THE RAGER! The State of the WWE Address Part 2 (Ryback, John Cena, Wade Barrett)

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Last week, I began the daunting tasks of writing my own State of the WWE Address (Sir Steven Gepp had a similar idea) and so let us continue where we left off…

Cody Rhodes – Currently half of Team Rhodes Scholars, Cody should be higher up the ladder if it were up to me. That being said, teaming him up with Sandow is pretty great idea in terms of character compatibility even if it was done simply to add one more tag team.

Curt Hawkins – This guy just got the short end of things. Months ago, he was one of the few tag teams in the company with Tyler Reks and then in August, Reks asks for his release and very soon after, there’s a major push for the tag team division. On top of that, as I understand it, Hawkins recently had surgery so it may be a while until we see him again. If only he had Cena’a magical healing powers.

Damien Sandow – Easily one of my new favorites lately in the company, Sandow is the other half of Team Rhodes Scholars. It certainly helps to have HHH and Shawn Michaels have your back in this business and apparently being willing to take a DX beating at Raw 1000 is what it takes to do so. It certainly feels as if Sandow is on the upward fast-track (not as fast as Ryback, mind you) and the company is using Rhodes Scholars and a springboard to do so. We’ve yet to really see Sandow in a full-blown feud or a lengthy match (We really didn’t see him featured all that much at MitB) but hopefully that all changes soon.

Darren Young – Another guy featured in the tag team divisions nowadays and if you read THE RAGER a few weeks ago, you’d know that I’m not necessarily a fan of Young’s. I acknowledge that he’s improved in ring but still a complete liability on the mic as well as some other mannerisms that perplex me. For example, this past Raw, Prime Time Players won their match in which Darren Young was selling that he was hurting on his head…while gyrating his nethers simultaneously. Case and point.

David Otunga – He left to do a movie and comes back to further exemplify that WWE doesn’t quite know what to do with him since the departure of Laurinaitis.

Dolph Ziggler – STILL holding onto the MitB briefcase and we are all begging him to successfully cash it in and save us from the horrid, gingerly reign of Sheamus. P.S. he hasn’t needed Vickie for over a year now.

Drew McIntyre – I was wanting for him to have something to do on television but not this…never this.

Epico – Half of one of my favorite tag teams in the company, currently being served up to bigger teams.

Evan Bourne – You know that huge Ryback push we’re seeing now, how much you wanna bet Bourne would’ve been in this situation had he not gotten suspended twice and broke his foot?

Ezekiel Jackson – Another guy who’s stock isn’t being helped due to injury. I will say this, whenever he comes back, get rid of the torture rack, please.

The Great Khali – puzzling as to why he was ever brought back. I know Vince has this thing for really big guys but quality is in the negatives.

Heath Slater – Why is this guy a thing now? Serious question.

Hornswoggle – Because kids apparently love him.

Hunico – I initially wasn’t much a fan of his but that was mostly due to the fact that he was so closely linked to Sin Cara and then the whole gimmick thing with the bike and Camacho felt completely hokey and racist. However, he really started to get into a roll around Money in the Bank in a tag team match and I was really pleased with his ring work which means we’ve hardly seen him since.

Jack Swagger – He took some time off a while ago and one can only hope that, for his sake, adjustments are being made to his character and move set to make him a little bit more interesting.

Jerry Lawler – I hate his commentating style, it doesn’t work with Cole at all but I do hope he gets well soon.

Jimmy and Jey Uso – I’m doing them both at the same time because I still can’t tell them apart. I really do enjoy their ring work and I’m just surprised that these two still haven’t had a run with the tag team belt even when the division was made up of 3 teams.

Jinder Mahal – One would say that this “thing” he’s a part of in a big step up from the overly racist, yet bland character but it’s still horrible, just horrible.

John Cena – I actually started liking Cena back during the Wrestlemania buildup because I just had enough of Rock’s catchphrase bingo but then he went back to super Cena and I was reminded just how stale his character is.

Johnny Curtis – I really miss him on the old NXT before Maxine left the company. There’s an art-form to have a character that’s completely creepy but still hilarious at the same time.

Josh Matthews – I don’t really watch Smackdown anymore, is he back to being a regular commentator or is he still butt-hurt over that whole thing with Kane?

JTG – For some inexplicable reason, he’s been here for almost 6 years.

Justin Gabriel – I still don’t get it.

Justin Roberts – I wasn’t that big of a fan of his until I listened to him on AOW the other week, dude just puts most fans to shame.

Kaitlyn – She’s fast becoming one of my favorite Divas, now if we can get her to stop looking like a tiger.

Kane – Who knew this guy was a comedy genius? Probably the best “straight guy” this company has ever had but still can deliver great lines. Like I’ve said before, I hope he’s enjoying his run with Bryan as much as I am because it’s so refreshing.

Kofi Kingston – I’ve never seen a brutal heel kick than what he delivered this past Monday on Miz. We’ve been waiting a while for something to happen that causes Kofi to leap into the elite level and I was very close to simply giving up. However, every now and then, he’ll do or say something that brings me back on board.

Layla – She’s great and all but it’s not the same without Michelle.

Lillian Garcia – Words can’t explain my irrational hatred towards Lillian. I hate her face, I hate her “singing” and I especially hate the way she says “Championship.”

