A number of events happened during last week’s RAW and Smackdown, so here are my thoughts on some of them:
Bobby Roode debuts on Smackdown Live
It looks like Smackdown Live has just become….#GLORIOUS
The former NXT Champion, fresh from unsuccessfully defending his title against Drew McIntyre only four days ago from Smackdown Live on NXT Takeover Brooklyn, made his debut on the blue brand facing off against Aidan English, and made short work of the “Beethoven of Baritone” or whatever the heck English calls himself.
Although the obvious signs are there that WWE is booking Roode as a face on Smackdown, that is still a bit hard to get used to from my opinion. Even in his interview with Renee Young after the match with English, Roode showed the elements of his heel persona that he debuted in his first appearance in NXT: that he turned the promotion from great to glorious.
And if you watch NXT, you would definitely be thrown off because Roode this week was interviewed and he was still acting like his old self, alluding that he is going to get a rematch for the NXT title. It is highly unlikely that Roode will regain the title as current storylines foresee Drew McIntyre feuding with Adam Cole for the NXT title.
Bobby Roode is a 20 year veteran and he would have fit well on either brands, but Smackdown is the more innovative brand that allows for somewhat more flexible creatively. Roode is also good at playing the cool heel to the point where he can play the bad guy and still get over with the fans; old school fans would be reminiscent of Roode’s current persona as similar to the one from Ravishing Rick Rude’s some twenty plus years ago.
What’s next for Rusev and Randy Orton?
You guys all remember the epic battle between the Bulgarian Brute and the Viper at Summerslam, right? If not, then don’t worry, because that’s not how it went down. Rusev got in some good moves before the match started, but once the bell rang, Orton dropped him with an RKO and the match lasted a mere 8 seconds. My live tweet during Summerslam pretty much encapsulates my feelings on the match.
You can tell the WWE Creative office doesn’t have much going on for either of those two right now, since they weren’t even on Smackdown this past week. It has been rumoured on social media that both Rusev and Lana asked for their release from WWE, as Rusev has been frustrated with his lack of direction from the company since the switch from RAW. Even Orton himself apparently told Rusev, if he was booked to lose like that, the Viper would have asked for his release as well (Orton has expressed a desire to go to RAW).
This is a bit of a shame, as there are currently a number of other wrestlers that have been kept on the back burner lately that should be doing better (Tye Dillinger, Sami Zayn, Mike Bennett Kanellis) as well as Rusev. Perhaps a face turn for Rusev is what is needed to jolt revived interest in his run on Smackdown. As for Orton, perhaps he should become a free agent as well due to his long tenure with the company, but I guess one free agent in WWE is enough for now.
Speaking of which…..
John Cena on RAW to feud with Roman Reigns?
Is it just me or was it rather anti-climatic? Cena’s jump to RAW finally puts together that much anticipated confrontation with the other Vince McMahon favourite in WWE…Roman Reigns. Instead of getting that one on one confrontation, they were interrupted by the Miz and his entourage and put into a tag team match which Reigns and Cena won, but not without some miscommunication; Roman accidentally hit a Superman punch on Cena that was meant for Miz.
But everything about this potential feud just seems so forced. Even Roman’s facial expressions give more a sense that he seemed disinterested that Cena is confronting him, and even more so as they were put in a tag team match together. Even the so-called spark that may light up a future rivalry, the accidental punch, came off as just making an excuse for these two to fight in the future.
I will predict there will be some future confrontation, perhaps in the Royal Rumble when Reigns eliminates Cena or vice versa (but most likely the latter) or maybe even earlier in the Survivor Series. But as of right now, this Cena Reigns confrontation seems like something shoved together by Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn in some vain attempt to get a reaction out of the fans.
If you need an indication that WWE fans aren’t buying it, they were chanting “Undertaker” during the initial Cena and Reigns segment after Cena came out revealing that he had jumped to RAW in his ‘free agent’ role.
Enzo Amore debuts on 205 Live
With the recent departure of Austin Aries, the 205 Live brand needed a shot in the arm….and apparently the answer was the so-called “realest guy in the room”.
Enzo Amore made his debut on 205 Live this past week, confronting the 2 time Cruiserweight Champion, Neville. This made sense, as Big Cass suffered an ACL injury during his Brooklyn Street fight with Amore on RAW, taking him out of action for up to 9 months. I think this would be a good chance for WWE to have Cass recharge and repackage his career when he comes back, and this was a chance for Amore to move onto other things.
I’m more optimistic this move would at least put some interest back into the Cruiserweight scene since Aries’ departure. Not a lot of people can just ignore the verbally active Enzo Amore, but I will have more to expand on regarding the current state of the WWE Crusierweight division in a later post.
Here’s hoping this week’s RAW and Smackdown gives some more indication of how things will move forward with these four situations as well as many others.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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