A look at the events of the last few days in WWE.
So after week of waiting, we are finally seeing how Wrestlemania is shaping up. but Did WWE drop the ball?
I can’t help but feel dissapointed. For weeks we have hoped that Sting would make his debut on WWE television to challenge Undertaker, we hoped that Rock talking smack to John Cena on last weeks RAW would lead into match between the two. Both fantasies were crushed on this weeks Elimination Chamber and RAW. John Cena predictably won the Chamber match and is now facing Miz at Wrestlemania 27. The video packages we’ve been watching for weeks ended with Undertaker walking to the ring only to be interupted by Triple H in which I can only think of as last minute third option for the famous streak match.
We know that the plan was to get Brock Lesnar, it seemed obvious but it never looked like happening. Then we had Sting, the video packages suggested that this might be the case but they were quickly dispensed when Triple H walked out and had is over-the-top staredown with Undertaker. Maybe it is just me but the best bit of RAW was John Cena turning back the clock to his rapping character.
During a recent interview on the Victor Ruiz podcast i suggested that if Cena didn’t win the chamber match then the only road they could go down was to make Cena face Rock and push for the heel turn of Cena. Instead Cena became not only the superman between the ropes but the superman of the mic as he pretty much verbally buried The Rock on RAW.
I only hope that this battle of words doesn’t end there. People went estatic when Cena went back to his old ways but unfortunately I don’t see it developing into much more. It depends whether Rock is going to appear on TV in the next 6 weeks. If he shows up at Wrestlemania and that’s it then I think this years event could be quickly forgotten. The common belief is that The Rock will be the referee for the main event. In which case we will see him on TV before Wrestlemania but i still feel it’s a missed opportunity as people will still be hoping that he will step back into a WWE ring to wrestle not talk.
It could have been so easy for Cena to lose the Chamber match. Give the chance to Morrison and have two solid matches for Wrestlemania in Miz v Morrison and Rock v Cena but as usual what we want isn’t always what we get. Cena could have used this to get his character to show weakness, he could have been jealous of The Rock’s fame, he could have hated the fact that the WWE Universe loves The Rock when he left everyone behind and yet he get’s boo’ed for doing nothing wrong. Sadly it looks like this is something they will not play on and I feel the only other way for WWE to get a Cena heel push over now is to have him face Undertaker at Wrestlemania next year.
The Elimination Chamber PPV was solid enough but very predictable. Nobody expected King to win the title as we knew he was heading into some sort of match which involved Michael Cole. We felt Edge was the solid contender for keeping the belt but the Christian return could give us some sort of Triple Threat Match where Christian finally gets some chance at the main event scene. Del Rio kept his momentum going as he heads into the biggest match of his professional career and we had some time filler with the return of Trish Stratus. For the last couple of years we have been spoiled at the Chamber / No Way Out PPV with some big twists and turns heading into Wrestlemania but this year came across as fairly basic, solid matches but not many big suprises.
One performance which particularly stood out to me was Drew McIntyre’s. He gave a spirited performance during the Chamber match which I was suprised and happy to see. Drew has fallen off the map a little after the dropping of his storyline with Kelly Kelly and I thought the push he had during the match was great. he showed a sadistic side to his character which we have not seen for quite some time and it was a shame he got eliminated as early as he did.
The other shocker to me was the contiual failings of Sheamus. During RAW he lost fairly to Mark Henry which I can only imagine made Chris Cash’s and Nick Paglino’s jaws hit the floor (Nod to VOW if you were a listener.)
It made no sense to me to have Triple H not be interested in Sheamus. The angle with Undertaker doesn’t really make much sense at this stage and I think WWE are paying the price slightly with trying to be less predictable. For the last 2 months we have said Triple H has to return. When he hasn’t we’ve turned round and said that they mustn’t have done this because it look too obvious. Now we have 6 weeks where i presume Sheamus will have to answer for taking out Triple H and to build up to facing Undertaker.
I think this will appear rushed and it could have been done properly if Triple H had made his return at the Royal Rumble.
It’s sad to see that the direction WWE were taking has dramatically have to alter and the match between Triple H and Undertaker now leaves Wade Barrett and Sheamus pretty much in the dark. Let’s look at what the current Wrestlemania 27 card will more than likely look like:
Undertaker V Triple H
The Miz v John Cena w/ The Rock as the referee
Edge v Christian v Alberto Del Rio
Randy Orton v CM Punk
Jerry Lawler v Michael Cole
The Corre v The Nexus
Cody Rhodes v Rey Mysterio
Money in the Bank: Swagger v Sheamus v Big Show v Kingston v DiBiase v Bryan v McIntyre v Kane v Morrison v R-Truth
Now don’t get me wrong. The PPV will more than likely be a solid Wrestling PPV but it doesn’t seem to have those standout matches which you can associate with previous Wrestlemania’s. Maybe we have a few more twists to come but i do wonder whether we are getting a fairly rushed card being put together.
On a side note it was sad to see that WWE continuely destroy any chance of giving those tag titles the chance to be worth something again. How many times have we seen PPV opponents being forced to tag with each other and ending up as tag champions. It’s been used far too much and even though they didn’t end RAW as champions they sure as hell destroyed what little legacy is left of those belts.
Be sure to check out the Victor Ruiz Podcast this week as i’ll be looking more in detail as this week’s events which you can find on iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-incoherent-ramblings-of/id409139487
or through the website:
If you want to get in touch with me through email then you can do at [email protected] or if you use Twitter then you can reach me at www.twitter.com/beansontoastuk
Let me know your thoughts on this years Wrestlemania. Are you looking forward to the current card, do you think they have made some mistakes or do you think they are doing the best with what they have got? This is the first year since 2006 where i will not be spending a lot of saved money to see the event in person and so far… I’m not too concerned i’m missing anything of importance.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Martyn.
