Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Undercard Matches

A complaint I see from many fans recently is that the WWE was giving away too much of Summerslam this past week. They have had some matches that are supposed to also happen at the PPV. With the poor way a lot of the Summerslam matches have been developed, I am not too surprised that the WWE would try to shake things up in the final week before the PPV. That includes what happened to Baron Corbin on Smackdown.

New Day defend the Smackdown Tag Team Championships against The Usos. Nothing much to say here. New Day retain.

The Raw Tag Team Championships will be decided between Sheamus & Cesaro and the reunion of The Shield. Not only are the tag titles on the line, but there is a story here. I like that. I was just saying yesterday that some title feuds don't need a special story, while others can really use it. New Day vs. The Usos didn't need a special story. Just make it about the tag titles, let their gimmicks work, and then let them wrestle. With this Raw feud, there was potential for a story. Some might even say the story was necessary. Rollins betrayed The Shield years ago and Rollins and Ambrose had a heated feud. Could these two really come back together so easily? Should they win the tag titles? Some fans are already talking about the possibility of Ambrose turning on Seth. Too soon for that. Neither Rollins nor Ambrose have won a PPV match in a while, so I say they get the tag titles at Summerslam.

Akira Tozawa defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Neville. This was supposed to be Neville defending the title, but things got switched around when the WWE had the title match on Raw this week and allowed the title change. This was one of those matches that fans were scratching their heads about. This was a pretty dull feud. A lot of things about the cruiserweight division has been boring. If nothing else, having the unexpected title change shook things up. I would not be surprised at all if Neville wins it back at Summerslam. The WWE has shown they love this guy this year. They put a hold on tossing the title to random cruiserweights for his benefit. He has had a long reign. But he could very well become the first man to hold the title twice. Even though short reigns like this are rare, I will say Tozawa's reign does end.

Staying on Raw, Big Show vs. Cass. Enzo will be in a shark cage above the ring. They just did this with Jericho earlier in the year. I would say it is too soon to pull this trick out again. Prior to this year, it wasn't exactly used often in the WWE. Looking at parts of Cass's promo on Raw this week, he looks like he could be the next Edge. But he is missing something. I am not talking about his wrestling ability, even though that has not been that exciting. His promos just lack a certain intensity Edge had. And Big Show is tied into this situation. The WWE is already running a bit of an injury angle to make it look like Big Show is beatable. He should be losing this match. What will Enzo do? I think it would be for the best if he just turns heel and goes back with Cass. What else is there for Enzo to do?

Staying on the theme of Summerslam matches coming early, Bray Wyatt defeated Finn Balor on Raw this week. What happens at Summerslam? Demon Balor. This feud has been pretty dull, until this week. It started, then it got killed off. If they had done it smoothly, the match on Raw this week probably would have happened at the last Raw PPV. The WWE could then do a slower build to Balor going to his dark side to face Bray Wyatt. Things have definitely been rushed. But the WWE probably needed to do it. Balor wins here. Have to keep this gimmick looking strong.

Randy Orton vs. Rusev. This is one of those dry feuds. Not too interesting. I feel it could have been built up so much better. Even though signs point to Rusev possibly winning, I will say Orton wins. I will say why in a moment.

AJ Styles defends the United States Championship against Kevin Owens. Shane McMahon will ref. Is that really necessary? Well, it is what they are going with. These two have been feuding for a long time now. It should end here. AJ Styles retains.

Lastly, John Cena faces Baron Corbin. But the big news is that Baron Corbin cashed in the briefcase on Smackdown this week and lost. That's the end of that. This was one of those things that fans felt was wasted this week before Summerslam. Is Corbin in the doghouse? Is he suspended? No news of a suspension. And even if the WWE is not high on him, they could have still jobbed him out at Summerslam or a later date.

