Welcome, one an all, to another installment of No Chance. I’m Joel and I think that quite a few things have happened over the past week that merit some discussion.
I try to be optimistic about things in the WWE. Even when I watch the worst possible buildup to a match, I still try and think about the best possible way that a flawed storyline could be saved. More often than not I simply end up being monstrously disappointed, but still I try to maintain that little bit of optimism. That optimism is the only thing that is keeping me from being deeply frustrated at the title change that happened last Smackdown. Â I can understand a desire for Randy Orton to be the new face of Smackdown, but was putting the belt on him right away the only possible way that you could think to do this?
My hope is that this loss for Christian is not the first step back to mid-card obscurity, but instead, a new direction for the character, with a rejuvenated determination to recapture the title. Perhaps as a face, or perhaps as a heel, it doesn’t really matter to me. I think that there’s still far too much for the character to do for WWE not to take advantage of it.
There is a glimmer of hope that WWE has some plans for Christian. Smackdown ended this week, not with Orton celebrating his new belt, but instead, focusing on a defeated Christian as he left the ring and headed back to the locker room. My hope is that this is a sign of a continuing story for Christian, as he takes his next steps to getting his championship back. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but hey, that’s optimism for you.
I also have to mention that this change in champion will most likely mean that Cena and Orton are going to both have the belts come PPV time with Over the Limit. Since I don’t expect WWE to ever have Cena, loose an “I Quit†match, and I doubt Orton is going to loose if this is how WWE wants to make him the main face of Smackdown, so we’re looking at both belts staying where they are. And with Lawler most likely beating Cole (please let this happen. I can’t take this feud anymore) Will there be any heels winning matches at the PPV?
But enough griping for now. Let’s turn to Raw where at least a few things are being done right. R-Truth’s continuing heel personal continues to impress, being the highlight of Raw this past week. What I’m really enjoying about the new persona is that it is starting to look like Truth has quite possibly gone crazy. With him frequently talking to himself, as well as to fictional “little Johnny†at points, R-Truth now has a character that I am not quite sure what to expect out of him. It is only because of this that his promos last night worked so well. Some of the almost non- sequitur things said last night (The whole kicking of dogs and cats thing?) would not have worked any other way.
The only question now is, once you’ve got a fantastic new heel, what do you do with him? Well it looks like, judging by the end of Raw, that Rey will be his replacement rival since John Morrison will be out for the next several weeks.  I’m ok with this, but I think that Truth needs to win quite a few of these matches. Rey doesn’t need any big wins to get over with the crowd, while newly bad guy Truth needs to get a couple of wins under his belt to be a legitimate threat. Plus if Truth gets buried in a feud with Rey, then there’s not going to be any concern about Morrison being able to easily defeat him when he gets back from surgery.
On the other hand, WWE’s other current greatest heel, CM Punk, is not getting the screen time I want him to be getting, especially if he is nearing the end of his time with the company (once again: WWE, Do. Not. Let. This. Happen.) Not even getting a match this week. Instead, he had to spend time in the corner while Mason Ryan had a match. Now I do enjoy Mason Ryan, and other than Punk, he’s the only member of the current Nexus who I think has the potential to carry a match on his own, but not at the expense of Punk. These two need to capitalize on the tiff they had a few weeks ago and get that storyline up and running again.
Lets also not forget about all of the other fantastic material around the site, including, but not limited to, Kue’s Korner, this week’s Rager also singing the praises of R-Truth, as well as the latest Stomping Ground.
Unrelated Random Thought: Who do you think Michael Cole commissioned to actually build that Cole Mine of his? At what point did he look at the blue prints, see that there was no top on the thing and decide that it still needed air holes? And by air holes he meant giant holes in the side that could easily be reached through. These were the kind of giant holes that he wanted in his box of protection. I’ll bet that he’s really regretting that decision now
As always, your thoughts on these, or other topics are welcome in the comments below.
