Sunday, November 4, 2018

Pro Wrestling: The Post-Roman Age 2018

The end of the Roman Empire in WWE came in a way that no one wanted. I didn't want the end of Roman Reigns run as the top star to end because of cancer. It's tragic to have such a real world thing crash into the wacky world of pro wrestling. I for one hope Roman beats leukemia. Not just to get back to wrestling but for his family. Back to the silly stuff.

The change in landscape to WWE was supposed to start in 2019. The end of contracts for Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks aka The Elite was supposed to kick off a big change in the landscape. I think it still will but how much WWE embraces that change is real high up in the air. I know people will say it was always going to change a little but now with Reigns gone the change I think will be dramatic. The reasons are due to the audience more then anything else.

In 2019 besides the original members of the Elite joining WWE we also get The Rainmaker Kazuchika Okada. I've been saying this for a while now so if you weren't paying attention shame on you. After his long reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion there is nothing left for him to do in NJPW. It's really that simple. If you've been watching NJPW you can see that they have moved him away from the spotlight because even they know he'll be going to WWE, probably NXT, next year. This is a great thing for WWE and Okada so the year should start off well.






The addition of Adam Page, possibly Marty Scurll will help WWE as well. I left out Cody because I think he will stay on the indies. That might not be a popular idea but seeing how much he's grown on the indies I see very little reason for him to return to WWE. I was expecting big things from him when he won the NWA Championship at All In. Losing the title back to Nick Aldis a month later made very little sense to me. Maybe he goes back to WWE but I think right now that would be a mistake. I would say by 2021 he should go back but right now, no. But if he does at least he'll have a nice slot in the upper mid-card.

Someone who I think needs to go to WWE is Nick Aldis. He's proven himself more then capable of making it there. It's something I think he needs to give more serious consideration to. His wife, Mickie James, won't wrestle there for another 5 years. His paycheck won't grow to a high point by just staying on the indies. The NWA won't grow into something very profitable for another 5 years. He's not getting younger and the number of young British wrestlers is only going to overshadow his name in time. Would he be great for the WWE UK brand, yes. I think he would be much better for just the WWE. He's got the potential to do what Wade Barrett failed to do, become an English born WWE Champion.

Within WWE right now I'm surprised at how hard Vince is really holding onto the legacy stars. Having four guys with an average age of 50 years old as your marquee match for a show is something he would have never done 15 years ago. Wait, no, now that I think about it, yeah he would have done that. It was a bad idea then, it's a bad idea now. It does point a finger to a flaw in Vinces promoting abilities. You have to keep the old horses in the barn. Their race is over. It doesn't matter if they still bring in $1 when you have to make $10 per person. But we just have to accept what we're given for now.



Speaking of shows this whole Crown Jewel thing seems familiar. Why, am I reminded of WWE having a show where the majority of it is about a tournament to crown the best wrestler in the world. This just seems so familiar to me. I'm trying to put my finger on where I've seen WWE put on a tournament where the winner gets crowned victorious and gets a title opportunity for winning the tournament. I'm sure I'll figure it. But I'm also sure that I mentioned that WWE should bring back such an idea to help make new stars and new match ups without needed a ton of backstory. Yep, I'm sure it'll come to me anytime now.


Moving on from fake King of the Ring, how about those ladies. Becky BadAss and Queen Flair had a Match of the Year candidate in my book. Everyone knew Charlotte was great but WWE really misjudged how great Becky Lynch could be. She's been the best female wrestler in the company since WreslteMania in my view. I dare say the world after the match at Evolution. Next year that show needs a different name. Whats so evolved about women wrestling? Whats so evolved about women in WWE getting a womens only Pay-Per-View. You want to do something "evolved" how about a womens only weekly, episodic show shown exclusively on the WWE Network. You can pre-tape NXT, 205 Live, Main Event, NXT UK, even Raw and Smackdown but you can't give nearly 40 women their own show to an audience that thinks they might actually watch something that doesn't involve a predominantly white male audience? I'm guessing the answer is no.


Remember when I said Apollo Crews such go heel and start speaking in the third person? Well I didn't mention that he should also get a tag team partner. If you don't see it let me clarify it for you. So, Leo Rush is now playing the role of Slick circa 2020. Watch as he recruits Crews to join him and Bobby Lashley to create what will become Doom circa 2020. From there he can "evolve" into Ted Long with a dashiki and eventually take on the New Day. So the big, bald headed, jacked up black dudes can take on the other black dudes because racism takes many forms. Who cares if Doom takes on the Nation of Domination (with pancakes), the point is they found something to do with all the black guys. Not cool, but you'll see.