I was against Baron Corbin getting the briefcase in the first place. Needless to say, the WWE did not do that great of a job building him up since getting the briefcase. His feud development in the last month has been terrible. His feud against Shinsuke Nakamura should still be going on. This feud with Cena just lacked a great story. It just felt like both guys could have been doing something better. John Cena did have a small hand in Corbin failing to cash in, but the feud is still not that special. Pretty lackluster.

Who wins? I will say Baron Corbin. Unless he did do something wrong, he should get the win. John Cena has not done that well at Summerslam in recent years. Baron Corbin might even destroy Cena after the match to send him on his next hiatus. The reason I said Orton beats Rusev is because I do not see both Orton and Cena losing to midcard heels in the same night. If one of them has to bite the bullet, I will say it is Cena. Orton has not won a PPV match since Wrestlemania. Cena beat Rusev just last month.

Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Women's Championship Matches

First of all, August 31st will be my last day blogging.

Onto Summerslam. There seems to be an overall theme with this PPV. So many of the feuds heading into this Sunday just feel underdeveloped. Considering this is one of the WWE's big four PPVs of the year and their biggest of the summer, the mediocrity is a little surprising. Both of the women's title matches are in this category.

Let me start with Raw's title match. It was obviously supposed to be Bayley getting this push. I would not have gone to her, but that is what the WWE chose to do. The WWE obviously had some time to work a story between Bayley and Alexa Bliss. They could continue the same story from the last time they feuded a few months ago, even though it was a pretty bad story. Problem is, Bayley got injured. The WWE was now in a tough situation. It was obvious Sasha Banks was the woman to push. She even won the title opportunity this week. Problem is, no time is left to develop a proper story between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. All you have is a basic title feud. This is exactly what you had when these two feuded for the title before Bayley got put back into the picture. It is very dull.

I am surprised the WWE doesn't go with the obvious story. Have Sasha Banks call Alexa Bliss out for hurting the women's revolution. Alexa Bliss represents the diva era. Sasha Banks is all about the women's revolution. I see a ton of fans on the Internet blaming Alexa Bliss for the quality of the women's division taking a dive recently. I am not denying Alexa has her fans, but she has her critics, as well. The WWE is not ignorant to the Internet and social media these days. They have to know that a lot of fans dislike how Alexa Bliss is pushed. They know all about Twitter wanting Emma to get a chance. But the WWE seems scared to run with the obvious storyline, so they go with this story-less feud between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. I guess they do not want Alexa Bliss to look weak, even though it would be up to her to prove she really can hang with Sasha Banks. Some fans were impressed with their last match. I don't think the WWE really has an excuse for not doing better between Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks.

Who wins? Once again, Sasha Banks was obviously not even supposed to be in the story right now. The WWE could have Alexa Bliss retain here and eventually drop the title to Bayley or Sasha Banks, after the feud between Sasha and Alexa actually becomes more heated. I would pick Sasha. The sooner the title goes to a face, the more likely Emma finally gets a title feud. Whether she wins it or not is not the issue. The WWE should just go with it for the sake of freshness, to give Emma a chance, and to shut up a whole bunch of people on this issue. Right now, though, Alexa Bliss should retain.

What about Bayley? Should she just get pushed again as soon as she returns? Fans have soured on her in recent weeks. I would say part of the problem is that they made her look terrible in her feud against Alexa Bliss, then decided to just push her again after she was wrecked. You can't treat someone terribly and expect the fans not to sour on them. The WWE humiliated Mickie James terribly a number of years ago. They probably would have loved it if her overness did suffer. It would have made Michelle McCool look like a stronger heel and made Mickie easier to toss aside. But Mickie James was genuinely over with the overall audience back then in a way Bayley is not right now. Even though the WWE did not intend to ruin Bayley, because there really was no good reason to, that is what they did. I do not think the answer is to turn her heel. Give her a secondary storyline. Build her back up slow. Do not toss her back against Alexa Bliss and certainly do not toss her back into a feud that makes her look like garbage. Doing this kind of thing with Roman Reigns a few years ago actually did him some good. When he stopped getting his monster push, his hate lessened a little. If the WWE gives Bayley an angle that actually presents her as fun and entertaining, that might warm up her overness again.

