WWE just doesn’t have enough full-time stars. Not for a three-hour TV show.
Call Sheamus a main-eventer all you want, but he’s a mid-carder. Give Alberto Del Rio all the TV time you want, but he has far less charisma than his bottom. Randy Orton= overrated since Day One. I still can’t get past Orton channeling a snake.
The Shield? Maybe. Ryback? Nope, they blew it. Dolph Ziggler? Getting there.
Most of WWE’s attempts to develop new stars have fallen far short and, in case you’ve forgotten, they have three more hours of TV tomorrow.
In 2000, the owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins sold a lot of tickets (and got the team to the NHL semifinals) by activating himself as a player. Mario Lemieux. He’s the guy with the statue, as opposed to Bruno Sammartino.
WWE needs to take Triple H out of the office and put him back in the ring.
Full-time? No. Guy’s got a wife and three kids, which only resonates because he’s married to the owner’s daughter. Trips also does lots of work in the office. “Son, someday all this will be yours…UNLESS I NEVER DIE!”
But Trips needs to work more than he does. Triple H showed, in the run-up to his ‘Mania match with Brock Lesnar, than he doesn’t have what The Rock has, that instant charisma that enables a performer to reconnect instantaneously. That feud, and that match, stiffed in very disappointing fashion. Not much heat.
No, Triple H needs to work for it. I’ve often compared Triple H to Harley Race. That applies here, too. Race got over because he established credibility over the long haul. Race didn’t have a great look. He was a very earnest talker, but there have been better promos. But day in and day out, Harley Race was a bad-ass. That was established long before he became the NWA’s touring world champ.
Triple H got removed from the long haul. His credibility has diminished.
So put Triple H on every TV, and on every PPV. The occasional house show, too.
This isn’t about what Triple H and his family need. It’s about what WWE needs. Everybody else’s family takes a back seat. At any rate, Trips would work the same schedule as now. He’s at every TV and PPV anyway.
Triple H is one of his generation’s great performers. WWE needs a guy like that.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST OF BAD BELTS
The only WWE title that means a damn is the one held by John Cena. That’s thanks to C.M. Punk and his 434-day reign.
The other belts? Not so much. And the lower you go, the less they mean.
WWE is reportedly thinking of giving each member of Dolph Ziggler’s nameless stable a championship. Ziggler already has the world title. A.J. Lee would get the Divas belt. Big E Langston would get the U.S. strap. Just like the Four Horsemen, except I never wanted to see Tully Blanchard naked. (A.J., not the other two.)
It’s a good idea.
Kofi Kingston is useless. The U.S. championship is useless. Kaitlyn is useless. The Divas championship is useless.
But if you take those useless titles and put them all in one place, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.
Not that A.J. and Big E have much going for them.
A.J. is gorgeous, and a consummate performer…except when she wrestles. She’s just too small, even for a female. Other divas reportedly don’t like working with her because her bumps don’t make any noise. It’s like gymnastics.
Big E just looks like a big, muscle-bound goof. That is one tiny head.
Make the best use of bad resources. Give Ziggler’s crew the belts.
Follow Mark Madden on Twitter: @MarkMaddenX
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.
