To Be Determined – The Small Things about Sheamus, Jack Swagger, Nexus, Fortune, Pope and Abyss

Columns, Features, Top Story

Several things have caught my attention in recent weeks, but none of them truly warrants its own column, so I decided to take the easy way out and just write about all of them. But before that, I want to address my last column from two weeks ago. I tried something different and it didn’t go down as I expected, so if anyone was offended, I apologize. Anyway, I’m moving on.

Sheamus – I’m afraid that WWE is already screwing up Sheamus’s second title run. They have done a pretty good job in establishing him as a real threat, but they’re failing in portraying him as a real champion. Last week Sheamus fought Mark Henry on Raw and WWE didn’t miss one mistake in the way they presented him. Rather than getting his full entrance before the match, Sheamus entered during the commercials, and waited in the ring for Mark Henry, who did get an entrance on camera. Some may respond by saying that Sheamus got his full entrance at the top of the show but it doesn’t matter. As long as he is the champion, he must get his full entrance before a match and must enter after his opponent. If Triple H or John Cena can get their full entrance more than once in a show, so should the champion. And it doesn’t matter who his opponent is, the champion should never wait for him in the ring, never (Not to mention that he shouldn’t wrestler in the middle of the first hour). It may seem petty but these small things can really help a champion’s image.

Jack Swagger – And from a current champion to a former champion, who had his title reign crippled by WWE booking (But I digress). Our own Andy Wheeler dubbed Jack Swagger “Kurt Swangle” and while the similarities were always there, he did not know that he was actually foreseeing the future. WWE has become so lazy that they’re giving Swagger the exact same booking as Kurt Angle after he lost his first title. When Angle lost his title to The Rock in February 2001, he started to use the ankle lock and went crazy with it, trying to break people’s legs. And When Jack Swagger lost his title to Rey Mysterio in June 2010, well, he started using the ankle lock and he’s going crazy with it, trying to break people’s legs. It’s almost like the fake Diesel and Razor Ramon, almost, except Swagger is actually talented and shouldn’t be burdened with having to fill Kurt Angle’s huge shoes; he can make it on his own.

Nexus – I love the Nexus and after last week I love them even more. The stable seems to meet real challenges every week (Losing Daniel Bryan Danielson, losing Wade Barrett for a week, Ricky Steamboat’s real health problems that would probably bury last week’s attack in the archives) yet their booking continues to be excellent. Last week’s attack on the legends was written an executed perfectly. Rather than going the old nWo way and just jump the legends in a brawl (Like they did the first three weeks), Nexus worked differently. The realized they did not have the numbers’ advantage so they changed strategy. They isolated one legend at a time by dragging them out of the ring and only when they had a 6-3 advantage they entered the ring. It’s like a pack of hyenas that isolate the weakest gazelle in the pack. Nexus showed that even without their “leader”, they had a game plan, were calm, calculated and methodical and worked smart to execute their plan. They are not the nWo B team – they are a dangerous group that should be taken seriously. And Will Pruett already wrote about the 450, so I’ll just link to what he wrote.

Fortune – Remember them? They were supposed to be the new Four Horsemen. Two weeks ago Ric Flair introduced AJ Styles, Kazarian, Desmond Wolfe and Beer Money as the new Horsemen. He actually said they were the new Horsemen, but (Since WWE owns the Horsemen name), called them Fortune. Referencing the Horsemen was lame enough. I mean, when WWE created the best stable of the last decade, Evolution, they never used the Horsemen name. Evolution were the Horsemen but didn’t need the name because people knew it. TNA is trying to force-feed the Horsemen-Fortune analogy down peoples’ throats. But that’s just a minor gripe I have with them. The major one is that Fortune completely disappeared in the following weeks. Have they even been together in one segment since the announcement? Beer Money were not even on Impact this week. When Styles or Wolfe had matches, they came out alone. No joint promo, match, vignette, backstage bit, absolutely nothing. Does Fortune even exist, and if so, what are supposed to treat it as a threat if they don’t do anything? TNA is already dropping the ball with Fortune without allowing it to gather any momentum.

The Pope – Dr. TNA already praised D’Angelo Dinero enough in his latest column, but there was something in his comeback promo that hooked me, and that was when he mentioned Mr. Anderson. Now that both of them are faces it would have been easy to just forget their issues and pretend it never happened. But no, Pope made it clear that while he may be tied up with other issues, he still has an axe to grind with Anderson. It’s also good that they made it clear that not everyone is quick to trust Anderson just yet. The fact that Pope will get to work with Angle is just icing on the cake, even though I’m pretty sure he’s going to lose.

Abyss – Abyss has been TNA’s Kane in so many ways that it’s not even worth counting. But I’ll just mention one – the enormous amount of face/heel turns. That’s why TNA has to treat each turn carefully and so far they don’t. Last week’s Abyss’s “Monster” image was sacrificed to please Eric Bischoff’s ego. If Abyss is to be taken seriously as a killer heel, then non-wrestlers should be terrified by him. Mike Tenay sold it nice, taking chairs from little kids was a brilliant touch, but the Eric Bischoff just slaps him! What the hell did that serve? Why should Abyss be feared if a non-wrestler can just slap him around? It’s bad enough that Bischoff is in every other segment, there is absolutely no justification for him getting over like that. Again, this is something small, but crucial.

And just as promised, I wrote an entire column about small things and didn’t make even one penis joke. Trust me, it wasn’t easy (Some might even say hard!).