Onto Smackdown. Raw actually has an excuse for their women's title feud being mediocre. Smackdown does not. It will be Natalya vs. Naomi. Natalya is not the woman I would have went with. I have said this before. At a big PPV like Summerslam, the WWE should have just created a better feud. Even though it would have created a face vs. face situation, I would have gone with Charlotte, or even Becky Lynch. Becky was the first Smackdown Women's Champion, who has not done anything too important in months. Charlotte was the first Raw Women's Champion, who has not done anything too important in months. But both these women could have made for more high-profile feuds than Natalya getting the title shot.

Even though I would not have gone with Natalya, I really expected the WWE to do better with her these last few weeks to develop some kind of good feud between her and Naomi. They have not. Part of the problem is that the WWE has to feature Carmella and the briefcase. Carmella defeated Naomi last week. The week before that, Naomi defeated Carmella in a tag match. More focus needs to be put on Natalya. Smackdown is tonight, but I am not expecting anything too grand to make up for the mediocrity. I really expected better from Smackdown. They have taken workers that were not pushed well and made them look like bigger deals at times since last year. There are some exceptions to this, like Jack Swagger, but I would have expected better with Natalya for the sake of this feud. Ignoring Carmella and the briefcase, this is just a mediocre title feud between Natalya and Naomi.

Who wins? I am all for Natalya getting a push and even winning the title. Now is just not the right time. Natalya is still somewhat young. She is 35. I can see her lasting another few years, and she should be getting a "thank you" run at least down the line. Right now, it should be about women that are fresher and have more credibility. This is Summerslam. This feud was not worthy of this event when it started and they have not developed it to be worthy of this event since then. Naomi should not lose the title to Natalya.

Bigger question, should Carmella cash in and win? Yes, I think she should. Naomi has held the title for a couple months now. This is even her second reign this year. There are no good heels for her to feud with. Becky Lynch and Charlotte are the one that should be getting the title feuds. But if the WWE doesn't want to do face vs. face, a heel needs to get the title as soon as possible. Natalya is not that heel. Carmella is just the fresher option. Just have the submission specialist work over Naomi's leg, or whatever body part. Naomi manages to pull out the victory. Carmella sees Naomi hurt and cashes in to win it.

Overall, these are just two title matches that have had mediocre build. They are nothing more than basic title feuds. Again, ignore the briefcase for the Smackdown women's feud. Just looking at Natalya vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss, the feuds are not interesting. There are times when the WWE shouldn't get too fancy with title feuds. Just let it be a title feud. I would say that was the case for Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Gallows & Anderson from earlier in the year. The WWE tried to get too fancy with referee nonsense and it just was not needed. Just let these guys fight. That is their strengths. But I would say the WWE needed to do more with these two women's title feuds. This is Summerslam. These aren't kickoff-worthy matches. The feud between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss just felt like it had potential to be more than it is. Natalya needed better focus than she has gotten to make this feud seem like a bigger deal. The WWE is treating Summerslam almost like a Wrestlemania this year, but a lot of these feuds do not look worthy. And I'll be bringing this theme up again in the next few days.

Randy Orton Finally Beats Jinder Mahal

Randy Orton defeated Jinder Mahal in a non-title match on Smackdown last week. It was in Toronto, Mahal's hometown. I see some fans unhappy with the result. They say it made Mahal look weak.

I do not see a problem with it, in terms of making Jinder Mahal look weak. Randy Orton lost to him three PPVs in a row. Jinder Mahal was going to put him over eventually. It is only fair. As for it being in his hometown, Jinder Mahal isn't exactly someone that deserves to be treated like royalty. If he wasn't getting his monster push, most people in Toronto, and even India, would not care too much for him.

