This Week in WWE
This week WWE needed to capitalize on every second of Raw and Smackdown in order to successfully promote this weekend’s huge TLC match between Randy Orton and John Cena. Because that’s exactly what it is – it’s not about a PPV, but a single match that will attempt to unify the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. Every other match on the card is icing on what should be a delicious Cena-Orton flavored cake.
I never have high hopes for the Slammy Awards. Reports say this year’s voting wasn’t rigged, but when the Bella Twins are voted over AJ Lee for Diva of the Year, and then the live crowd chews them up and spits them out, it’s hard to completely put stock in what the WWE is telling me. It is of course possible that Total Divas on E! has been popular enough to get the Bella Twins over, and I for one have actually enjoyed some of their work since returning; my frustration rests more on the continued degradation of the championship. By all counts, AJ Lee should be the Diva of the Year. If the polls aren’t rigged, maybe they should be?
I’m still not clear why the decision was made to go ahead with two handicap matches at TLC. As I wrote last week, I was fairly certain plans would change, and more opponents would be announced to fight alongside Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. I’ve been wrong before. As I also wrote, fans need a bit of hope to go on if we’re to fully invest in a match. Does anyone actually think Punk or Bryan is going to emerge victorious in a 3-on-1 situation? Without outside interference? Without disqualification? Playing the devil’s advocate, that seems to be besides the point. As we saw in the closing moments of Monday Night Raw, the focus is on The Authority. Just days before their PPV matches, both Punk and Bryan mixed it up with the likes of Randy Orton, Triple H and Shawn Michaels; neither the Shield nor the Wyatt Family were anywhere to be seen. The underlying speculation is that both factions are operating under the orders of the WWE’s Chief Operating Officer. Only there’s too many things going on, and none of them have been dug out enough. I now care more about whether Shawn Michaels will come out of retirement, than I do that Bryan is going to get his clock cleaned by a trio of back-country creeps.
