still not getting the most out of Mickie James. I would rather Mickie James not be a sidekick, but they can get a lot out of her to help give rubs to Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss. If they built Mickie James up properly, Becky Lynch would look even better by going over her. If they built the relationship between Mickie James and Alexa Bliss better, Alexa's character would look even more amazing. Mickie James is being underutilized.

The last thing to bring up is the depth issue. Smackdown is now right back where they were before Naomi returned last month. Your faces are Becky Lynch and Nikki Bella. Your heels are Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, Natalya, and Carmella. Terrible unbalance. To make matters worse, it seems Maryse is getting a feud against Nikki Bella. I will talk about that more later on. Just with the women that have been wrestling on a more regular basis than Maryse, they might just have to rush a face turn to balance things out. But will it work properly? It really is for the sake of depth, not trying to make anyone into a star.

Aside from a face turn, there is the possibility of bringing someone like Asuka or Tamina in. They will at least help at house shows. Asuka obviously still has business in NXT. Tamina could show up on Smackdown to help the depth issue. Tamina has been a face. She has been a heel. She has been pushed. She has been depushed. She has been injured. She has just been there. She has never been really over. She is also the oldest active in-ring performer in the women's division. Yes, even a little older than Mickie James. If they do bring her in, it should only be to help the depth. Don't try too hard to give her a separate angle and push. Smackdown has tried to give all their women a role and Naomi's injury has shown how it can backfire. It has an impact in what Naomi was doing and what other women were doing. It really stings the division.

Let me end it by just saying that giving someone a chance does not mean handing them success. When #GiveDivasAChance happened, people weren't asking for the divas to be given a chance. What they really meant was #TreatDivasBetter. And that is what the WWE did. They never looked back. And I have seen similar things for women like Paige or Naomi. Their fans are asking for them to be given a chance. What they really mean is give them a push and a title. Some things should just be earned. Staying healthy is one of the things you have to do to earn something. The WWE did not give Naomi a chance. They just pushed her too quickly and gave her the title too quickly. When you are giving someone or something a chance, the possibility of failure has to be there. It is only fair. I just hope the WWE learns from their mistakes.

Who Won The Battle Royal?

Smackdown had a battle royal to decide who will face Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania for the WWE Championship. The match came down to AJ Styles and Luke Harper. Both men got eliminated at the same time. Things will be settled on Smackdown next week.

Or did both men really get eliminated at the same time? Fans are pointing out that it obviously looked like AJ Styles had to have gotten both feet down on the floor before Luke Harper. And judging by how the WWE were not eager to show a replay, it makes it even more likely that the ending was botched. Luke Harper should be the winner of the battle royal.

There have been some instances where a botched finish led to the WWE going in a direction they did not intend to go. A couple months ago, Bayley got added to a title match between Sasha Banks and Charlotte because of a botched finish. Of course, the idea here was for Luke Harper and AJ Styles to have a controversial finish and have a little mini-feud between the two. But if Harper obviously won the match, the WWE's plans look stupid. There is a controversy here, but it is over the fact that the WWE won't acknowledge what really happened. The kayfabe controversy is just overshadowed.

I will admit that I felt that the WWE was doing too much with the storyline between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt. The development for what they were doing was also weak at times. But even I am starting to want to see Luke Harper stay involved in this feud to get in the title match at Wrestlemania. It looks like he legitimately won the battle royal. His character is starting to look strong. With how much smarks love him and the momentum he is getting, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a reaction at Wrestlemania that buries both Orton and Wyatt. It would probably be a mistake to take him out of that picture. I am not saying it would be as terrible as what the WWE tried to do with Daniel Bryan years ago, but it might upset certain vocal fans.

Is Nia Jax Going Backwards?

It is not unusual for big monstrous wrestlers to squash jobbers when they first debut. They then graduate to better feuds. Some lose momentum and get tossed aside. Nia Jax is the women's division's big monster. She had been squashing jobbers for a long time. Local jobbers, even.

In recent months, it looked like she finally graduated. Recently, she had that feud going on with Sasha Banks. She was tossing Sasha around and looking monstrous. She was finally feuding with a credible opponent. But that feud never really got finished yet.

Next thing you know, Sasha Banks is back deeply involved in the picture with Charlotte and Bayley. She was there to give Bayley an assist to win the title last week. They were again involved with each other this week. Fans are already anticipating Sasha turning heel on Bayley.

But where is Nia? She once again squashed a local jobber on Raw this week. Now, it is not unheard of for an established big man to go back and squash jobbers here and there, but it is too soon for Nia Jax to be back squashing jobbers. This can hurt her development. Most squash matches are not entertaining. Yes, James Ellsworth got his big break being a local jobber, but it was his awkward look that got people talking about him and won him a contract.

This once again highlights the depth problem. Charlotte and Bayley cannot be involved with just each other every week. They need supporting players. Enter Dana Brooke. But who sides with Bayley? They could try to force Alicia Fox into the picture, but Sasha Banks already has a stronger connection with Bayley. Problem is, how they are using Sasha now just makes the feud she was having with Nia Jax irrelevant. There are not enough bodies to go around to handle what they want to do efficiently.