I will say that I do not like that the WWE has not invested more in Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. That is the title feud. It is not the title feud I would have went with, but they went with it. If that is the way it goes, at least put better work into it. This is the last week before Summerslam.

Meanwhile, Randy Orton is feuding with Rusev. Rusev attacked Orton after his match. Once again, however, I feel like the WWE could have done more with this feud. These two could have had a proper feud, but I feel it was just tossed together the way the WWE handled it. Poor feud development just seems to be a theme for Summerslam this year.

What Is The WWE Doing With Jason Jordan?

The angle involving Kurt Angle and Jason Jordan has not exactly been very good. The big reveal was lackluster. It was certainly not a summer angle that looked like it could shake things up. Some might say it has been even more horrible than that.

This week on Raw, which was in Toronto, Jason Jordan went against a local talent and he certainly did not get a good reaction from the audience. What is the WWE doing with Jason Jordan? Do they want him to look bad? Aside from his wrestling talent and solid physique, this guy does look bad. His mic skills are not great and he is not showing great charisma. You can blame the promos on this being a terrible storyline to work with from the start. The WWE just does not seem to be helping him properly.

One moment, it looks like this guy is showing heelish tendencies and he's going in that direction. Another moment, it looks like he is supposed to be cheered. The WWE needs to decide what they want his character to be and go from there. This sloppiness will leave a lot of fans unsure what to make of him.

I know very well what a tweener is. It is a performer in between being a heel and a face. It is not unusual for a person turning either heel or face to have a tweener character for a while. Moreover, tweener characters are usually interesting. What will they do next? How will they interact with other characters? Thing is, I would say it is too soon to treat Jason Jordan as a tweener. He didn't exactly establish himself in American Alpha very well. Fans need a chance to get to know him, then play with his character. Beyond that, this is just not an entertaining character right now. It is just dull and sloppy. So, if the WWE is thinking tweener, they better think again.

The Revival Out Again

The WWE had a real situation with injuries on Raw a couple months ago. A few key injuries seemed to impact things very much. And it seems to be happening again. I already talked a lot about Bayley's injury and how it impacted the women's division. But there is more to talk about.

A couple months ago, Dash Wilder of The Revival suffered an injury and it ruined the team pretty soon after they just debuted on the main roster. He came back a few weeks ago. It took a while for the WWE to get going with some feud for the team again. Next thing you know, Scott Dawson, the other member of the team, gets injured. He will miss enough time that they are out for Summerslam.

Let's be honest, these are not two very interesting guys. They are tough in the ring and wrestling fans will love them for that, but they have not shown anything to make me believe they will be top stars. But that doesn't mean they should not be given a proper push and given that chance to try to connect with the wider audience. It is just good for the tag division, as well as the two of them.

Some might say these injuries will spell the end of their push. It is not like either guy has proven to be too fragile. These injuries might just be bad luck. They will probably get another chance down the road. If they do lose out on another push, I think it would be more out of other priorities popping up in the tag division down the line than the WWE losing interest in them. In the last year, I have seen tag teams underachieve in connecting with the audience, look like the WWE might give up on them, and still get tag title runs. Anderson & Gallows and American Alpha fall in that category. If you are a Revival fan, there is always a chance they still get a run with the titles.

This injury might be trouble for the tag division. Raw's women's division actually has better depth than the show's tag division. Sheamus & Cesaro are feuding against Ambrose & Rollins, two guys that just recently got back together a couple weeks ago. The Hardys were involved in a feud involving The Revival and Anderson & Gallows. With The Revival out, The Hardys likely will do something else. There were signs that Anderson & Gallows might turn face to help the issue of a lack of genuine, fresh, long-term face teams on Raw. With a heel team out, those two might have to stay heel. Enzo & Big Show might have to remain a team for a while just to give the WWE more options. As it stands, the WWE cannot afford an injury to anyone else in the tag division. They are already relying on guys that are established singles wrestlers for their main title feud. The Hardys are around 40. The worst thing the WWE can do right now is continue their tendency to break up teams.

