For about fifty-five minutes of a two-hour show, WWE was the hottest product in years thanks to a London crowd that made us remember what it used to be like to watch wrestling: on your feet, marking out and enjoying the false finishes and getting caught up in the drama that talent created within a match. I remember almost nothing about RAW other than John Cena and Shawn Michaels, all in a incredible thirty-minute match. If wrestling could be this way all the time, things would feel more turned around.
The international wrestling fan base are unquestionably one of the most loyal and passionate fans of the business because they don’t get live wrestling as often as Americans do. They get very caught up in the enjoyment and don’t seem too quick to chant “this is boring” to the talent in the ring. They were as much of the reason that Cena versus Michaels II for free on television was one of the best matches of the year and eclipses their WrestleMania match. Both men worked very hard and gave it their all, whether you like them as individuals or not. No matter what the circumstances, if we had gotten a ten or twenty minute match instead, I’m not sure it’d be getting the universal praise it’s getting across the board as it is. Part of the magic is we got a almost-Ironman Match for free. Do we even need Edge and Orton in the match on Sunday? Cena and Michaels have created what most aren’t in wrestling and that’s tapping into the emotional aspect of telling a story in their matches.
I hope that Randy Orton’s unprofessional behavior doesn’t overshadow how hard these two performers worked to make up for Orton’s inability to be a good representative for a international company. Granted, I don’t know if we would have gotten that match without his horrible behavior, so it’s a mixed blessing, but Orton is a talented individual who takes for granted the money he makes, the level of success he has been granted at a early age and being born into the business. Maybe one day Orton will come around and not be the jerk that his reputation has made him out to be. However, Orton can’t keep on skating by with slaps on the wrist, a serious wakeup call is in order. Orton does not deserve to be carrying the ball as a champion of any sort, much less be in the main event picture if he can’t keep his cool in the back or destroying property in public.
Will Orton be jobbing to Great Kahli a punishment? Looks like Carlito is. There could be a good split dynamic with Flair and somehow tie it more into the Horsemen legacy, but they will probably miss the boat on that one. Speaking of missing, Mickie James was not on TV this week which is another missed opportunity, because I expect her match with Melina to be a good and crazy match.
Matt Hardy and Murdoch put on a good match but it’s hard to get me to care about the tag team division at this point if this is all it is when they aren’t jobbing to main eventers? Why can’t simple tag team booking be invoked where other tag teams are watching the match “in great interest” or interfering because they want the belts so badly?
I don’t care about Lashley versus Umaga, Shane and Vince McMahon, bald headed revenge or not. It’s so overdone that it’s only hurting all the characters involved. That ‘feed the jobber to the McMahon’ match was ten minutes or so that felt like half a hour. The jobber looked like a cross between Stevie Richards from the bWo days and Chris Jericho when he was a Lionheart.
If there is a reason to buy the PPV this Sunday it’s simply in hopes that we will see anything like Cena/Michaels II and a new WWE Champion being crowned. I hope it goes to the Showstopper.
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.
