Weekly Wrestling Thoughts (September 16 2016)

Image Source: Rolling Stone

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Here are this week's Wrestling Thoughts: off-screen, not too much has happened, but a fair amount has gone down on-screen, so let's get to it!

• Backlash exceeded expectations greatly last Sunday. It wasn't the best PPV by any means, but considering the house show-esque line-up for SmackDown's first PPV in the modern era, further weakened by Randy Orton not being cleared to compete against Bray Wyatt, the show was pretty good. It was a simple, logical, well-paced show which highlighted everybody to a suitable standard. Of note, The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler was their best match to date, there were feel-good title wins for Becky Lynch and the team of Heath Slater and Rhyno, and AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose was a great main event with Styles becoming WWE Champion in a turn of events that seemed unfathomable a year ago. And with the main event for No Mercy, the next SD PPV, already set (AJ vs. Ambrose vs. John Cena), the blue brand has the chance to top this show on October 9.

• On the subject of SmackDown: the verbal feud between The Miz and Daniel Bryan is an unusual one. Miz is chastising Bryan for not treating him like the superstar he is, and antagonising Bryan, the SmackDown General Manager, because he can no longer compete. Normally, this would be the set-up for a big one-time return by Bryan. But it's well-documented that WWE has no plans to clear Daniel to wrestle again, and apparently Bryan had a mental breakdown of sorts upon his injury-enforced retirement, meaning that this can't be fun for him to participate in knowing that he genuinely can't compete again in WWE. Perhaps Bryan has been told he can wrestle one more time, and Miz is a suitable opponent, ironically because of a complaint Daniel lodged against him a few weeks ago; the "soft" style which prevents Miz being injured, but would also probably prevent Bryan getting injured. Or maybe Bryan will find the "right" opponent to take Miz down at some point, with Bryan possibly being able to trap Miz in the Yes! Lock as a minor form of revenge. Or could it be that this is WWE's way of punishing Bryan for repeatedly suggesting he could leave WWE and wrestle elsewhere, thus making the company look bad (in their opinion) for not clearing Bryan for WWE combat? Who knows, but it's a fascinating tale to observe. I will say that if the end result is not going to see Bryan wrestle, even in a basic injury-free exhibition, then it's slightly cruel to keep throwing jabs at his inability to compete considering his true opinions on the matter, but the whole plot has given Miz great momentum, and he is currently hotter than he has been at any point since his WWE Title reign ended more than five years ago.

• Whilst SmackDown had an artistically-successful Backlash and an eventful if wrestling-lite TV show, Raw still showed signs that it is struggling. The three-hour format is hindering it more than ever with the roster chopped in half (or 60%-40% as it turned out). The new main storyline that has crowned Kevin Owens as Universal Champion and Seth Rollins as the brand's top babyface has helped, and developments involving Triple H (who has still yet to resurface following his assistance to Owens two weeks ago) will create intrigue in the coming weeks and months. But much of the rest of the show feels like filler, and whilst the Women's division is currently the second most interesting thing to follow on Raw, it was weird to see Bayley pinned so soon into her Raw career. Even stranger was how Sasha Banks actually ended up pinning herself whilst defeating Bayley, and it wasn't acknowledged at all, unless it is revisited next week to set up Charlotte-Sasha-Bayley at Clash Of Champions. Either way, Raw is not having a peak period right now, although Chris Jericho is as entertaining as he has ever been in recent weeks, and we do have the Cruiserweight division coming to Raw next week, which will hopefully improve things for the red team.