How The WWE Chose To Handle Bayley's Injury

When I talked about Bayley's injury last week, one of the points I made was that the depth in Raw's women's division was still good. They had various women they could start utilizing in Bayley's absence. When I said that, however, I did not mean the WWE should just take all these women and dump them into matches on Raw.

Last night, they had two triple threat matches to decide the new #1 contender for Alexa Bliss at Summerslam. The winners of those two matches would face each other next week to decide who gets the title shot. It will be Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax.

Why do I dislike the WWE doing this? I do like the idea of tournaments and things like that. But there are various reasons why doing this kind of thing now is not good. First, it leaves the WWE with no time to build a proper feud between Alexa Bliss and the winner of next week's match, likely Sasha Banks. Summerslam is on August 20th. Next week is the last Raw before the PPV.

Go back to the last Raw PPV. Sasha Banks ended up getting the title shot against Alexa Bliss. But the WWE got there in a very poor way. They did not develop Sasha Banks well at all. When she finally did get the title shot, there was only one week left before PPV and the WWE really could not do too much to make the feud interesting. It was just a basic title feud. But there is one reason why I would not complain too much about that back then. I figured this feud would continue past Great Balls Of Fire. It didn't. They went back to Bayley. And now with Bayley injured, Sasha Banks is the logical choice to push, but the WWE is once again limiting the amount of time they will have to work with to make this title feud more interesting.

The second reason I dislike how the WWE handled things is that it really does nothing for the extra women that were involved in these matches. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax was just the likely match even before this week. They should have just gotten it over with and spent Raw next week properly developing Sasha vs. Alexa. And there was no swerve in the results of the triple threats last night. No surprise winner of either match. No Paige return. Nothing interesting. All those extra women were really just fluff.

If you are one of those fans that want to see Emma or Mickie James doing something more than they have been doing, you cannot settle for just seeing them on Raw used like they were. That's nothing. That's not a push. That's not being used in a creative way. Last night isn't going to help them or the other extras, Alicia Fox and Dana Brooke.

The WWE needs more creative depth in Raw's women's division. They need one other storyline besides Alexa Bliss and whatever she is doing. They have teased little things here and there, but they need to stop playing around and just develop some feud or storyline already. Creatively, the title feud is not that creative at all, and there is nothing else going on to talk about. It's just chasing after a title. Very dull. The WWE has to do more than that.

Roman Reigns: The Worst Centerpiece In Decades?

Roman Reigns is supposed to be the guy. He is supposed to be the centerpiece. This is supposed to be the top full-time star of the entire company. When I look at how he has been pushed in the last year, he doesn't look like it.

The WWE spent some time grooming him. You can say negative fan reactions led to his push being stalled. It took him a while to finally win the WWE Championship. Even then, it only lasted a few minutes. His next reign, coming after fans were a little more on his side, only lasted a few weeks. And then his third reign only lasted a few months. He has not regained a top title since that third reign. All he has had is a run with the United States Championship. Not only has he not held a top title since last year, he has not even won a PPV match since Wrestlemania. I ask you, is this how you push a centerpiece?

You can bring up John Cena taking time away from the title and having losing streaks. Thing is, a lot of that has come in recent years, when Cena has now become a part-timer and is no longer the centerpiece. He is not even the centerpiece of Smackdown. And even if you go back to when Cena had these dry periods years ago, it came after Cena had already gotten a number of title reigns and some lengthy title reigns that really defined him. What has been the defining title reign for Roman Reigns? He hasn't had it. And I don't need to say too much about Triple H and Austin during their respective runs at the top. They were certainly pushed better than Reigns.