I don't see why anyone would want to leave NXT anytime soon. That show is on such a high level it's amazing that it has any relation to WWE. The fact that Wednesday night is now the best night to watch wrestling is all thanks to Triple H. Once again I have to admit I was wrong. The vision he's put out whether it's NXT, 205 Live or the Evolution Pay-Per-View, yes, I figured it was him, has been working well. I think he will take more of the show production side of things next year as Vince ramps up the launch of the XFL. That should mean more NXT call ups then ever before but aslo some releases on the main roster.

The main event picture for Raw and Smackdown is split in half. On Raw you have two believable contenders for the red W belt. Really you have one since the other guy is just an attraction when Vince wants him to be. I think I told you the story about the time I met 3MB. I saw Slater and Mahal who were decent sized guys but forgettable. But McIntyre was a large human being. I mentioned how I was shocked at how large he actually was in person. He said, Thank You, then did some air guitar, hair-wip thing behind me while I took a picture with the other two. I knew back then that Vince really had a smart idea by calling him the Chosen One but he was missing something. Well he's got it know. That's what separates him from everyone else on Raw. With himself and Strauman you have a main event that's good but for how long. That's where Kenny Omega coming in at the Royal Rumble should slot in.

If I was booking this I'd have Omega enter the Rumble as entry number 7 (if you get it, you get it). I'd have him come down to the last two entrants in the Rumble. He wouldn't win but going almost 1 hour in your first appearance in the WWE is a great kickstart to his arrival. I would have him face McIntyre at the pay-per-view after the Rumble for the Universal Championship but he would lose. He would then win a mini tournament for the right to face McIntyre again for the Championship but this time at WrestleMania. So he's big deal but not invincible and you don't marginalize McIntrye over Omega. You can get another two matches out of them before you move onto Omega versus whomever. They probably won't do that, since I think their going for Omega versus Michaels. That doesn't work well for me now. I think the world of HBK but at 53 years old I don't need to see him facing arguably the best performer in the business with the almost twenty year age gap.

On Smackdown things are much more progressive. With Styles, Bryan, Orton, The Miz, Joe, and even Nakamura all viable options to be the WWE Champion. I think The Miz will win King of the King aka Crown Jewel to face Styles at the Royal Rumble. Big stage, big match, big win for the best hell in the business today. From there he can retain or lose the Championship to Bryan at WrestleMania. You still have lots of viable options. Notice I said he beats Styles at the Rumble not Survivor Series. There I think AJ faces Joe again to take back the WWE Championship. That tells you about my insight into Crown Jewel. (I wrote this before the show)




Getting back to NXT for a second, I was pleasantly surprised by what they did with Evolve Wrestling. I would not have guessed that the WWE would send some of their contracted talents to an independent wrestling company to win their Championships. The good thing about this is that people at the WWE Performance Center who don't have "indie-cred" can now get some. Those who have already been on the indies get to be in higher profile matches. The indy companies get the benefits of association with WWE performers who may already have been on television. They may bring something of an audience with them to a show.


I'll be the one to ask the obvious question. Just how long is Ronda Rouseys contract? It's something to start considering following the Evolution pay-per-view. I think the Becky versus Ronda match is a good idea but a better opportunity to use Ronda to really build off her fame. I think Becky should beat Ronda at Survivor Series. You can go with either a quick roll up after a distraction. Or you could do the full interference from someone. I say this for two reasons. 


I think Ronda should be the person to win the women's Royal Rumble 2019. That can't happen of she's already the Women's Champion. I think maybe Sasha Banks should steal the belt from her at the December PVP. From there she can play keep away from Ronda until before WrestleMania. When Ronda challenges for the Championship it would be against the person who took the Championship from her Charlotte.


At some point someone has to beat Ronda or else the audience will turn against her. She needs to have a reason to be aggressive. If she just beats everyone it gets boring. So having Becky beat her gives her an opponent to get that lose later. At some point you'll have to give a reason that Charlotte and Ronda will want to face each other. I know the idea would be for Charlotte to win then challenge Ronda at WrestleMania but that doesn't have any emotion behind it. Ronda should be the one to bring the emotion to the match. The idea that a althletic blonde ended her UFC run is something that will be mentioned in the build to the match.

There were some changes as I was writing this that happened at Crown Jewel. I'll deal with that later. Enjoy.

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