• Speaking of which, congrats to TJ Perkins for winning the Cruiserweight Classic and, as a result, the new Cruiserweight Championship. He and many other CC entrants will begin appearing on Raw, with plenty of interest stemming from the Classic. The Network-exclusive tournament has been a big success, and a great way for a lot of talent previously unknown to the WWE audience to be introduced in a vibrant, more modest setting. I'd like to see WWE do something similar for tag teams and/or females in 2017; one of these tournaments every six months will make the Network a must-see platform for the stars of tomorrow to shine, and that doesn't even include NXT. From a talent perspective, WWE is thriving right now; the creative team just has to find a way to match the efforts of its wrestlers, which would increase ratings, attendances and overall interest in the company. With the more flexible Triple H managing such ventures, there is reason to be optimistic about these and about WWE's future, should the day ever arrive when he finally has the keys to the castle, so to speak. On that note, wouldn't it be something if WWE, via HHH, were to strike a deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling or Ring Of Honor (TNA is not an option for obvious reasons) for a Network-exclusive show or series of matches? What seemed extremely unlikely a few years ago now has a real chance of happening; let's see if it does.

• NXT is currently in its transitional phase between Takeover specials, with Brooklyn now firmly in the rear-view mirror and with its November special in Toronto officially announced. I still expect a Shinsuke Nakamura-Samoa Joe rematch to headline Takeover in Toronto, with the likely result being a Nakamura victory and a subsequent promotion for Joe to Raw or SmackDown. Or maybe that battle will happen in the meantime, allowing the GLORIOUS! Canadian-born Bobby Roode to challenge for the title on that show (although I think it would be too soon into his NXT run, in my opinion). Whatever the case, I've noticed that some fans are souring on the lack of depth to NXT's roster right now, but that's why it remains a developmental brand on some level; by the time Toronto Takeover comes around, I'll bet that several names who were unknown around the time of the Brooklyn show will be more familiar to fans and will be received very well on the night in the Great White North. When it comes to developing talent, NXT is currently setting the blue-print, most of the time anyway. Whether WWE does anything with those stars once they come up to the main roster is another story, but its track record in that area is still better than it has ever been.

• In other news, there's been some confusion about whether Paige would follow her boyfriend Alberto Del Rio out of the WWE door. It looks like she is staying put, with her suspension about to end later this week. I won't comment on the brouhaha other than to say that hopefully Paige will be involved in some meaningful situations on Raw over the next few months, because in the wake of the Four Horsewomen taking the women's scene in WWE by storm, Paige - who helped establish what would become known as the Women's Revolution - has largely been forgotten. That being said, some could argue that she hasn't had that really good match on the main roster in a long time. The next few months are crucial for her, but at least she is young enough that she should still have a long career ahead of her. To WWE management, though, all eyes will be on her after the problems involving her and Del Rio recently. It'll be interesting to follow, but perhaps not for positive reasons.

• There was sad news at the unexpected death of a trainee at Seth Rollins' wrestling school, but this has been overshadowed by Smith Hart (one of the Hart brothers) savagely criticising Rollins for this. Some have tarred Bret with the same brush because he has been critical of Seth and the injuries he has caused, but it's unfair to do so because this is a separate story (even if Smith may have been motivated by what Bret has said about Seth). Two things: Rollins wasn't even there when it happened, and for Smith to tear Rollins apart for him supposedly causing the incident immediately after it happened is pretty low-class. The victim's family are going through a terrible time right now and Rollins must be distraught, so for Smith to say such things with a somewhat unfair perspective is - well, I'll be polite and just call it ill-advised, as well as disrespectful to the victim's family.

• On a lighter note, the release of WWE 2K17 is drawing ever closer. All of the non-DLC wrestlers have been announced, some nifty new/returning features are announced, and the in-ring gameplay and the depth of tools in the Creation Suite suggest that this could be a fantastic wrestling game. The lack of a central mode is still going to hurt this game, though; although it should be a lot better than the critically-acclaimed 2K16, it stills feels like a stop-gap game for this reason. Perhaps a few rabbits will be pulled out of the hat in the final few weeks before 2K17 hits stores, which could off-set the lack of a Showcase or a Season mode. I'm looking forward to playing it, but if it did boast that one big central mode, 2K17 could have ended up being one of the best wrestling games since the mid-2000s peak of the SmackDown! series. Or maybe it will anyway given what we already know about the game; I guess we'll have to wait and see.

