Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
God I missed heel Batista. I loved the promo about seeing the fans as dollar signs, etc. The end of his last run feuding with Cena I think was easily his best work. I'm glad they turned him as it's obvious he wasn't going to be a beloved babyface. Ziggler's interruption was also pretty good, but I definitely see him getting steamrolled tonight. At leats he's getting some spotlight.
No Zeb Colter promo? :(
HOLY #@&$. Very impressive visual from Cesaro to end the match. I'm liking what I'm seeing here with Henry being used to elevate the newer cats. I hope they continue to make good use of him for the rest of his contract. Note: older stars don't always have to job in order to make other acts look good. They just need to be used in a way that makes us look favorably at the newer performers. It's also important to point out how a large part of getting over rests on the newer acts themselves.
Ehh. Not too crazy about the setup to Sheamus vs. Del Rio. I like both acts. They just don't seem to mesh as well as I'd like them to.
I liked the match itself well enough. Sheamus vs. Christian just doesn't strike me as incredibly interesting at this stage. It's not the performers' fault, as they both work quite well. It just doesn't feel very special.
Fine post-match to build to Sheamus vs. Christian. I can easily see Christian bowing out whenever his contract's up. Honestly he's really done everything he can do other than be WWE Champion (and I don't see any reason for him to leapfrog Bryan for that spot).
I want to see Rusev smash some fools. Or at least break some boards like in NXT. I can definitely see the danger of him becoming another Kozlov or Sylvester Terkay, but hopefully he goes further. Honestly Kozlov had a pretty decent run for a fairly one-dimensional guy.
I REALLY liked The Shield promo. I'm ready for Wyatts/Shield 2.
Ziggler just got wrecked by Batista. Batista's offense isn't the prettiest in the world and he's not pulling out a million highspots, but he's fine for showing up and destroying people.
Such a good Wyatt promo. I really hope he goes over at Mania, or at the very least looks really good in defeat. I don't think it does WWE any good at all to have Cena win in dominant fashion. It's not hard at all to get Cena back in the title picture if need be. I really liked the action as well, as they didn't give away TOO much before Monday. I'm glad HHH didn't throw the six of them under a bus as unimportant acts.
Well, at least Cameron isn't the Divas' Champ. I was set to go Mick Foley on my TV if that happened. I'm ready for this angle to wrap up at Mania. It's been quite long in the tooth.
I liked the panel discussion on Brock vs. Taker. It's little things like this I think WWE needs more of to make matches mean something.
I liked the main event pretty well! I think they could have replaced AJ vs. Cameron with a segment to set it up like they had for Sheamus vs. Del Rio, but all in all I enjoyed this.
More wrestling coming up.
I think the Cameron v. A.J. matchup has proven even further that WWE really doesn't have a clear vision on the divas' division. There's definitely a difference between being a champion for months and months and proving that you're the best person for the title versus carrying the title for months and months and WWE not being able to think of what else to do with the title. Unfortunately, that is the case with A.J. and Ambrose at this point. To me, Cameron is definitely one of the more "greener" divas, and it's a bit shameful that she was considered the No. 1 contender, let alone getting a DQ win against A.J. I clearly am as puzzled as the next person on what will happen next at this point.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your take on the future of this Rusev? Though he seems like a strong force, I'm a bit skeptical at this point, due to him not being able to speak English. With this being World Wrestling Entertainment, being able to entertain the fans in promos and interviews through speaking in an acculturated language is a must. I'm not saying he is as one-dimensional as Khali, but they've had so many guys before that are big, imposing figures that haven't gotten far sustainably due to them having inferior promos and interviews or not being able to speak in English. It just seems like the company is running on circles here with guys like this. What is your take?
By the way, I'm definitely buying into Wyatt a bit more now. WWE definitely found the best possible route/persona for Husky to emulate. I was a bit skeptical when he was in NXT. He seemed like he had the fire and aggression, but lacked the promo skills and "entertainer" persona. He has definitely changed my mind and has proven me and others wrong with how well he has done in his role and with his promos. My only question is why didn't he show this potential in NXT?!?!
There was speculation WWE was going to do AJ vs. Naomi with Naomi potentially taking the title, but Naomi got injured and that changed things. It seems like they're killing time until WrestleMania (where they can tie in a feud with "Total Divas" Season 2). Unfortunately the challenger pool is rather thin for AJ and they're REALLY having to stretch things to keep the feud going.
ReplyDeleteRusev can indeed speak English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bt-_FRucj0. They're just using Lana to speak for him for whatever reason. I think adding her to the mix adds something significant to his act. The "evil foreigner" gimmick goes back a LLOOONNNGGG time and this is its latest incarnation.
I've seen some of what Rusev can do, and while he's an act in progress, I think there's potential there. He might never be in the upper echelon of WWE stars, but if they can make good use of him on the roster by playing to his strengths, I'm all for him coming aboard. More experience wouldn't hurt, but I think he might be ready to do some squash matches.
I'm under the impression Wyatt came up with his current character himself and honed it through a lot of work in NXT. I think it's something of a case of him finding his identity. I think maybe he was pigeonholed into the "3rd-generation wrestler" mold like so many wrestlers for a while and it took him time to find out who HE is. He's gone from Alex/Duke Rotundo to Husky Harris to Axel Mulligan to Bray Wyatt. Honestly a lot of performers have to try more than one role before finding something they're really going to knock out of the park. Goldust really comes to mind as being in a similar role for a long time before that character. And it's possible they brought him up too early for NXT because they were pressed to get eight rookies for Season 2. They did end up with a very green Titus O'Neil and Eli Cottonwood on that season, so it's not like they had too deep of a roster in FCW by that point. I liked the Husky Harris character, but he's MUCH better now.
Speaking of people who don't speak English well and need work with promos...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfYKSqOrINY