FanPost

The Burial Report - Week Ending May 11, 2014

I had been putting off writing another Burial Report until I watched Starrcade 1997 and got some new inspiration. I remember being so excited when Sting came out for the main event, it was truly special moment. One of the biggest matches in professional wrestling history. The only trouble was the finish was too obfuscating to the final result and WCW would never be the same again after that night. It still blows my mind that although he had creative control over his character, Hogan refused to lay down cleanly to payoff a legendary angle with Sting that had gone on for well over a year. He beat Sting cleanly in the middle of the ring. The 3-count wasn't even that fast. Bert Hart comes out and re-starts the match, Sting wins. The next night the World Heavyweight Championship was held up until Superbrawl, where Sting won. But by then the moment had passed and the payoff was blown. That was a burial. They killed all of the steam that the NWO angle had built up and kept them on top for well over a year in the Monday Night Wars. WWF (at the time) would take back the number one spot in the ratings and never look back. WCW would never again be the top dog and would be out of business come March 2001.

With this new inspiration, I thought I would chime in and take a look at who is getting the shaft in the WWE lately. Last time I came to the obvious conclusion that Damien Sandow has been buried, and that Emma has been buried. Can these talents recover from this and get their steam back? Yes they can, but when you're character is buried it takes a lot to come back from that. I also concluded that Cesaro and the Wyatt Family were in danger of a burial. The booking of Cesaro coming off his big Wrestlemania win had confused the fans as to whether to cheer or boo Cesaro. The Wyatts had been vanquished by Cena at Wrestlemania and another Cena win would ruin the credibility of those characters.

Taking a look at what has happened over the past few weeks, I feel a little bit better about some characters highlighted here, and a lot worse about others. So lets run through them one at a time:

Damien Sandow

When a character has to dress up like a comic book super villain to get a reaction after months of nothingness, you know he is in trouble. However, I really enjoyed the segment with Hugh Jackman and his match on Smackdown while dressed as Magneto. I loved it. Then he comes back out for the U.S. title battle royal as himself and gets eliminated early. No more Magneto, no more steam, back to losing. He should have continued to dress up as comic book villains, legally permitting of course, and incorporate that into a character change. It would have been entertaining Now its back to his old routine. Since the last time I wrote to you, Sandow lost to Big E, the Shield (as part of a five one three handicap match), Dolph Ziggler, and XAVIER WOODS (the resident super jobber of the WWE). He did beat Sin Cara on Superstars so he's got that going for him, which is nice. But now that he is back to the same old character with no changes or tweaks, he is still a jobber and he is still BURIED.

Emma

Emma has been stuck in a comedy routine with Santino for what seems like an eternity. Its a shame because she can actually wrestle, and wrestle very well. Since the week of April 14th, the first Burial Report, she has more or less received 50/50 booking on WWE TV, with a loss at an NXT taping to Charlotte. She is still in the comedy routine with Santino, but has avoided being a complete comedy jobber. Her association with Santino does her no favors, and usually relegates her to short matches that don't showcase her in-ring ability. So, Emma isn't really buried anymore, but she is stuck in 50/50 booking purgatory with Santino as part of their seemingly endless feud with Fandango and Layla in matches that do no favors to everyone involved. Such a shame. #FREE EMMA!

Cesaro

Following his big win at Wrestlemania, Cesaro aligned himself with Paul Heyman. We were all excited. But then Paul Heyman started his incessant trolling the WWE Universe about Brock Lesnar conquering the streak. Cesaro had been a fan favorite but the crowd has become confused of late given the involvement of Heyman. The Cesaro Section experiment seems to have failed. Booking-wise Cesaro has stayed on a roll since my last post. Despite losing to Rob Van Dam due to interference in the Intercontinental Championship Number One Contender's Tournament, and his disqualification loss on last Monday's Raw, he has defeated Mark Henry, the Big Show, Rob Van Dam, Jack Swagger (twice), Rob Van Dam & Jack Swagger at Extreme Rules, and Big E & Rob Van Dam teaming with Bad News Barrett on Smackdown. He seems to be a heel now, but the fans want to cheer him. This confusion seems forced and appears to be part of a long-term storyline they have to push Cesaro. Unfortunately, the execution has left something to be desired and continues to confuse the crowd. He hasn't started losing, and continues to win most of his matches and get good time and good exposure on WWE programming. He is not going to be buried, but the booking for his current program has failed to capitalize on his steam coming out of Wrestlemania. I only hope this is leading to a high profile match with Brock Lesnar down the road. Cesaro is going to be a huge star, and he will draw money, but for now he seems to be hanging around the upper mid card, biding his time until a higher profile program is set up. For now, we will have to wait and hope he continues his amazing performances in the ring.

The Wyatt Family

Following Bray Wyatt's loss to John Cena at Wrestlemania, their program continued into Extreme Rules. The last time I wrote, John Cena had just beaten all three Wyatts in a handicap match via disqualification after he had beaten all three of them down and was about to win anyway. All of the indicators were pointing towards Cena continuing to dominate this feud. The Wyatts followed this up by defeating the Usos and Sheamus in a six man tag match, and Bray Wyatt defeating Sheamus on Main Event. At Extreme Rules, Bray Wyatt technically defeated John Cena in a steel cage match, but in reality Cena dominated the match. Its ok for someone to beat John Cena with interference, but this was too much interference. It was constant interference when the match was billed as though there would be none. In fact, there was more interference with a steel cage surrounding the ring than at Wrestlemania in a normal match. Furthermore, the Wyatts got into the Elimination Chamber and cost John Cena the title back in February. That is lazy booking and lacks continuity. Back to Extreme Rules, and John Cena easily defeats all three of them, never really appearing as if he would lose the match. He is about to walk out and win the match, completing a burial when the demon child scares him with his creepy voice. This allows the Wyatts to recover and put Cena down long enough to escape the cage. Since its a win I cannot really say its a burial. The feud continues into Payback in what is rumored to be a Last Man Standing match. Those matches are no disqualification. So unless Harper and Rowan are barred from ringside it will be three on one again. What is Cena going to do? Beat all three of them...again...that would be a burial. Hopefully the Wyatts can win this match before Cena gets his win(s) back. I can only hope this is done in a way that doesn't humiliate the Wyatts. The typical Cena feuds of this kind end in him winning a Last Man Standing match or humiliating someone in an I Quit match that buries the character. So many stars have taken a long time to recover their past status on the card following a John Cena program, and some never have. The Wyatt Family has not been buried yet. But until their program with Cena finishes they will remain on burial watch. It just has to be that way when an up and coming talent gets into a program with John Cena.

Final Thoughts

Dolph Ziggler, seemingly stuck in 50/50 booking purgatory, but being eliminated by Santino's Cobra during the US title battle royal on Raw will always get you mentioned in the Burial Report. If the next CSS Tournament features the dumbest moves in pro wrestling history, I want to get this out of the way right now: Nominate - The Cobra.

The program between Daniel Bryan and Kane will (sigh) seemingly continue through Payback. This feud is the insufferable rehash of Kane's bad horror movie feuds of the past. Nobody really wants to see this continue. Payback's match between these two is rumored to be a Buried Alive match (so you know it will make the Burial Report). I can only hope that Bryan's victory in this match will write Kane off of TV for quite some time and he can move on to a more intriguing program through the summer.

There it is folks, the latest edition of the Burial report. I would be glad to see your comments and reaction below!

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.