Main Event:
Paige vs. Nikki was a lot better than I expected. I guess because they weren't crammed into a quick segment on Raw that just served to continue a story. Props to both of them. I wonder what the future holds for Paige. She's already been Divas' Champion in her rookie year. Where the heck do you go from there?
Really good segment with Rusev and Lana. I hope Rusev can be a top heel in 2015.
Good segments from the fired superstars. There's potential to get some real sympathy for the babyfaces here. Hopefully it doesn't just become another way to put all the focus on Cena.
I missed Fandango. Rosa's kind of "meh", but I've been a fan of Johnny Curtis since NXT: Redemption.
Good match, but where the heck do you go with Fandango long-term? He's kind of stuck right now. He could team with someone, but that's about all I can think of. There's no reason for him to challenge for either midcard title.
That triple threat match should be pretty good. I'm guessing Kidd and Cesaro will make their presence known.
Titus is a pretty entertaining guy. Interestingly, even though he started his wrestling career somewhat late, he now has more than 500 matches under his belt. It doesn't make him an expert or a veteran, but it does help make up for lost time.
Nice match. Titus is still getting screen time without Slater around, which is good for him and a sign WWE still sees value in him as a singles star.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
After Raw, the fired WWE superstars went to the back while John Cena remained in the ring. No dark match. I think some fans have grown accustomed to seeing one after the show, so they could have been disappointed.
Daniel Bryan is advertised for both Raw and Smackdown next week. He isn't expected to wrestle until the Royal Rumble match itself. Will The Authority try to fire him, too? I think Bryan, Ziggler, Ambrose, and Reigns are the top options to win the Rumble.
Seth Rollins will be on MizTV on Smackdown. I think I'd pull the trigger on him winning the title at the Rumble.
BROCK. LESNAR. will be at next week's Raw. I'm curious to see how Heyman interacts with Rollins. Adding him is definitely more intriguing than Cena vs. Brock on PPV for the fourth time since his return.
Dolph Ziggler put a tweet out about his storyline firing. "4/10" is a reference to Bret Hart's rating of Triple H vs. The Undertaker at WM28. I have a feeling Ziggler, Ryback, and Rowan will return in the Rumble match due to Sting, but I don't know how they'll make that make sense.
Update: WWE moved the "fired" wrestlers to the Alumni section of their website, in accordance to their recent angle. That makes sense.
Here are highlights of Dixie Carter on Jim Ross' podcast:
- I highly doubt there will be more eyeballs on Impact with the move to Destination America, at least in the U.S.. I guess in comparison to the other options they had, but not compared to Spike.
- There's potential to grow the audience and product on DA, but they might be starting at a pretty low place.
- I think there are quite a few people who have already given up on TNA, and won't see the good shows to talk about them. People feel they've already been burned enough. Hopefully they can gain some momentum through a good product.
- Did Dixie say DA wanted a younger demographic, then name a slightly older demographic than Spike? If it's somewhat of an older audience, does that mean they're going to keep relying on older names and more mature content? I'm not so sure I want that.
- I do like there being little video segments to promote the talent. Honestly, some of them are pretty boring, though. "So-and-so from such-and-such place who's always wanted to wrestle" isn't as exciting to me as something like Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, etc.. James Storm's current character is really engaging because he's more than that.
- They're right about Lashley not needing a lot in the way of promos to get over. He's one of few talents who's that good.
- Growing in more international markets will be pretty important. Will we see more international talents as a result?
- I don't think there's a huge demand for live events right now based on attendance at previous shows. They'll have to build that back up.
- I don't want to see King Mo or Tito in a TNA ring. They need to be TNA, not Bellator. Or ECW. Or WWE. You get the idea.
- I don't think bringing back Russo should be on the table at this point. They need to move into 2015, not rehash things from his heyday.
- They probably should focus on TV at first. If they don't have a big audience, going on the road isn't a great idea.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I doubt it has anything to do with Punk. They just needed another high-level face, and he was in the right place at the right time.
2. Reigns just won the Slammy for Superstar of the Year. Ryback wasn't even in the running. I think at this point he's more believable to challenge Brock, given how big 2014 was for him. Reigns vs. Cena would be short-sighted. Why have two of their top faces go against each other? It wouldn't make sense to turn either of them heel, because both have pretty sizable fanbases. I don't know where this notion of Reigns not being over with average fans comes from given the Slammy win. It's the "IWC" he's not over with.
3. I think I might personally rather see Edge vs. Rollins. I'm sure they'd all be pretty great.
4. As far as we know, that's several years down the line.
5. I think they're doing it to set something up for Mania season (HHH vs. Sting?). They could also have been in a lull in what to book before the Rumble and went with bringing back the heels. I think it made more sense to use the two guys who retired due to injuries as the sacrificial lambs than the guy who can beat several men at a time. They used the legends to put over the new guy for once.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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