AuthorSharing my thoughts, opinion, and historical facts on everything WWE both past and present Archives
February 2024
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World Title Quandry3/4/2021 In the span of a month we have seen two unexpected title changes first with The Miz dethroning former champion Drew McIntyre at the Elimination Chamber finally cashing in Money in the Bank and then last Monday when Lashley moved into the top spot. In my opinion, Drew McIntyre has stepped up this past year as one of the top stars in WWE and can be considered a credible draw once fans return. I have been behind the idea of Miz winning the World Title again for years as I thought his success with the Intercontinental Title from years ago was some of the best work he had done in his career and he earned another chance to be on top.
Seeing them rush Miz into the spot and out of the spot to want the right guy on top at Wrestlemania is frustrating to me, because Lashley easily could've defeated McIntyre at Royal Rumble or TLC to drop the title back to him at Wrestlemania instead of having a transitional spot for Miz and two short reigns. I'm not saying that McIntyre will unquestionably win at Wrestlemania, but signs seem to point in that direction. Normally, WWE doesn't do well with creating successful factions or trios with only a small hand full being worth mentioning and not looked at jokes from the last decade. At first it seemed unclear where The Hurt Business would land, but now it's clear they are closer to success then failure. The faction has done wonders for each member especially Benjamin and Alexander giving both men who were floundering at the time consistent television time. Lashley on the other hand has had an up and down run since returning to WWE and it's unclear how the World Title victory will effect him just yet. It's good step forward no doubt, but WWE will need to build him credibility between now and Mania other wise he will risk becoming another transitional champion in the long run. Honestly, I think keeping the belt on Lashley long term is the right move and to let McIntyre chase for a while would be smarter for business rather then giving him the title right back again. Either way Lashley needs to protecting either by a strong showing or not falling out of the picture right after Mania and even though the plan may not be set in stone the writing is on the wall that McIntyre could have his sights set on another World Title reign at Mania.
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Writing a different article it gave me an idea of how easy it would be to not only bring Andrade back to programming but to give programming a breath of fresh air. One of the many reasons that fans have gotten bored with WWE programming is that there is normally very little fresh feuds or talent in new positions of the card. Stepping back for a minute think about this Angel Garza was the cause for Andrade's disappearance from programming with him leaving Andrade to be beaten down by The Fiend. Garza has been sputtering for the last few months without any direction and his potential to do more really falling on deaf ears. I've always said that WWE could make such better use of the three hour time slot then they do and here's how. Starting point is that same show when Andrade gets taken out and written off by The Fiend, Garza should take credit for getting rid of his former allies. While that happens his confidence starts rise with wins over local stars and him out to prove he never needed Zelina or Andrade to be a star. Separate from this Ricochet starts getting wins, but also making clear his dissatisfaction with Garza taking credit for injuring Andrade. Ricochet starts getting wins as well and then they finally intersect with one another setting up few weeks of a feud. Ricochet gets a win first knocking Garza off his perch only to have this expose an aggressive side to Angel Garza that we hadn't seen yet. A rematch is set for two weeks before Survivor Series and the two have the best match they've had on the main roster, because they're given time to have a match and tell the story that the segments opened up. Garza's aggression almost costs him, but he gets one over in tainted fashion on Ricochet, and his performance is enough to get the attention of Raw "Team Captain" AJ Styles. Styles awards a spot on Team Raw to Angel Garza much to the contesting of Keith Lee who points out how Garza defeated Ricochet. To ease tension Keith Lee and Angel Garza have a match on the go home episode of Raw before Survivor Series which Lee wins, because Garza couldn't stop paying attention to Ricochet on commentary. This leads to Styles warning Garza to keep his eyes on the prize and stay focused at Survivor Series to not make a fool out of AJ for picking Garza to join the team. Survivor Series happens without changing much other then adding Angel Garza to Team Raw in favor of Sheamus who I think would be better served feuding with McIntyre at this time instead of being directionless with Keith Lee. Garza's aggressive again appears like from nowhere and he is the reason that both Otis and Keith Lee get eliminated from the match. That's right! Garza would be responsible for eliminating his own partner from the match and eliminating Otis a fan favorite let the heat and hatred fester. The survivors for Team Raw read AJ Styles, Angel Garza, and Riddle only three of them instead of all five like it was in real life. Later in show Styles officially provides his endorsement to Angel Garza after his performance in the survivor series match earlier in the night and Styles says he made the right choice.
Clearly this story will continue in Part 2, but the reason we won't just jump right into a feud between Angel Garza and Andrade is simple. Ask yourself when Garza and Andrade broke up who was more established who mattered more. Another question to ask is who would've gotten the attention from the crowd and who would've needed time to grow into his role as a roster member who mattered. This way when Andrade does return his feud with Garza will not be a throw away feud and will be a feud people actually want to see happen.
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Still Employed Part 23/1/2021 Our series continues with Part 2! In the past WWE was very strict with having a long term booking plan with talent where on occasion talent would know at minimum six months ahead of time that they were going to win championship gold and for how long they'd hold the title. Even into the Attitude Era the company still had a long story arch to pretty much every aspect of the program. However, somewhere in the last decade or so the idea of long term booking fell apart in favor of Vince being a micro manager. Vince becoming a micro manager has prevented any writers or members of the creative team from planning ahead to help form a clear picture for the future. In my opinion, one of the things that helped right the ship of Impact Wrestling was the fact that they changed the booking style that lead the company as they shifted to a more long term booking style. The reason that this has helped change the perception of talent as consistent booking of top stars allowed fans to invest in the ascension of certain stars. One of the main reasons that it has been hard for certain stars to catch on in modern WWE is due to the fact that they would disappear from time to time without a clear explanation. The amount of stories that we've heard about Vince being behind a wrestler for a couple of weeks and then reports appear that Vince had lost interest in the same wrestlers. The reality is that you can't know if a wrestler will be a success or not in a couple of weeks it takes time for wrestlers to get fans attention. It is questionable why the company would spend programming to build up a wrestler only to take away the wins they just got. Ricochet, Finn Balor, Aleister Black, Andrade, and others fit this category of talent with start stop booking plaguing their careers on the main roster. Wins losing meaning if consistent wins end up going nowhere.
Speaking of Andrade the former United States Champion has been missing in action from programming since late 2020. This is surprising in itself due to the fact that it seemed like Andrade was finally on the rise, but after a directionless end to his feud with Angel Garza it was clear that Andrade was in line for a baby face turn and a comeback against Garza. However, WWE didn't see money in the feud and it is another thing that has fallen to the sands of time. Think back to the last time we saw Andrade, he alongside Zelina Vega was taken out by Alexa Bliss and The Feind thanks to Garza. That right there is setting up a feud without having to put much effort into the concept. Andrade has potential to be a top star and the heir apparent to Rey Mysterio, but apparently WWE doesn't see the same thing I do. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons that NXT should be used more to assit the main roster then as afterthought look what the brand has done for Finn Balor. Maybe having a working agreement wouldn't be the worst idea. |