The WWE can have Roman Reigns go out there and give these promos where he still talks like he's the guy. Commentators can even make it sound like he is the guy. In Vince McMahon's mind, Roman Reigns may even still be the guy. I don't read minds. I read actions. I read how these workers are pushed in relation to each other and over time. And the WWE might be fooling themselves. They have not put the work into Roman Reigns recently. There are some fans that will eat up hype very easily and buy into Roman Reigns just because the WWE tells them to. But there are a lot of fans out there that are going to see that this guy has not been a top Champion in over a year and has not won a big match in months. To make matters worse, he has not really been the star of any great storylines. John Cena was a major focus in many storylines over the years, like the Nexus angle. Roman Reigns and his off-and-on feud with Braun Strowman is not really a creative storyline. Even his Wrestlemania feud with The Undertaker was pretty pathetic. It was so pathetic, I cannot believe that is how The Undertaker's career will end. They are just really failing to present Roman Reigns as a proper centerpiece.

You can say part of the reason for having Roman Reigns not hold the title and lose so much in the last few months is to appease his haters. They don't seem appeased. I see fans talking about this guy like he is overpushed. He hasn't held a top title in over a year. He hasn't won a PPV match in months. He is not even a part of a storyline where he is shoved down your throat. The WWE should not be wasting time trying to please these fans.

If not Roman Reigns, then who? Who is the centerpiece of Raw? Who is being pushed like the centerpiece should? Not Brock Lesnar. He is not around enough to be considered the centerpiece. None of the full-time guys look like the centerpiece. Seth Rollins had a big win against Triple H at Wrestlemania, but he has fizzled out rather easily. No one man looks like the top guy. It is just a juggling act.

Let me bring up Smackdown. Who is the centerpiece there? Once again, I would say no one. John Cena is a part-timer. Randy Orton had a big Wrestlemania win and has been losing at every PPV since. Certainly not Nakamura or Jinder Mahal. No, I have not forgotten AJ Styles. He has gotten a decent push since coming to Smackdown, but if he was the centerpiece, he would not be out of the WWE Championship picture so easily. You can talk about elevating the United States title all you want, but I doubt AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens stands a good chance to close Summerslam. Granted, no Smackdown match seems to stand a chance to close Summerslam. Smackdown does not have a centerpiece.

During the diva era, you would have these dark ages, usually when you had no centerpiece around. Without one person the WWE was interested to build around, they just made do with what they had and went all over the place. In a way, stars were born during dark ages. Lita and Trish were created during the first dark age. AJ Lee was a product of the second dark age.

You can say that the entire company is in a dark age now that they have not had in decades. They have no overall centerpiece. They have no centerpiece on either brand. Why does having a centerpiece matter? Because it makes it easier to be efficient. Once you have one guy you know is your top star, you can just build around him. Ideally, everything else would just fall into place. When you do not have that, then you might just go all over the place and do stupid things. I would say that is exactly what is going on. You have terrible feud development on both brands. Some good workers are just being pushed too fast. A lot of workers feel like they are underachieving. Ratings are obviously poor. Fan reactions are often mediocre or worse. The WWE needs to be more efficient. They need to once again show that they know what they want and know how to go about trying to get it. The WWE is just doing dumb things I never would have expected them to do.

How Goes The Enzo/Cass Drama?

One of the big storylines going on in recent months involves Big Cass turning on Enzo. I already gave reasons why splitting these two was a bad idea. The WWE did it. The storyline is still continuing. Big Show is involved. Let's take it from there.

It has not been a good storyline. And the WWE insists on giving it main-event attention. I know being in the main event these days is really not special. The WWE are cowards when football season comes along and are showing cowardice even when it isn't football season these days. The third hour always has that massive drop, so they don't put what deserves to be closing the show in the final slot. And this storyline with these three guys just does not deserve the attention. You can say Enzo & Cass earned it by becoming a popular act, but not every act that gets popular needs to be main-eventing. Not every good pitcher in baseball is going to be a starter. Some are just best as relievers. Some wrestling acts are just best in the midcard. When you try to take them and turn them into something bigger, you ruin them. The WWE spoiled John Cena in a lot of ways. He was a popular midcard act that is now a polarizing main-eventer. It looks like the WWE is spoiling a popular tag team with this split and storyline.

