I was too distracted by medical stuff yesterday to write the usual “two up, two down” article I usually write post-Raw. But it has been an insanely interesting two days of WWE TV. So much so I can’t pick a single topic to address.
So let’s run through some thoughts after a pair of excellent shows.
Vince McMahon, Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston - I have been wanting WWE to utilize the Bryan/Rowan team in matches against New Day, but instead we got Owens and Kingston teaming after Owens was given Kingston’s title shot.
I’m a bit lost on McMahon’s character. He didn’t like the renegade attitude of Becky Lynch and her Stone Cold-ish tendencies, so he replaced her with a very corporate choice in Charlotte Flair. It makes sense in the bubble where we pretend they haven’t spent years releasing documentaries and telling stories of how Steve Austin’s attitude was central to making all the money. I can understand the idea of protecting your biggest show from the whims of someone who has become reckless in her pursuit of what she wants.
But replacing Kofi Kingston with Kevin Owens? Owens assaulted McMahon in the past and has trended closer to Lynch than Flair. Also, it feels a little un-McMahon to look at Owens and say “that guy is ‘box office.’”
Vince feeling like his company is slipping away from him and reasserting control is at least playing into good stories, though I hope we’re not heading for another “battle for control of WWE” storyline down the road.
Becky Lynch might be the first renegade star I can remember getting arrested and not eventually making it back to the arena.
Steve Austin did it something like 40 times. Goldberg was arrested on Nitro because Elizabeth claimed he was stalking her and still made his way back to the arena to clean house after the Fingerpoke of Doom. And so on.
Lynch not making it back isn’t a bad thing and it actually played very nicely into throwing off the scent of ...
Batista coming back to attack Ric Flair.
It felt like Lynch was the obvious choice to return and ruin Ric’s celebration, winning the night as the show went off the air.
There was, of course, the problem of it being far too into heel territory to have Lynch do anything to an old, beloved wrestler. But attacking Charlotte in a moment where her guard was down would have seemed just right.
Instead Batista! Yes! BAAAATIIIISTA!
I WALK FOR MILES INSIDE THIS PIT OF DANGER!
The last thing I want to touch on in the interest of this post not getting too long is ...
Ricochet and Aleister Black are a tag team because ... why?
This is the problem with the quick, sort of directionless call up that happened a few weeks ago.
The two are incredible talents and they team well together. But they also shouldn’t be reduced to feeling like a thrown together tag team.
I love tag team wrestling more than singles wrestling when it’s done right and talk of a “focus on the division” is great. But I don’t know that taking two of NXT’s brightest stars and smooshing them into a team is really the same thing.
That said, I suppose I’ll just sit back and enjoy the wealth of good matches they could have.
- As always, you should go read our full recap and reactions post for last night’s SmackDown Live. Then, you should go watch the video highlights from the show.
- Get ready for tonight’s edition of NXT with our preview.
- There’s officially a SmackDown Women’s Championship match at Fastlane.
- Bye bye Woken Matt Hardy?
- The Lacey Evans thing remains so very, very dumb.
- Raw’s ratings were up this week as Roman Reigns made everyone feel good.
- Finally, it’s a good thing for WWE to pump the brakes a bit on the Charlotte Flair/Becky Lynch/Ronda Rousey story.
Wednesday! Thanks for all the positive vibes for my family yesterday, y’all!
On that note: FAMILY!
Every #GoodBrother...needs a GOOD MOTHER!#WWEColumbiaSC @KarlAndersonWWE @LukeGallowsWWE pic.twitter.com/t5Irz2mCOa
— WWE (@WWE) February 27, 2019