I wanted to take the time to periodically document who is getting buried and who is in danger of being buried.This is my first fanpost and its late. But here it goes..
First off, here's a little clarification on what I consider a burial, which can take many forms:
I tend to define being buried as once being in a prominent or important place on the card, but losing a lot or being stuck with a terrible gimmick or a bad program that kills someones character completely, or kills the steam they had going for them. Not being on TV for long stretches does not automatically count in my book. Take Khali for example, hes not being buried, hes in mothballs because its such a disaster to bring him on TV just once in a while. Additionally, Xavier Woods can't really be buried because he was never in a really important program on the main roster. R Truth on the other hand, was in high profile feuds in recent years but has been buried down to jobber status.
The first person I would like to highlight is the most obvious in recent memory: Damien Sandow. He has gone from holding the blue briefcase to losing it to Cena to becoming a jobber. In fact, he has not won on TV since January 24th of this year, where he defeated Sin Cara on Main Event. His losses since then include the likes of Darren Young, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, and Sin Cara (three times).
Now, THAT is a burial. He had himself a nice place on the card and then, WHAM! The rug was pulled right out from under him. Damien Sandow...BURIED! I wonder if we will ever find out what he did or who he rubbed the wrong way.
But many of us like the character and we would like to see him rehabilitated. With that in mind, how can he get some steam behind him? I put that question to you.
Next up...Emma. This is a different kind of burial. This is a gimmick or program related burial. Many of us admired her work on NXT and she was recently brought up to the main roster and paired with Satino Marella. Congratulations, WWE, on taking a well-trained and capable performer who can bolster the Divas division and proceed to waste months of everyones time with a comedy routine. Is it good to have some comedy on the program, of course! However, too much comedy, especially in a character, can ruin their credibility as a believable winner and harm their chances of moving up the card. Mick Foley had a good mix of comedy and determination and was always able to strike that balance. Santino is never serious and has no credibility. Pairing Emma with Santino has given her the rub, but after having her own Cobra rear its ugly mug on Raw this past week, I am afraid that she cannot be taken seriously as a competitor for the divas title. Her character on NXT had a good amount of comedy mixed with serious competition once she got in the ring. Now she is just a sideshow act and its a damn shame. Why should we believe she will be a competitor for the Divas title with Santino tagging along? Why should we care? What a waste of a fine talent. Emma? BURIED!
She can be fixed more easily than Sandow, however. She can dump Santino and be a little more of a heel. She can go off TV and be totally repackaged (last resort). What can be done to resurrect her? I think they need to put the brakes on this program sooner rather than later and re-orient her towards the Divas championship and a feud with Paige and possibly AJ. What are your thoughts? IS this a burial? Under my definition of a gimmick burial, yes.
Finally, who is in danger?
Cesaro. Cesaro had some big time steam behind him with the breakup of the Real Americans and his win in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He was over as a fan favorite and things were only looking up. Until they have paired him with Paul Heyman (hes the greatest, but...) and have attempted to create an astroturf movement behind him with the Cesaro Section signs that have been passed out at recent TV tapings. This would not have been necessary if they would have let Paul Heyman manage him as a legitimate client. Paul Heyman is the only manager in the business today capable of managing a heel and a face at the same time. It would have been amazing to see unfold. Unfortunately, Heyman's brilliant trolling has obfuscated Cesaro's perception in the eyes of the crowd. They seem confused. This is overbooking someone's push and trying to force it a certain way instead of just letting it unfold. This storyline needs to become clear over the next few weeks because it comes off as if even the WWE Creative Team does not know where they are going with this angle. His new music leaves a lot to be desired and his count out loss in the tournament on Monday night made him look very weak. On top of that, the blow off match for the Real Americans is booked for Smackdown! I have not read the results yet, but the blow off match should be at Extreme Rules. That is just ridiculous booking. Cesaro has not been buried yet, but he is in danger of it if they do not bring this angle into focus.
How can they fix this angle with Cesaro and Heyman and steer it away from the impending disaster that it seems to be?
Finally....the Wyatt Family, all of them, are in danger of being Cena buried. Cena already has a clean win at Wrestlemania over Bray Wyatt. He hasn't taken it seriously since then. He has yet to become a monster. He had the match on Monday night won, cleanly, against all three of them until the WWE forgot their own rules and hit the DQ for a wrestler making a legal save on a pin. If John Cena wins cleanly again at Extreme Rules, the Wyatt Family will be buried.
Who can they go after and be taken seriously after that feud ends if it ends in a clean Cena win? Would they need some time off TV to let the crowd "forget" until they go after someone else?
These are the first few individuals I wanted to profile on the first edition of The Burial Report. There are plenty of others to discuss in the future. Not everyone is being buried. I will profile some individuals in the future who I will conclude are not being buried, even though many people think they are...until then. I hope this at least generates some interesting discussion.
Astrotrain