I've seen better from Big E and Del Rio, but that match was good for the amount of time it got. Big E's still got room to grow before I could trust him with a big push, but I think he's doing well enough so far.
I don't really like the idea of Barrett cutting the legs out from under Big E. Why even suggest Big E is one-dimensional and boring? Obviously the heel shouldn't be singing his praises, but there are better ways of building heat.
Oh, boy. So that match happened. It wasn't terrible actually.
I really liked Sheamus vs. Titus a good deal. I'm not crazy about Sheamus going to the top rope during his matches as it seems inconsistent with his style, but all in all I think this was a solid encounter. Titus seems to be growing as a competitor.
Did they really just headline with Ryback vs. Uso instead of Sheamus vs. Titus? Weird. The match was good but not great.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
After Raw, The Shield saved John Cena. No dark match. I'm really glad they had Cena sell a beating to end the show.
Alexander Rusev vs. the team of R-Truth and Xavier Woods has been added to Extreme Rules. I hope those two like squash. Rusev's been good at wrecking people so far. I can see a Big E/Rusev feud working at some point. The in-ring action won't win any match of the year awards, but it'd be a good clash of big bruisers.
A press release was issued about Hermie Sadler joining the board of directors for Jeff Jarrett's GFW. I think Jeff's got a serious shot to be successful here. Him leaving TNA could be the best thing for him at this point.
An MLB star paid tribute to Ultimate Warrior for some drills. That was pretty cool.
Jonathan Coachman talked about his WWE time and more. That rib from WWE brass was WAY too far. That's some serious stuff.
Jim Duggan told Sam Roberts what the haps are for Legends House and more. I'm still shaking from the interview with Piper after that one clip came out.
Abyss and Kazarian vs. The Great Muta and Tajiri has been set for the May 4 Wrestle-1 event. Kazarian's TNA contract expires at some point in May, but he still has at least this date on his deal.
Bully Ray talked about wanting to branch out into acting. Let the speculation of his wrestling future begin. Does he become a part-timer when his current TNA deal ends? Does he leave altogether? Does nothing come of this at all? Honestly his bump card's got to be running out sooner rather than later. If TNA's still on shaky ground when his contract comes up, I wouldn't blame him at all for bailing. He's given TNA going on nine years and has been to the top of the mountain there. I don't know if there's anything left for him to really do. I think I'd be down for a brief Dudleys nostalgia run in WWE, but by the end of 2015, I think the wrestling world will have squeezed all they can out of him as a full-time performer.
DDP and Jake Roberts did their own Ultimate Warrior tribute. Pretty classy.
Bad Influence talked with Joey Ryan. Ahh, always fun to take some jabs at TNA.
Justin Credible did another edition of Pro Wrestling 101. So many wrestlers do get caught up in just upping the number of bumps or highspots to improve "workrate". Less can really be more.
Daniel Bryan vs. Kane for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules is now, fittingly enough, an Extreme Rules. That could be really good.
Raw's audience was 4.14 million this Monday, a loss of more than 600,000 viewers from the previous week. That post-Mania honeymoon is gone now sadly. There have been some big changes since Mania, but the company's not going to turn into ROH or whatever people want it to be overnight. Also Bryan got royally destroyed in segment 1 and some people could have seen that as some kind of burial or something.
Mick Foley discussed not signing a new legends deal with WWE. I imagine he doesn't need the money at this point. I hope WWE's not intentionally stiffing people, though.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. There are a lot of matches between Sting and Flair that come highly recommended.
2. 2:50 should be plenty of time! I would like to see more pre-match interviews, though.
3. The New Age Outlaws' return didn't turn out as planned due to how banged up Road Dogg and Billy are. It made sense from a story standpoint for them to join The Authority, but they just didn't have enough slots left on the bump card to make it as much of a success as it could have been. That said, Cody, Goldust and Dolph are all quite good at what they do and I'd like to see them be featured more. I really hope we get a big Cody/Goldust feud for Summerslam to cap off Goldy's career. Backlot Brawl II anyone?
4. I've got this one...
On a scale of 1 to 1000,
he's about a 619.
Rey's in that RVD/Jericho category of having never been "the guy". Some would say if not for Eddie's passing away, Rey would never have gotten as big of a push as he got. Rey's not in his prime anymore; so in 2014, Bryan's definitely better, but let's not entirely write Rey off. He's been a pretty good hand throughout the course of his career and has earned his stripes.
5. I personally consider Ted DiBiase to be a World Champion for that brief period of time before he was forced to relinquish it. It's hard to argue with the choice of Piper. As much as I like Regal, I never really saw him as World Champion material. Did I miss something years back?
More wrestling tomorrow.
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