• CM Punk was ultimately beaten in his UFC debut, and quite handily, by Mickey Gall. Credit to Punk for having the courage to do this, but even two years of training could not prepare him for the Ultimate Fighting stage. What Punk's next move will be is unclear: will he have a second UFC fight (which is apparently unlikely)? Will he pursue MMA on a smaller scale? Will be abstain from fighting altogether and concentrate on other interests, such as his (well-received) comic book writing? After years of people anticipating Punk in UFC, it feels weird to now consider what comes beyond that initial scrap for Punk. A wrestling return seems like a false hope to have, especially in WWE, but you never know; the next couple of months will likely determine what Punk does for the next few years, with his UFC dream achieved albeit in defeat. Those still bellowing "CM Punk!" at WWE shows probably won't get what they want, but what Punk actually will do from here is unknown right now.

• Anyone else notice Hulk Hogan (well, his voice) being used more than once in a WWE Network commercial at Backlash? Might this be the beginning of a Hogan return, which at one point was considered a ridiculous notion to have? Hmmm ...

• Just before I begin to wrap things up for this week, it's worth noting that the ratings for Raw and SmackDown are almost on par, although it's because Raw's numbers are slipping (an annual autumn occurrence with Monday Night Football returning in the States) and with SmackDown's figures rising. It should be very interesting to see what happens if SmackDown starts beating Raw in the ratings, and doing so consistently; it would be great for the blue brand, but pretty bad for the red side. It may only be at this point that Raw is rejuvenated enough to try and maintain interest during a generally dull part of the year, and with three-fifths of the roster to mix and match with over the course of three hours. Of course, many will say that this should have already happened, but that's beside the point.

• To finish off, here's my WWE Network recommendation for this week. I haven't really touched upon the golden era of the 1980s/early 1990s in this section, so here I'll recommend two of my favourite vintage shows: Royal Rumble 1990 and SummerSlam 1991. Rumble features an incredibly star-studded cast of entrants, along with some brilliantly hammy pre-match promos. SummerSlam, meanwhile, has a classic Mr. Perfect-Bret Hart match for the Intercontinental Championship, and appearances by many huge names like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, The Legion Of Doom and more. For those who were watching the WWF back then, both shows provide a great dose of nostalgia.

That's my random round-up of wrestling opinions this week; I'll return with my thoughts next week, including my predictions for Clash Of Champions!

Weekly Wrestling Thoughts (September 9 2016)

Image Source: Fox Sports

Written By: Mark Armstrong

This week's Wrestling Thoughts will be a little shorter than usual, as this has been a less eventful week after a whirlwind of events in and out of the ring since SummerSlam weekend. Nevertheless, here are my opinions on the week in wrestling, as well as predictions for Backlash this Sunday.

• Although Raw opened with a fiery debate that officially began Seth Rollins' babyface turn, and both Rollins vs. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn were very enjoyable matches, the rest of the show felt like a drag; there were four consecutive segments that achieved almost nothing or were painfully average, and the sound-on-paper pastiche of The New Day by "retirement home" geniuses Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (with three fake pensioners playing "The Old Day") turned out to be awful. The talent is there and the main event scene has plenty of potential directions, but Raw is still struggling to find its groove since the Draft; right now it's largely a mixture of the very good and the poor or, in some cases, very poor. With the NFL season having resumed in the States, the ratings have already begun their annual autumn slide. I hope that WWE can inject some excitement and find a way for the "new" Raw to succeed after a promising start the night after Battleground. If not, then the next few months could be a struggle on the red side. Perhaps Clash Of Champions on September 25 will establish what we can expect moving forward from the Raw team, hopefully for positive reasons. (Incidentally, I felt that many overreacted to the teased retirement by Sasha Banks; sure, some performers have retired due to injury, but how many people truly expected 24-year-old Sasha to call it quits from injuries that we were told would only keep her out of action for a limited time?)