Mark Henry – Pity that he got injured during the run of his career because he actually had me into Smackdown and I just can’t bring myself to watch it without him now (I really can’t believe I’m saying that). I still have my fingers crossed that he’s able to return from this in the same form he was prior to it.

Mason Ryan – The most excited we ever got for this guy was when it was rumored he was going to be Ziggler’s new body guard. That never happened and we stopped caring.

Matt Striker – I enjoyed him on commentary a couple years back on Smackdown, now we know him as the guy that got the hug of death from Kane.

Michael Cole – My respect for Cole has shot up exponentially how he’s handled Lawler’s unfortunate circumstances. I’m glad he’s not going back to super heel status, it’s refreshing to just have a commentator again.

Michael McGillicutty – Another thing I miss from the old NXT week is that I don’t get to see this guy face off against Tyson Kidd anymore. I really had no feelings toward him prior to that but now I’m hoping he gets some sort of push here soon.

Mr.McMahon – I’m always glad for the sparing use of Vince. He’s always good for an entertaining ratings bump but it gets stale when he’s overused. I still can’t get the image of Vince riding dirty of Laurinaitis’ rascal scooter.

Naomi – The Funkadactyl not bribing the cops. Good job.

Natalya – I’m just glad the farting gimmick is long gone.

Paul Heyman – He’s completely unnecessary to Punk’s character and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Primo – See Epico. I thought Primo was forever screwed after Carlito was let go but he’s managed to hang on.

R-Truth – If any guy desperately needed to turn back heel, it’s this guy. He was completely golden as a heel and now he’s just aimlessly wandering the comedic segments.

Randy Orton – Orton just seems to be in the constant state of limbo right now. First he was on eggshells from getting hurt so often and then the suspension and now taking time off for a movie. Also, the guy was to go back to heel and I say let him, he was much more interesting back then.

Rey Mysterio – Just no more.

Ricardo Rodriguez – Seriously just let this guy wrestling so we he doesn’t have to be linked to such a suckbag anymore.

Rosa Mendes – Hopefully everything is better with her home life. As far as on camera, she seems content to be arm candy that speaks horrible spanish.

Ryback – This guy got the monumental push overnight but then again, he’s kinda the perfect guy to insert into a feud that has nothing to do with him. The fans have got into his corner in a big bad way and WWE is just completely running with it. It is good to see the company build up a guy through their system and put enough behind him to succeed. Now if they can do that for more other people.

Sakamoto – The Tensai punching bag that we haven’t seen lately. Should we contact the authorities?

Santino Marella – Joining forces with Ryder, comedy unite!

Scott Stanford – *shrug*

Sin Cara – I feel like I’m overly brutal when it comes to Sin Cara. Lord knows I’ve never used the word “botch” nearly as much as I have when he started in WWE. I said this before he was gone with an injury and I still feel like it’s true, something just isn’t clicking with him and this company and I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Tamina – She’s probably really great if everyone would stop playing up the “she’s the daughter of Jimmy Snuka” angle.

Ted DiBiase – Another unfortunate timing for an injury because I was just starting to warm up to this guy as a face. Started making a name for himself by doing the parking lot tail-gating thing and fans seemed to like it.

Tensai – Colossal. Disappointment. I dare anybody try to defend him now. Go on, give it your best shot.

Teddy Long – Just glad he’s still not running Smackdown…not that I watch or anything.

Titus O’Neal – I do like Titus, he’s got a ton of potential, he just needs a change of gimmick.

Triple H – He’s not retired, not by a long shot.

Tyson Kidd – One of my favorites, just fun to watch in the ring. I wish he would’ve got more of a push after MitB.

Undertaker – A lot of people are speculating that it will be Punk and Taker at WM29. I do kinda wish that he’d hang it up just because he got the perfect send-off at WM28 but I still have a feeling WWE is gonna try to extend the streak to make it to WM30 and after what I saw at 28, I think he can make it.

Vickie – Complete heat magnet. I was really hoping she’d get away from Ziggler and focus solely on Swagger because Jack needed it a lot more. Now, I just wanting her with anybody else.

Wade Barrett – I do like the subtle changes they made with Wade since returning. Unfortunately, it seems like they’re having to start from scratch at the bottom of the proverbial ladder. I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE goes forward with their initial plan on bringing back Mitb to Wrestlemania for a Wade win.

William Regal – I just need more of him on WWE television, please.

Zack Ryder – Team Comedy!

That concludes my roster assessment and I knowingly omitted Trent Barreta, Tony Chimel and Yoshi Tatsu because I literally had less than nothing to say about them. Overall, I’d the current state of the WWE is a very strong “meh.” I’m a wrestling fan and it’s my nature to never be completely satisfied with the product. Could the current WWE product be worse? You’re absolutely right, it could but there could be a lot of improvement made. It is nice to hear how they were planning a big overhaul of the tag team division (after the internet complained about it for years) and then actually see them do what they said they would. What do you think are some areas for improvement?

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do twice,
Chris

The Answer: All your dreams are dead

Chris is a writer from Fayetteville, NC. He's the co-creator of Irrelevant But Awesome Productions which produces podcasts you all know and love like Classy Ring Attire, Trashy Ring Attire and The Disney Magic Podcast. You can keep up with everything on twitter by following @IBAStudios and @CWSanders39