Another Monday night raw has come and gone and while I thought it was a decent show two things really stood out to me and neither were positive for the show.
Raw started with a "hall of fame" panel of Ric flair, hulk hogan and Shawn Michaels where they debated if john cena could beat the beast Brock lesnar. Flair and Michaels agreed he couldn't while hogan believed in cena. The brief discussion brought a much more stoic john cena came out to ringside. Stoic in the sense that he barely waived his "never give up" towel and when he saluted the camera man he was smiling like a goofball. The promo he cut, however, was stoic and serious. The promo had to be serious after the match he had with lesnar and cena kept it short but said all the right things delivered the right way.
The john cena promo was rebutted later in the show by a taped sit down interview from Brock lesnar and Paul heyman. This video package was excellent, not surprising, but was predominantly lesnar talking, which is surprising and lesnar was great. Brock lesnar has the presence, body language and attitude of the unbeatable bully. He has really found his stride in this part time role with heyman doing most of the talking and with wwe protecting him he is succeeding.
The uso's are quickly becoming a great tag team and if wwe allowed the tag division to build it would guarantee at least one very entertaining match per night per show. With the uso's, rhodes', Wyatt's, rybaxel and even Los matadores the wwe has some pretty polished teams and building teams with less utilized guys like Kofi Kingston and big E could potentially turn their careers around. Tag team matches are so easy to watch and always offer entertainment value for a solid 10 minutes it seems like it would be a no brainer to put some spotlight on the tag division but wwe continues the stop/start focus on tag team wrestling. It is a shame because there is a lot of talented teams out there who seem content being successful tag teams.
Nikki Bella proved last night that it is not necessarily Stephanie McMahon making brie Bella appear below average as an actor but it really is just brie Bella being below average. I thought Nikki Bella did pretty good in the family reconciliation segment on raw; however, I just don't care about the story or its players (aside from Stephanie), the segment was given too much time and it is way too much "wwe theatrics" for me. It will sooner rather than later have "change the channel" heat for me.
But, that was not one of the raw disappointments for me those are as follows. Roman reigns interrupted a good effort of cementing Seth Rollins as a top heel last night and it led to a handicap match between reigns versus Rollins and Kane. Roman reigns has already become stale to me. He does the same four moves in every match, like a lot of wrestlers use the same signature moves, but reigns doesn't do any other moves. None! I understand that he has the look, the size and he lineage but what he doesn't have is psychology or wrestling moves to fill the time he is not doing signature moves. Reigns is approaching a level where he will have to work longer matches and this is only going to expose him. I watched his match from raw and instead of being interested or excited I just got the feeling that it was another quick roman reigns match where the whole idea is to position guys for his punches, jumping foot, superman punch and spear. There was really nothing else and it was disappointing.
The worst part of raw was the main event. John cena taking on bray Wyatt with the Wyatt family. In an effort to make john cena, the most over and recognized star in the wwe, look more ferocious than ever wwe chose to have him destroy bray Wyatt. Bray Wyatt currently has the most upside of any young superstar in wwe, has gotten over with the wwe universe and is the most unique character wwe has developed since mankind or the undertaker. Wyatt is on the ascent to being a, or the, top star. Wwe chose to have him get absolutely destroyed at the hands of john cena getting zero offense and being beaten to a pulp while the Wyatt family watches on. The demonstration, al be it short, did nothing but make bray Wyatt, a major part of their future, look like a bum. Wyatt looked weak in a way a wrestler can't afford to look weak.
But, you say, the same thing happened to john cena at summerslam? John cena is the only wrestler on the roster that could allow a defeat like that with no lasting negative effects. John cena is the established top guy in wwe and has been for the last 10 plus years, cena has made a career out of rising above and coming back with his super strength. Cena preaches never quit, don't back down and is a role model to kids; he can afford a beating like he took from lesnar and bounce back because of his spirit and it can make him stronger. Beating up cena like took place two weeks ago st summerslam gives him credibility when he comes back to fight another day.
Bray Wyatt is a brain washing lunatic who leads his followers while getting in the heads of his victims with his words and his mind games. He has a mythical element to his character the way he can appear out if thin air. He is also just coming into his own as a potential top superstar, with a failed character already under his belt, and he still benefits from rivalries with established competitors. Beating the tar out of bray Wyatt the way he was on raw doesn't set him up for any kind of redemption and only makes him weak and vulnerable, things bray Wyatt shouldn't look like. Raw saw john cena humanize bray Wyatt when he destroyed him in a lopsided main event. Humanizing bray Wyatt is the worst thing wwe can possible do, why make the unique become regular? John cena beat up the wrong guy in the wrong time last night and it won't effect john cena in anyway. But, it will effect the guy that could potentially be the top star as a heel or a face going into the next 10 years and I don't believe bray Wyatt can afford that right now and wwe should not have done it. That is just this marks remarks.
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