• On that subject, there's a rumour that the Women's Championship match between Sasha and Charlotte may headline Clash Of Champions. It would be a tremendous moment for the women if that were to happen, but it feels like WWE is speeding up the process right now. We have seen on NXT how good these women are and that they are worthy of main eventing big shows, but on the main roster, it could be argued that the Triple Threat match at WrestleMania 32 and Sasha-Charlotte from the July 25 Raw have been the only really good matches since the "Revolution" began in July 2015 (and that's not a knock on the women involved, as they were given more time and more logical booking on NXT). Therefore, it feels like WWE are telling us that the women should main event a PPV, rather than the fans feeling that way themselves. We'll see what happens; but I should mention that Bayley suddenly being booted from the title picture in light of Sasha's earlier-than-expected return is a sign that perhaps her much-anticipated call-up was premature, and that it remains frustrating for WWE to paint the picture that all of the credit for the new perception of women in WWE comes directly from Stephanie McMahon, who merely tried to take credit for the success of the women on a show (NXT) operated by her husband Triple H. (That HHH wasn't on Raw this week was a real head-scratcher and a reason why most disliked Raw overall this week; surely he will be on hand next week?)

• As for SmackDown, it was more or less a filler show with its first PPV of the Brand Extension II era, Backlash, just days away. To that point, WWE Champion Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton all had speaking roles rather than matches, whilst Dolph Ziggler merely provided commentary while his opponent The Miz took on Apollo Crews. The show still had its moments, most notably the long-awaited heel turn of The Usos on American Alpha, which took them out of the SmackDown Tag Team Title tournament to put heat on Jimmy and Jey and establish a big doubles rivalry on the blue side. To me, the most memorable moment of the show was a clear production gaffe whereby a commercial break ended with the usual we're-introducing-a-pre-tape speech from the commentators being drowned in darkness and the show suddenly fading to black with Mauro Ranallo asking JBL if he wanted to say any more about the tag situation (at least he didn't let out a swear word thinking he wasn't still live!), followed by an awkward pause and then a second take of the same segment being done, which this time went to plan with correct lighting and the desired video coming on afterwards. There was also some sort of botch with the one-by-one arrival of the women in the opening segment, as more than one female appeared to come out too early. Yeah, it was a rough night for the usually-topnotch WWE production team. But if those were the key moments for me, then it illustrates why SmackDown wasn't must-see this week.

• In TNA, the inevitable sequel to the infamous Final Deletion has just aired in the United States. Known as Delete or Decay, this battle of sorts between the Hardyz and Decay will have no doubt pulled out all the bells and whistles in order to be even more memorable than Final Deletion was. Regardless of whether or not you approve of the movie-esque approach that TNA has taken to matches involving the brothers Hardy in recent months, it is a positive that the promotion is being talked about by fans who are genuinely excited about the product for the first time in many years. If this "match" achieves another big rating on Pop TV for TNA Wrestling, then perhaps the promotion has real hope for the future, and the company could continue to promote extravagant matches going forward. If that does represent TNA's new direction, then it provides a new meaning to TNA being considered an "alternative" to WWE.

• Arguably the only other wrestling-related story of real value this week, besides Backlash on Sunday of course, is the debut - at long last - of CM Punk in UFC this Saturday when he fights Mickey Gall. Ever since Punk suddenly left WWE the day after Royal Rumble 2014, it has been a fascinating journey as an assumption that Punk would return to WWE turned into hope, then wishful thinking, and then a false dream as it became clear that Punk was done. Following his enlightening yet controversial podcast appearance in November 2014 where he detailed why he left WWE, his sudden UFC signing suggested a summer 2015 debut; but due to injuries and his inexperience in legitimate fighting, only now, over 31 months after Royal Rumble 2014, is Punk finally entering a ring for some combat once again. As weird as this may read, no UFC fight has ever been more anticipated by WWE fans; it's taken a very long time to get here.

