This show was an overwhelming let down, with emphasis being unnecessarily placed on a “debacle” that most people didn’t care about when it was happening, and most people have probably forgotten about since last night.
Let’s take a look at all the action from The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA:
THE GOOD
You know, I hate when my reviews start to sound redundant, because that’s usually a clear indication that whatever show I’m discussing is enduring a consistently bad creative trend, but as with last week, there’s not a whole lot of good I can file here today.
The only thing that stood out to me this week is that creative seems to be putting together a good mid-card trio of Kofi Kingston, William Regal and Matt Hardy to challenge for MVP’s United States Title, and the triple threat match last night was a great progression of that mid-card battle. However, since lately you can’t take a slice of good without complementing it with a slice of bad, it seems as if WWE wants to teeter MVP on the edge of the mid-card and main event line as he is consistently being booked in segments with top players in the company. This entire MVP situation could work, however. WWE can’t make the mistake of booking MVP with top talents and then dismiss guys like Kingston when he faces the US Champ for the belt. Kingston must also be booked to look strong against MVP, this way the credibility of both the wrestlers and the US Title itself is elevated and respected.
The opening segment with Vince and Stan Kroenke falls partially under the good column for me this week, as it did expose The Denver Nuggets owner’s unfortunate name of Enos, but it otherwise didn’t do what it should have. I’ll continue that when I discuss the bad, but the other part of the segment that was enjoyable to me was when The Miz came into the mix and took over where Vince and “Stan” were failing.
The Miz has been on a roll lately, and I like that he’s mixing it up with John Cena and continues to preserve his “winning streak” against him each week. It’s a unique way of booking a talent, and moreover it teeters The Miz nicely on the same mid-card/top-card line that MVP currently finds himself on.
THE BAD
Um, pretty much everything else. I was grateful on the one hand that Vince did not drag out the opening “debacle” segment for a half-hour, which was my biggest fear heading into the show, but he didn’t come through with the much needed Zinger that this bit required to be successful.
If you take the time to call someone out publicly, and then you promote a furthering of that call-out on a live broadcast a week later, you need to come through with something truly memorable, humiliating, and ultimately funny, or you are the one left with egg on your face. Honestly, I compare it to a porn star calling out an Oscar winning actor and challenging him or her to a monologue contest. You have to be on your A game, or else what’s the point?
The segment between Vince and Enos ultimately failed because McMahon settled for potty humor and didn’t hit him with enough comedy to make the rest of the world outside of LA and Denver care, or enough comedy for the mainstream sports media to want to play highlights of it on Sports Center the following day. Why does Sports Center run clips of David Letterman or Jay Leno working with sports stars? Because 9 times out of 10 it’s successfully funny.
Goldust and Hornswoggle take home the trophy for WWE’s current “this couldn’t be more uninteresting” act. The two have failed in their attempts to entertain pretty much everyone I have either spoken to or read opinions from, and yet the live crowd seems to be eating them up like Sour Patch Kids. Why? What is the appeal here? Is it because Horny looks like a Sour Patch Kids that he gets such a pop? I can’t, for the life of me, figure it out, but their segments bomb week in and week out. And yes, I said segments because last night they got two.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
