This week’s Wrestlezone Stars in Progress talks Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella’s road to SummerSlam, my lost respect for TNA Wrestling, the all-black WWE faction that’s rocking the roster, and NXT’s new international flair.
I’m looking for ways to change up this weekly feature, and make it more interactive, and more importantly, more entertaining for the readers. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Step Up – Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella
I remember a month ago when the reports starting coming out about the proposed Brie-Stephanie match at SummerSlam, and everyone was rolling their eyes and enraged that a spot was being “wasted” on such a high-profile PPV. I’ll admit I was skeptical, but I do enjoy being proven wrong. Brie and Steph work really against each other – McMahon has enormous heat from the last year of building the Authority, and the fans can channel their love and support for Daniel Bryan through Brie. It’s a personal story that’s being told well on Raw each week. I do worry about how the eventual match will be executed. Neither their story or their ability calls for a “wrestling match” – Brie has improved exponentially since coming back to WWE, but Steph is a 37-year-old mother of three, who hasn’t “wrestled” a match since 2003. I hope they can pull something entertaining together for SummerSlam, and I’m digging this feud on TV, but I worry there’s not a lot of conclusions to this whole deal that will satisfy invested fans.
Step Down – TNA Wrestling Management
This is a personal thing, and I can’t really go into detail about WHY I’m upset with certain members of TNA management, but man… I lost about 90% of my desire to see that company succeed this week. Backstage politics and petty egotism and fully grown adults not being able to tell the truth – normally the comparisons to late-WCW are laughable, but after my experiences this week, I’m starting to think the cynics might be right. My only desire to see Impact Wrestling find a new home right now is so that my friends, acquaintances, and people I enjoy watching don’t lose their jobs. The people in charge, however, have permanently lost my respect and empathy.