• As for the outcome? Many UFC die-hards want Punk - the "phoney wrestler" - to get destroyed. It's worth noting that many wrestling fans feel the same way, because of Punk having such a negative attitude to wrestling since he left WWE and, to a lesser extent, because he suddenly abandoned wrestling in the first place. Punk's huge fan base are hoping that he can find a route to victory against an opponent who was essentially hand-picked for him in Mickey Gall. But Punk is no Brock Lesnar, the mountain of a man with amateur wrestling experience and who still lost his first UFC fight. And Punk, who has never been considered "old", is nearing the age of 40 as he finally enters the Octagon. I personally predict that it will be a close contest, and while a Punk victory is possible, I slightly give the edge to Mickey Gall and therefore predict that Punk will lose. It'd be nice to see him win for having the courage to enter UFC, and given how long he's waited to make his MMA debut, it'd be a huge let-down if he were knocked out within the first few minutes.

• The result will have a big impact upon what happens next with Punk. Should he win, then he has the basis to form a career in UFC, however long that may last and however successful it could be (I would assume that a UFC career would be done by 2020 or 2021, if it were to be a long-term thing, due to Punk's age and physical wear and tear from wrestling). Should he lose, then his second UFC fight could be make-or-break. And if Punk is defeated in spectacular fashion, then it could even be a one-off fight by the "Best In The World". One thing is for sure: even if Punk does get pounded in the Octagon, a WWE return anytime soon is simply not happening; there's no way that Punk would return to WWE anytime soon, if nothing else for the huge damage that it would do to his famously-large ego. If WWE somehow tries to support Punk during his UFC tenure, then perhaps a part-time return could be a possibility in a few years, but for those who continue to chant his name, they should not be expecting their hero to resurface at next year's WrestleMania, regardless of whether or not he is triumphant in his UFC debut. It will be very interesting to watch, though.

• As mentioned, Backlash - the first single-brand PPV in WWE since 2007 - is this Sunday. The card looks a bit weak right now, so I'm expecting one or two more matches to be added between now and the weekend. Of the matches announced, I'm expecting new heels The Usos to beat The Hype Bros and to dash the dreams of Heath Slater and Rhyno to become SmackDown Tag Team Champions, I think Nikki Bella will win the six-women match to become the first SmackDown Women's Champion, I see The Miz retaining his Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler, I envision Bray Wyatt getting a sneaky win over Randy Orton perhaps with some assistance (a returning Luke Harper, maybe?), and with momentum on his side and to give this event a buzz, I predict that AJ Styles will beat Dean Ambrose to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It's very strange that WWE would rather have John Cena compete on a house show in China than to compete on a PPV event for his home brand, but Styles-Cena III for the WWE Title at No Mercy in October is a possibility, and could be set up by AJ beating Ambrose on Sunday. I'm expecting the main event to be a great encounter, but I think this will end up being a one-match show: Orton vs. Wyatt is a fresh match, and the other bouts are by no means of a low standard, but once Backlash is over, it's almost a certainty that we'll mostly be talking about Ambrose vs. Styles.

• I finish with my WWE Network recommendation, which this week has two parts. Firstly, the Last Battle In Atlanta was a famous Cage match from the 1980s between Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer which, for whatever reason, was never seen on television in any form after it originally happened. But that match is now on the WWE Network in the Hidden Gems section, so any longtime fans will want to check this out. And with Backlash returning on Sunday, I recommend some Backlash classics: Triple H vs. The Rock from 2000, Mick Foley vs. Randy Orton from 2004 (the match that made Orton's career, really), John Cena vs. Edge vs. Triple H in an underrated 3-way from 2006, Cena facing Shawn Michaels, Edge and Orton in 2007, and Cena once more battling Edge in a great Last Man Standing match from 2009. Cena has a pretty good record at Backlash, making it more inexplicable that he won't be at the latest Backlash event this Sunday.

That's my random round-up of wrestling opinions this week; I'll return with my thoughts next week, including what I thought of Backlash and the fall-out to CM Punk's UFC debut!