Read on for my take on last night's Smackdown.
Why does every top face have to have such corny promos? Bryan and Ambrose are notable exceptions, but Sheamus and now Reigns have dipped into the Cena well of promos. I liked the opening segment, although I think it was a little heavy to use the ten-bell salute for kayfabe firings. A moment of silence would have been fine.
That was actually a pretty funny segment with Kane, Miz, and Mizdow. I'm fine with Kane as an authority figure at this point in his career.
Good enough match between Rose and Big E. Kind of a callback to the FCW days.
Good enough promo from The Ascension. I don't know how much they can get from a knockoff gimmick, but hopefully it gets them over.
SQUASH MATCH. Fine by me. They're fun sometimes, and can help The Ascension get over.
Wait, what? The babyfaces ducking a triple threat match? Usually they're the ones who welcome big challenges.
Alicia and Naomi feuding? Meh.
Good action for a really brief match. I'm sure they can both do more with more time. Maybe that will happen in future weeks.
ALL HAIL KING HAITCH. I kind of missed his interviews with Cole. I'll probably get tired of them in due time.
Good Bray Wyatt promo. I'm glad his feud with Ambrose is over for now. They can go back to it later. It needs to breathe a bit for now.
Pretty good match for the tag team titles. Some pretty solid teams there.
Nice promo from BNB. Who decides who gets to be in the Royal Rumble? What's to stop David Otunga from entering instead of, say, Rusev? You used to have to win a qualifying match or something. Now apparently you just announce you're in.
Did Sin Cara just beat the IC Champion!? I'm a fan of his, and recommend checking out what he's doing down in NXT, but BNB should get some momentum following his big title win.
Good post-match, but I think it still hurt Barrett to lose. It's too early to bring up Kalisto to help Sin Cara out, but that'd be cool.
Why not just make this match five-on-two? Who's to stop The Authority from doing whatever they want? Cool to see Ambrose, though, even if he should probably be selling the effects of the ambulance match.
Pretty good stuff in the main event. I'm glad to see the former Shield members are still doing well after the split.
More wrestling tomorrow.
I was just about to send you this link regarding Reigns and his promos, so it's fitting that you mentioned you consider Reigns dipping with his promos. I agree.
ReplyDeleteI have been mainly against Reigns being pushed in 2015 as "the guy" in the company because I also feel he just isn't ready and lacks the personality to be able to carry that very difficult role. He has a lot going for him (size, heritage, etc...), but I just don't think he has what it takes to carry the torch.
We've had this conversation before, and I do like the idea of someone other than Cena or Orton being the "top guy" in the company. I like Rollins and Ambrose and I feel they can fit that bill better than anyone else. Daniel Bryan has what it takes to be a "top guy", also. Bray Wyatt also has that "it" factor to be a "top guy," also. I wouldn't mind any of those guys making it to the very top of the ladder, because they have that extra trait(s) about them that Reigns lacks. I hope WWE makes the right decision.
Do you agree with these articles? It makes a lot of sense regarding Reigns:
http://www.inquisitr.com/1737940/wwe-news-roman-reigns-disappointing-wwe-officials-with-scripted-promos-push-declining/
http://www.inquisitr.com/1742809/wwe-news-dean-ambrose-now-favored-over-roman-reigns-to-win-royal-rumble-match/
I might be able to do a more detailed response tomorrow, but in short: I'd personally rather see any of those names mentioned in WWE main events than Roman Reigns. Each of them have worked quite hard for years to be at the top of their games. But would the mainstream audience rather see Reigns? That's the big question. I like him well enough in small doses, but he clearly doesn't have the experience or skill of those other names.
ReplyDeleteOne issue I will say about Reigns is the fact they're TRYING to get him over, micromanaging every little thing to be just what they think the fans want. They're more or less using a formula they've used for a long time for a super-push.
ReplyDeleteBut he's not the clear-cut guy to get that push. Bryan and Ambrose also have pretty big fan support and are believable main eventers given the big matches they've been in.