Big Cass was supposed to be the breakout star in this storyline. He is not that great in the ring. You can say he has a decent look. And his mic skills are not that great. Yes, he gave a very good promo when he first turned on Enzo a couple weeks ago. But he can't just be that guy all the time. There are some situations that just don't call for it. Moreover, it would be nice if he could be entertaining on the mic. Passionate and serious is nice, but there is more to it than that. Cass lacks depth. He lacks that range of emotion. If he has it, he hasn't shown it. Someone like Mickie James has that depth. A lot of fans remember her as the bouncy, happy face diva. But she could also cry when a storyline called for it. She could do serious promos. She can get nasty as a heel. Some of her range doesn't even get appreciated. Cass needs to improve himself, or he might lose this push and just be a jobber to the stars. That is already a possibility for him.

How about Enzo? There are all these rumors about huge backstage heat. I don't care. I am just talking in terms of how he is used creatively and his potential. He is not great in the ring. But he can certainly do a better job on the mic than Cass. And yet, what can they possibly do for him after this storyline with Cass ends? You can speculate on sending him to 205 Live or NXT, but he is not great in the ring. So what does he do there? He needs to be paired with someone, whether as a manager or tag team.

And Big Show? He is in the last stage of his in-ring career. It is kind of sad for him to go out with this kind of storyline. Putting over young talent is admirable and all that, but putting over talent that is being misused and likely not going anywhere is a waste of time. I am not saying Big Show deserves a "Thank You" title run. I am not even saying he should win his final WWE match. But using him better than this would be nice.

Overall, this whole storyline just does not look like it was worth it. It hurt the tag division. It isn't leading to anything too great for anyone involved. It just feels like a waste of time. It might be best for Enzo and Cass to just get back together.

Bayley Injured

During Bayley's match with Nia Jax on Raw, it looked like Bayley had suffered a legitimate shoulder injury. It has now been confirmed by the WWE that Bayley is injured. Assuming Bayley is out for a long period of time, how does this impact things?

The first thing you have to talk about is the #1 contendership. Bayley was supposed to face Alexa Bliss at Summerslam for Raw's Women's Championship. Thankfully, the depth is good. The WWE can just go back to pushing Sasha Banks. I would say Sasha Banks never should have lost the push in the first place. Of course, they can't just hand the title shot to Sasha Banks. They can have her win some match to earn the title shot. She can beat Nia Jax.

Overall, how does the loss of Bayley impact the depth of the Raw women's division? Hopefully, Bayley recovers well and is back soon. Until then, however, there is no shortage of faces. Mickie James and Dana Brooke have just been floating there for weeks now. Dana Brooke is not good in the ring, but the WWE can lean on Mickie James to team with Sasha Banks in tag matches for the next few weeks, or use her as a jobber. I have seen fans completely forget Mickie James is even there. Hopefully, if anything good comes out of something as bad as Bayley getting injured, Mickie James gets more usage.

The other issue to consider is Nia Jax. This is not the first time she has been involved in a match with some scary botches. Just a couple months ago, Charlotte's final match on Raw was against Nia Jax. It wasn't pretty. All the botches cannot be put on Nia Jax. Some botches are the fault of the person executing the move. Some are the fault of the person taking the move. And some are the fault of both individuals. I decided not to make a big deal of Nia Jax back then, since I did not feel she deserved all the blame back then. I still feel you cannot put all the blame on her for what happened this week, but she definitely has to take some of the blame. Moreover, this might be becoming a theme with her. Clumsy botches are one thing. Botches that result in serious injuries are something else.