Even then, I think they could have done a better job keeping Nia Jax in the picture with Sasha Banks and everyone else. She will get a title feud sooner or later, but there is no need to waste her with these short squash matches until then. Fans already know she can be dominant. Don't botch the progression she is going through. Have her still target Sasha Banks. Even just a backstage segment with any of the women currently relevant would be enough. You can say that they needed to do the squash match to kill time, but I think they easily could have added that extra minute to any other match or segment. It is just poor feud development.

Is It Still A Dark Age?

The diva era in the WWE lasted roughly 17 years. That is the span where title matters were meant to center around eye-candy. During that era, you had different stages or periods. You had the beginning of the era. That led to the first dark age. The golden age followed. The era of failed centerpieces followed that. That led to the second dark age. And the WWE was never able to get the diva status quo out of that dark age.

This is a new era. You can't refer to this as the "new era" of the women's division forever. This is the women's revolution era. Not only is the WWE featuring the women better, but they are going to scream really loudly to make sure everyone knows it. That is, figuratively speaking. But they will mention it more than they really need to and utilize it more than they really need to for storylines. Aside from that, what stage are we in for the women's revolution era?

First, I would say we are past the beginning of this era. It started in 2015 when fans on Twitter destroyed the WWE for how they were handling the women's division. A few changes started from there. A few months after that, three respected women's wrestlers debuted from NXT in one night. A few months after that, the butterfly title, a symbol of the previous era, was dumped and "diva" became a bad word (except for Total Divas). Since then, there has been a ton of history crammed into a span of less than a year and Smackdown has its own women's title again. The general idea of what this era is about has already taken shape. No, I would not say we are still in the beginning stages.

Is it a golden age? What makes that kind of era so great, in my mind, are two things. First, efficiency. You have to be handling things smoothly and without too many mistakes. That is what puts you in a position to best be successful. Second, it has to be bringing great results. In the case of pro wrestling, which falls in the category of entertainment, it has to be popular. That doesn't mean everyone loves it. You will always have some people disliking what is going on, whether for a good reason or not. But are the majority of fans loving it?

Look at the golden age of the diva era. A lot of people praise this era for the wrestling quality. For the most part, the WWE had a good group of credible jobbers to help create a strong foundation and be efficient. And the booking was pretty good. Beyond that, it was a popular era, and not just with wrestling fans. Some of these wrestling fans seem to forget that this era featured the dreaded Bra & Panties matches and other matches and segments that they would riot for if the WWE tried it today. Not only did you have an era that wrestling fans could enjoy, but fans drawn to the fun diva-related angles could have things that they could enjoy.

Look at the current product in the women's revolution era. Is this the best you can imagine for this new era? I don't think so. They are not efficient. On Raw, they have been rolling with a centerpiece that is not connecting properly with the fans to deserve her monster push. Doing this kind of thing was something you saw in the era of failed centerpieces. On Smackdown, they don't even seem to have a centerpiece at all. They just juggle attention around numerous women. And they do not have the depth to properly do what they are doing. As far as how popular this era is, yes, there are fans loving what is going on, but there are also fans that just don't care for it or even dislike it. I have seen fans that wanted change even critical of some of the things going on. All of these women coming out of NXT seem to lose their luster on the main roster. The WWE is trying hard to hype these women and what is going on in the division, but it doesn't have that wide entertainment value.

Is it a dark age? Just look at what I said about the golden age and consider the opposite. That is what a dark age is. And I would say that is what you have. Raw and Smackdown seem to have two different agendas going on, and neither one is as efficient as it should be. No woman is as over as she should be, and the WWE is to blame in most cases for their sloppy booking. And the overall atmosphere they have created is not as popular as it should be to warrant the WWE continuing to hype it so much. It is abrasive. It is as polarizing as John Cena. Some fans love what is going on, but there are also a lot annoyed by it.

Part of the problem is that this era was born from a dark age. That is not shocking. From the death of one era comes the birth of a new era. But the WWE never got around to really fixing their efficiency problems. In fact, the whole company was really in a funk. To make matters worse, they decided to do a brand split, crippling the roster even more.

Another reason this era is not yet as great as it could be is that it is too much hype. Everything is history. They did a dual contract signing on Smackdown two weeks ago and hyped that as history. Really? That was just dumb. Yes, it is good that the WWE wants to treat the women better, but don't harp on it like this. The WWE obviously didn't do all this because they genuinely care. They did it because they were pressured to do it and continue to hype it like this more out of ego than trying to be smart. You can treat these women better without making a theme out of it. It is one of the reasons some people have soured on what is going on.