That second article did a good job of explaining why WWE operates the way they do. I liked the teacher metaphor. WWE wants each wrestler to succeed in their given role. They think Reigns should be the guy to be in the "top face" role, so they're molding him for that. Ziggler and Ambrose are perhaps being slated in the role of the wrestler who can have good matches with the top guys, but not necessarily BE the top guy.
WWE's looking for the person to appeal beyond the traditional wrestling audience the way Cena has. They want someone they can put on talk shows and their other PR stuff to sell the product to people who aren't already watching to see good wrestling. They can put Reigns on a pedestal in the mainstream and say he's The Rock's cousin, he played football, all that kind of stuff. Ambrose's background is crazy deathmatches, so he might not be as presentable. Wyatt's character might not endear him to the hockey moms or whomever paying for the kids' WWE video games and merch. They want to broaden the audience beyond the demographics traditionally seen as wrestling fans. That's a lot of who gets to be the top guy I think at times.
That is unfortunately what WWE is thinking at this point with Reigns. I can't attribute it all to Reigns with Reigns underachieving at this point, but a lot of it definitely is. Only 7 percent of communication is through spoken words, so it makes it 20X more important for Reigns to have good inflections and emphasize his passion through his tone of voice on promos. He is often monotone and I often find myself getting a bit bored with his promos because he doesn't have those nonverbal cues that make up a good promo.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at Rollins lately: he always shows passion in his promos, is never monotone, and you can clearly see the passion through his nonverbal cues. The same goes with Wyatt, Ambrose, and Daniel Bryan in that they all have that "it" factor with their promos that Reigns lacks.
That last paragraph you mentioned is unfortunately probably WWE's thinking. I just wish they at least have to note that making Reigns THE guy in the company over all of the other guys that are more "ready" for that role seems a bit unfair at this point. I was against him being the top guy from the start, and I hope WWE gives those other guys I mentioned more of a fair shake in the grand scheme of things, because they definitely deserve it a bit more.
That being said, 1) Who do you WANT to win the Royal Rumble and 2) Who do you THINK will win the Royal Rumble?
I was learning about the 7 percent thing not too long ago interestingly enough. I think the issue with Reigns is them TRYING to make him the cool badass and scripting everything to death. It's really forced in many ways and kind of unfair to Reigns given his relative lack of experience.
ReplyDeleteRollins is very passionate. He had to get to WWE based on his work and reputation. He couldn't just rely on his look and lineage. I hate to say it, but I don't know if Reigns would be a wrestler if football had worked out better.
There's the saying about it taking 10 years or 1000 hours to really be at the top of your game with something (from the fantastic book Outliers). Rollins is much closer to that than Reigns is (if not past it at this point). They've tried to fast-track Reigns and that hasn't worked out.
I see why WWE thinks from a marketing perspective to appeal to people outside the core fan base. They've pretty much been doing that ever since Vince took over from his dad. It became sports entertainment and a spectacle/soap opera. That's his vision of things, so he gets people like Big Show and Hornswoggle and all that. I think it might have been necessary to break away from "pro wrestling" after the steroid trials years back, and probably again after the deaths of Guerrero and Benoit. So, WWE's officially a variety show or whatever buzzword they're using now.
I want to see a scenario where we get Bryan vs. Lesnar, and Rollins vs. Ambrose for the WWE Title. It doesn't matter to me how they do that as far as the Rumble goes. I just think those two matches would be amazing.
As for who will actually win the Rumble, Reigns, Bryan, and Ambrose all have legitimate shots. I wouldn't even rule out Ziggler, although he seems less likely. Some of who they'll have win will depend on whom they want to be champion after the triple threat. They can also throw some curve balls in at Fast Lane where someone beats the Rumble winner and takes their place at Mania.
Even if they have Reigns win the Rumble and go to Mania to face Lesnar, they can have a match for the MITB briefcase earlier in the night leading to a cash-in to close the show. There are options, for sure.