Nia Jax is not a great worker. She is not that great in the ring. She does not have an appealing look. She does not show any great charisma. The fact that she's not like most girls does not mean anything. There are a lot of women out there that do not have the stereotypical look that manage to be stars. Adele does not have the stereotypical look. But she has a powerful voice and makes music that has helped her become a success. Thing is, you have to be good at what you are doing. Nia Jax is not.

How should the WWE handle Nia Jax going forward? Some say she should go back to NXT. I would not do that. But it is time to hold her accountable. If she cannot clean up her matches and start being smarter, fire her. I know botches will happen now and then, but if another serious botch happens that causes an injury, and it is obvious Nia is at fault, she should just not be getting any TV time, while other women that are better than her in the ring, like Emma, don't get opportunities. A worker like this should not be on the payroll.

Shinsuke Nakamura Vs. John Cena

Some people like to complain about everything. Yes, they sometimes make a good point in their complaints. Some of the time, however, you just have to let some things go. I see a lot of complaints with Shinsuke Nakamura vs. John Cena to decide who faces Jinder Mahal at Summerslam for the WWE Championship.

First, a lot of fans are unhappy that the WWE is wasting this match so soon. This is a dream match for a lot of wrestling fans, and the WWE is hyping it as such. I don't see a problem with it. The WWE still needs to draw in viewers. I will say, however, that thinking this match will draw great numbers is a stretch. Nakamura has not really broken out at all. Could the WWE have spent a little more time developing him so that his first singles match against John Cena might look a little more impressive? It might have been nice. At the very least, it is a fresh main event.

Going by what I just said about Nakamura not breaking out yet, I would say that could be a reason to complain. He did not exactly look like a winner at his last PPV match against Baron Corbin. He didn't lose, but he didn't get a decisive victory. And yet, this is the guy one win away from challenging for the WWE Championship at one of the biggest WWE PPVs of the year. Speaking in terms of momentum, I would not say he deserves to be in this spot. Either just give Cena the title shot or create some other situation for him to win it. I would even say his match against Rusev recently could  have been for a title shot. Remember, Rusev was complaining about wanting a title shot a while ago. That angle was dropped too easily. Nakamura just needs more time and to be developed better. Don't rush him.

Fans are also dreading John Cena beating Nakamura. It does not have to be a burial. Kevin Owens didn't exactly die after he lost his feud to John Cena. In fact, I have seen some fans complain recently about Kevin Owens getting so many needless title reigns. Yes, there is a history of Cena beating people and those people being demoted. But most of those situations are feuds in which the other person was just being built up to put over Cena. They only look great because the WWE wanted them to look great to serve a purpose. Once they were done serving that purpose, demoted. That is not going to happen here. Cena is no longer the centerpiece. And Nakamura has not exactly been developed well to be worth beating and burying. His stock is going up. Even if he loses, the WWE will still push him.

I am more worried about Nakamura winning. He shouldn't. He just debuted on the main roster a couple months ago. He has not been that impressive. Whether the majority of the blame goes to the WWE or him, it is just the way it is. Throwing him into a big push is just unnecessary. He should still be feuding with Baron Corbin. You can say there is no way he wins this match, but the WWE has done things like this in recent years. Some said that there was no way Finn Balor would defeat Roman Reigns last year to go to Summerslam to compete for the Universal Championship. He did. Some said that there was no way Finn Balor would be booked to beat Seth Rollins. He did. Then you have Jinder Mahal. No one could believe the reports when they first came out that he was going to get a title shot. He did. Many did not believe he would actually win the title. He did. Fans want the WWE to push new guys, but I think a lot of these same fans might admit the WWE is getting carried away. Even though it seems like it will not happen, there is still a real chance Shinsuke Nakamura wins this match, or it ends in a way in which both Cena and Nakamura go to face Mahal at Summerslam.

Regardless, I will go with Cena winning. He will face Jinder Mahal. Nakamura will still have options. This one loss won't kill him. I am sure Cena will be putting him over sooner or later.