Will this dark age give birth to a golden age like the first dark age of the diva era did? Not if the WWE doesn't smarten up. You need proper depth in both divisions, if they insist on continuing the brand split. You need to handle these women smarter. You can't feature everyone prominently. Some people will get the short end of the stick. They need to change the overall atmosphere of the division. Less bitterness. Less hype. Less self-righteousness. Let the wrestling speak for itself, but come up with storylines and feuds that allow these women to show entertaining characters. You will have good wrestling going on to please wrestling fans and entertaining characters being featured to please the wider audience. That will produce results. You will have a women's division that is efficient and has appeal to a majority of your fans. And that's a golden age.

The Wildcard In The Wyatt Storyline

Bray Wyatt won the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber last Sunday. He retained it on Smackdown. Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble a few weeks ago. These two were feuding with each other a few months ago. The storyline then took a twist when Randy Orton just randomly decided to join The Wyatts. Everyone is waiting for that feud to finally resume, finish up, and have everyone involved just move on with their lives.

But there is a wildcard in all this. Luke Harper has been The Wyatt pushed out with Randy Orton joining the group. He is now a bit of a thorn in the side of Bray Wyatt. How will he factor in as the feud progresses?

There will be a battle royal on Smackdown next week to see who faces Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania. People are expecting Luke Harper to win that. Whether he does or doesn't, a lot of fans are thinking about a triple-threat match at Wrestlemania. Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper. The fact that Randy Orton said he doesn't want to face Bray is meaningless. It is not written in stone.

I am all for the WWE elevating talent with the brand split back. Seth Rollins just got too many title shots last year. And then Roman Reigns came in. Now a part-timer is going after Raw's top title. Elevate younger talent. Luke Harper is that kind of talent. And smarks love the guy.

Problem is, now is not the time I would be doing this kind of thing. This Wrestlemania season already feels disappointing when you think of the great feuds they could potentially have built. As I have said before, the feud between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt did not need the Royal Rumble win and WWE Championship to be involved. But now that you are at that point, just go with that. There is enough to work with right there. Luke Harper does not need to be in this Wrestlemania match. Save his involvement in the Smackdown title matches for after Wrestlemania.

Owens And Jericho Break Up

Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens have been partners for a few months. Their partnership included both winning some titles. They have had their ups and downs. Friction has been teased. Overall, there were a lot of good segments and most fans will call this a successful partnership. I wish the storyline between Chris Jericho and AJ Styles lasted this well. Anyway, it looks like it is over now. Owens turned on Jericho on Raw this week.

Did it need to happen now? I am not raising the question because I worshiped this partnership like some fans did. Just in terms of storylines, did it need to happen now? Kevin Owens has Goldberg as the next challenger for the Universal Championship. Shouldn't the WWE be trying to really put over that feud? After Owens loses to Goldberg, he can turn on Jericho the next night on Raw. Jericho was the one that put him in the position to face Goldberg. The two could then feud for the United States Championship for Wrestlemania. The way the WWE handled it, this could be viewed as a bit of a distraction.

Let me bring up another "distraction" so you can see what I mean. Go back a few months to when Seth Rollins was feuding with Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. This was coming off of Rollins looking so heated off of Triple H screwing him. Pretty soon, that emotion just died. I will never forget Rollins goofing around with Jericho's list. It just ruined his character. Not all faces need to be pandering for laughs. And I have seen many fans say that The List of Jericho was burying Owens. It was more over than Owens. It just became a distraction. Yes, fans loved it, but it was one of the reasons the development of certain things back then got hurt. There were other factors, like the WWE just not pushing guys right, but it was part of the problem.

Of course, you probably need a distraction right now. You have a feud involving a part-timer, and those people tend to not be used every week to help further whatever they are involved in. What is Kevin Owens supposed to do? Just beat up Gillberg? They could have continued to tease the issues between Owens and Jericho, but just not pull the trigger on the break up yet. You now have more people interested in that this week than the actual feud between Owens and Goldberg. It is just not smooth feud development. It wasn't that necessary to have the betrayal happen now.

You also have Triple H involved in this. He is in the ear of Kevin Owens. There you see another part of the problem. With Seth Rollins injured for at least a few weeks, Triple H has nothing to really do. They have to come up with something for him. And this is what they decided to do. I still think they could have waited. But I will admit the WWE is in a tough spot with what happened to Seth Rollins.

Proper feud development matters. That is why I spent yesterday talking about Smackdown's women's feuds. You have a feud between Nikki Bella and Natalya that just needs to end already. You have a feud between Becky Lynch and Mickie James that could have been booked to be a lot better than it is. You have Alexa Bliss losing the title when it looked like they could have built her to be a great heel character. You have them rushing the title onto Naomi when they could have built up to it better. The wider audience are not going to tune in for a match just because it is stealing the show. As far as matches go, people will tune in based on how well it has been hyped and the development of the feud/storyline leading up to the match. The feud between Goldberg and Owens has not had great development. It is getting buried by the distraction of Owens turning on Jericho. The WWE is just going to run on the hype of Goldberg + Title Match = $$$. Okay, but it seems like Goldberg has already lost some of his luster in terms of drawing in viewers. Let's see what he does in terms of selling tickets and getting WWE Network subscriptions.