Vince McMahon is doing the bait and switch with his audience a lot more lately. The one-on-one WWE Heavyweight Title advertised match on RAW between John Cena versus Triple H two weeks ago, was turned into a Texas Tornado WWE Heavyweight Title Match with more contenders, to screw Triple H from a individual match on RAW. Fast forward to this week, Vince was advertised to name the new RAW General Manager, instead he said he was not ready to name a GM because no one is worthy/qualified but as his compromise, he names Jonathan Coachman as his Executive Assistant. Does that mean Candice Michelle will be the next GM? Or Shane McMahon? I hope not in either case, but the GM title is over glorified. Vince was supposed to give us a new GM for months now, it’s like he just remembered the storyline.
The actual show this week,as far as storyline advancement,wasn’t a bad one from that respect. Tacoma, Washington got some good surprises Monday with Johnny Nitro and Melina “debuting” on RAW against John Cena in his “debut” on RAW (minus previous knowledge from long time viewers that he was once kissing Eric Bischoff’s ass, figuratively speaking, on RAW on a regular basis before he was paired with Melina), and Kurt Angle as the new ECW draft pick! Melina’s interaction with the other WWE divas on RAW should be much more interesting than seeing Johnny Nitro doing anything. It’s not that Johnny isn’t talented, it’s more that without Melina, no one would go out of their way to pay attention to him. Nitro could possibly have some good matches with Charlie Haas or Carlito in his future, or a pairing with Chris Masters, but if going to RAW was supposed to be disciplinary action in the back, then they just gave Nitro a reward for bad behavior.
Kurt Angle was the show stealer as he usually is, being drafted to the new ECW roster by Paul Heyman, completely overshadowing Rob Van Dam as Heyman’s RAW pick. He got a positive reaction and fans who support Angle will not forget to tune into ECW regularly to see their Olympic Hero bring forth his brand of “violence.” Who knew that wearing different colored protective mouthpieces with saying would be so marketable? What could be the most intriguing, is how Kurt Angle explains to the world when he went to a ECW show on October 26, 1996, and witnessed the crucifying of Sandman was how he threatened to sue Heyman if he was shown in the same broadcast as the stunt because he didn’t want his name associated with that storyline. If done right, the possibility to keep heat on this, with storyline consistency, would be intriguing television. Sadly, Smackdown is not benefiting at all from ECW coming back since they are losing one of the few top stars they had on their roster. Bravo to Kurt Angle for being the constant go-to guy for WWE when it comes to shifts in major storylines or brand switches. However, when will Kurt truly be rewarded with a chance to hold a major WWE (or ECW) championship for longer than a month? The fans have made it clear that they appreciate and support Kurt Angle, no matter what show he is on. To read about the various transitions between brands/roster changes, read Matthew Michaels in depth WWE Transaction History.
With the absence of Shawn Michaels, Triple H secures the top baby face of the night, as the feud with Vince McMahon and the inevitable Spirit Squad continues. At some point, if not currently, fans are going to start getting really tired of seeing the Spirit Squad in the main event of RAW every week. John Cena is once again not in the main event and he’s the WWE Champion. Does that mean the Spirit Squad are better athletes then Cena? Possibly. My concern remains with the diluting of the importance of the WWE Championship and Triple H is being treated as the WWE champion without the title or the belt. Edge is now the number one contender but it doesn’t mean very much if the message is the WWE Championship will not close out a show as long as Triple H, Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels are billed as the top storyline.
The problem is the lack of actual wrestling, there’s not a healthy balance of having both storyline advancement and solid matches. More surprises are great and much needed, but there’s no surprise to who’s going to win when the push is with Edge and not the Big Show. A draft between the rosters should shake things up to give new combinations to the same old combinations that we see currently. ECW should come out strongly because if they offer wrestling over entertainment, in any equation greater than what RAW offers it’s viewers, ECW will succeed. WWE is sending interesting, mixed messages to their audience, offering ECW as a possible anti-WWE, that showcases actual wrestling over storylines that are so over the top, like a old-school Kane facing the new See No Evil Kane. Vinny Truncellito’s Alternative Reality brings up great points about how Vince is not learning from his mistakes and how that is affecting current programming.
Always remember, for things to change, you have to make movement. Thanks for reading and for all the feedback, feel free to contact me anytime at Bam@4sternstaging.com.
