This week’s Raw felt a little flat and had a vibe of going
through the motions which can be partly attributed to the Network with less
need/importance of PPV buy rates. That could very well be the way of the future
now for WWE with so much content on the Network many of the subscribers may not
be buying for the most recent events. That said one can’t rule out Extreme
Rules at this stage as Wrestlemania was somewhat of a sleeper event going in
and turned out to be one of the best PPV’s of this decade.
Notable happenings from Raw is that Kane seems to be overly
heavily involved in the Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton feud which didn’t really
need any more added extras. Orton himself has seen far more natural in the
babyface role than he has previously though it has been stated that he is not
having his promos scripted for him which may very well be helping. He and
Rollins should be able to construct a different match this Sunday even if the
RKO finish to Raw would suggest that Rollins will go over.
Naomi bt Brie Bella in a match that while not offensive or
even bad did provide evidence that the “Give Divas A Chance” hashtag that
trended is about more than just giving the women more ring time. Curtis Axel
continues to lose pointless matches as punishment for daring to get over
without creative as this week he went down to Fandango whose mini push will no
doubt last less than three weeks, Damien Sandow needs to take note of this.
Away from Raw Dolph Ziggler posted a semi-shoot tweet
directed at Sheamus though chances are nothing will come of it once the
Irishman has dispatched with the perennial mid-carder at Extreme Rules.
While some are suggesting that Ziggler is looking for a way
out of WWE that seems highly unlikely given the current climate of viable
options considering his visibility, regular on Raw and SmackDown, and earning
potential.
Expect Paige to be written out of storylines as she will be
filming a new WWE Studios production called “Santas little helper” with The
Miz.
Samoa Joe was spotted backstage at NXT tapings which got
tongues wagging. Joe could well be a good trainer, as pointed out by our own
Tod Sullivan, though naturally some are speculating that he may end up with a
Fergal Devitt style deal. Devitt has an agreement to only spend a short amount
of time in developmental before moving up to the main roster and while I would
doubt Joe will get that deal his being backstage at an NXT event could well be
a sign that a deal is imminent.
Joe would be a welcome addition to the NXT group be it
performer or trainer as the audience who attends Full Sail would be aware of
his indie/TNA exploits.
Talking of TNA former employee Quinton Rampage Jackson spoke
out, once again, about his dislike for the promotion and described his time
with them as so shambolic that it “killed his desire for pro wrestling.” This
pushed Bob Ryder to defend TNA and tweet this…..
Now one can’t deny that loyalty is a good thing but surely
TNA have bigger things to worry about, like paying all their workers on time,
than responding to comments made by an ex worker who isn’t involved with pro
wrestling any more.
Impact continues to make no difference in ratings and is
actually pulling 100,000 people less on average than they did in their highest
rated week. Moreover the show seems to be inconsistent as one week it is
wrestling heavy the next just an average show. While one can only hope TNA fix
these problems at this stage it seems that aside from moving to a considerably
smaller TV network nothing has changed. However nothing will likely change as
head of creative John Gaburick is highly regarded by Dixie Carter plus top
talents Kurt Angle and Bobby Lashley.
This week’s show will be concentrating on the Knockouts, a
direct jab at WWE and the “Give Divas A Chance” hashtag while last week’s was
purely based around finding a new tag team division. While some have said that
a lack of PPV’s are making it hard for TNA to build storylines Lucha
Underground don’t seem to have that problem.
In the UK Preston City Wrestling are holding three shows
over two days which again PJ Black, the former Justin Gabriel, has had to pull
out of due to the same visa issues that affected his non travel last time, Sabu
has been brought in as a replacement.
ICW, who recently announced they will have their own
computer game this year, will be finishing their England tour in Sheffield
while up in Scotland Premier British Wrestling are in Airdire where Lou King
Sharp, who we recently had on the show, will face Grado.
We will be back next week with another roundup of happenings.
Surely Wrestling
