Raw managed 3,314 million viewers this week, while Smackdown checked in at 2,584 million viewers.
The ways things have been going with Jason Jordan on Raw has felt a little bit odd to me. Initially I felt like they were going to make Jordan a big fan favourite through his relationship with Kurt Angle and of course a fun in ring style which he has shown he possess during his time with Chad Gable. With Jordan feuding with the Miz and his entourage it would suggest he is playing the role of a fan favourite. However, a lot of the things the WWE have done with Jordan thus far kind of strike me, and clearly not just me, but many others too, as being more than just a little bit villainous. This week it was the fact they had Jordan face, and easily defeat a wrestler local to the arena. The fact Jordan had to face a local competitor made it harder for him to get a positive reaction from the crowd in the arena. A lot of fans have made comments that this surely couldn’t have happened by accident, and that the WWE must be trying to get Jordan booed. I could see it working out this way simply because the whole idea of the bosses’ son really is quite a villainous role to fill. In the short time where Jordan and Gable were acting more villainous in NXT I felt Jordan played the role of a cocky, young athlete really well. I think it’s probably only a matter of time until Jordan either turns on Angle or Angle turns in order to try and help his son.
As the storyline with the Fashion Police continues on without a resolution as to who has been trashing their office and attacking them, it becomes more interesting as to who may be revealed as the attackers. Originally I had said I’d have liked it to be American Alpha, but obviously that can no longer happen. Luke Harper and Eric Rowan are two characters who really haven’t featured as of late on Smackdown and I really was a fan of that team when they were together. Now of course anyone who was reading these articles back around Wrestlemania time will know I was a real supporter of Luke Harper as a singles star. I even advocated for Harper to be added to Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton’s match at Wrestlemania for the WWE Championship. I’d still have preferred to see Harper get that fair shake as a singles star but seeing as the WWE don’t seem to want to do that, putting Harper and Rowan together again could work out well. The Uso’s and New Day are doing some fantastic work right now, but as I’ve said before, more depth in the division would be welcome and I’d imagine the bigger Harper and Rowan could really put on some good matches with the New Day.
With Bayley injured, her slot to face Alexa Bliss for the Raw’s womens title at Summerslam is up for grabs. After two triple threat matches we will now see Sasha Banks face off against Nia Jax for the chance to be in the match. Of course I’d suggest Banks wins this one, as obviously the thought of Nia Jax facing off against Bliss doesn’t make much sense from a character stand point, nor does that match seem particularly appealing. The question does lie in where everything goes from the Banks Vs Bliss match. If Banks wins, then she’d obviously defend the title Vs Bliss in a rematch. After this, I’m not all that sure who would challenge Banks. The likes of Emma or a returning Summer Rae would be interesting, but Rae would have to return for that to happen and that doesn’t seem to be happening, or Emma would need to be built up to a position to challenge, and that also doesn’t appear to be just around the corner. Of course, Alexa could retain, but I feel there is even less to pick from in terms of challengers for her until Bayley is healthy and ready to compete again. I’d personally go with Banks winning, you could then have her defend against Bliss again and if time needs to be killed before Bayley returns, then I could see either Nia Jax or Emma being used, even if they haven’t been built up all that much, filling in some time before Bayley can return. At that point I’d like to see Banks turn on Bayley, and of course, sooner rather than later I’d like to see Asuka thrown into the mix.
There has been plenty of controversy surrounding Baron Corbin this week. Having not heard the actual podcast where this was mentioned by Meltzer, it appears Dave Meltzer compared Corbin to WWE champion Jinder Mahal – someone who has been criticised plenty as of late and has plenty doubters. It would appear Meltzer stated that Corbin wasn’t all that great on promos, wasn’t fantastic in ring and on top of all that, basically just had the fact he is tall going for him – with Meltzer stating that Jinder was ahead of him in at least some of these areas. Personally, I just don’t agree with this. If you are comparing both Jinder and Corbin then I’d say they are pretty comparable in ring. Although I’ve actually enjoyed more Corbin matches to a larger extent than Mahal matches. Then on promos as I’ve said before I just can’t really find myself enjoying Mahal promos, they are just too over the top. Meanwhile, I actually quite enjoy promos from Corbin. I in the past really enjoyed his promos on talking smack, which is obviously a means no longer available to the Smackdown superstars on a weekly basis. I feel there was some unnecessary criticism from Meltzer on this issue. I don’t currently listen to the wrestling observer podcasts but when I was doing so regularly a little while back I felt that Meltzer did this regarding Corbin – I also felt like when Corbin would do things well, it would often be ignored. I’m not all that sure why this might be, possibly Corbin just represents a line of thinking in the WWE than Dave doesn’t agree with, but I certainly have a fonder view of Corbin in comparison to Meltzer.
I’d like to finish up todays article by saying it will likely be my last on InsidePulse for at least the near future. I’m very thankful for the opportunities given to me by everyone here at the website and of course for anyone who has been reading my articles over the past year. I’d love to be able to continue but unfortunately with university, work, other writing commitments and other course maintaining a social life I’ve been finding it difficult to find time to watch wrestling, let alone write about it every week. Once again thank you to everyone and hopefully I’ll be able to free up some time in the future to write a few articles – hopefully the team at InsidePulse will allow me to post an article every now and then when something really gets me inspired in wrestling.
