By Nick Whitworth@pwpitstopNick
The Rant Of The Day # 28
Rant # 28 already, pushing the big 3-0. This is huge my friend… Huge. These articles are pulling numbers like The Rock, I mean Dwayne Johnson, pulls in the theaters. Blockbusters…. I just got back from a week long vacation is the beautiful Ingonish which by the way if you are unfamiliar with please Google as this gem is absolutely breathtaking. Plus, my fans don’t bother me up there like they do in Halifax. Anyways let’s get this show on the road. Today’s topics are:
Ronda Rousey (once again) wins the WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Too Soon?
The current state of WWE’s Tag Team Division
Raw : Ambrose returns, Drew MacIntyre’s push and a need for heel Bobby Lashley
All In : Did it live up to the hype?
1: Did anyone happen to catch the spot where Ronda Rousey hoisted the WWE Raw Women`s Championship, looked right into the camera , winked and said `Nick, This is for you. No? Anyone?
Rousey is finding her groove with the WWE style and is really putting in solid work to perfect her craft and it is showing. She doesn’t seem as nervous cutting promos as much as she did and she is showing her true killer instinct once that bell rings. There hasn’t been one moment where I thought WWE was pushing her too fast.
So there has been a lot of debate online about Ronda and her championship win. Some give kudos while others say it was too early in her career and there are others more deserving. I guess it depends on how you look at it. Who right now on the main roster has the overall star power that she has? Nobody. Everybody knows she would win the strap relatively quick in her run but I was surprised with the amount of negativity towards it.
People tend to forget that if it wasn’t for Ronda Rousey, the major women’s movement in sports might not be as big as it is. She broke down a lot of walls and faced all the criticism there is. She fought hard and destroyed all the naysayers with her tremendous amount of talent. You cant’ help but root for her. She was brought into the WWE with a massive fan base and won over any fans thinking she didn’t belong. She shined such a positive spotlight on the company you have no choice but to pull the trigger and let her fly.
Too soon for a title run? Again, I don’t think so. She is a money making machine and has proven just how good she is already. I don’t think she leaped over any other deserving women for the belt as it is a business move and she brings in more money then most. It is a very logical move and a smart yet risky move but overall it makes the most sense.
Now what if the fans turn on her due to her major push? Easy…. She goes full blown heel. She is surprisingly fantastic has a face but I think a heel is where she would shine. Her sadistic looks she gives opponents when she is raging with anger is spot on. Her smiling to the fans the way she does can be simply fixed by using her eyes. Well Nick, that makes zero sense… OK, have you ever heard of the word “smize”. My BFF Tyra Banks told me all about it from my modelling days and it is where you smile with your eyes. You can still rock a major smile on your face but using different eye features completely changing the overall look and this is where Ronda would shine.
Having her go heel is the way to go especially once the MMA’s Four Horsewomen make their leap to the main roster. That group will be over right from the get go but you can’t have them go babyface on the world. Imagine Shayna Baszler hugging her fans ringside… No thanks.
The Rowdy One’s push is 100% spot on and deserving. I honestly was a little shocked she won the strap at Summerslam only because I thought the ideal spot to begin her title reign would be at Evolution, WWE’s all women Pay Per View. Plus that is where the company would slowly start their build towards her Wrestlemania match with Charlotte Flair ( which I am calling right now will main event the show).
So to all the haters please feel free to drop me a line explaining why Ronda Rousey shouldn’t be champ and make it a convincing one as my mind is pretty set on her belonging in the position she currently holds.
2: Growing up I loved tag teams like The Hart Foundation, The Rockers and The Demolition then in the Attitude Era WWE really upped their game by having The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian , and The Dudley Boyz change how the tag division was. Nothing beat a perfect tag match.
Somehow someway the Tag Team Division completely lost its steam. I don’t know if Vince thinks the division isn’t a draw or just thinks it ran its course but whatever the reasoning behind it, it needs to change.
Over the past few years we’ll get a glimpse of hope as it looks like the company is back behind the division by pushing teams like The Bar or The Usos but then it goes right back to where we are at this moment. When Gallows & Anderson blew into WWE I figured the division was about to go full blown but then they took the team and made them more of a comedy team and really hurt the direction the tag teams could go.
WWE is stacked with teams especially with the recent NXT call ups of The Authors Of Pain and Sanity. They should and could sign a few known teams from the indys to add some new found excitement and really go all in here. 3 hours of Raw and 2 hours of Smackdown Live, there is plenty of time to put on top notch tag team wrestling.
What hurts the division is when WWE takes talent who they have nothing creatively for and throw them into a team with others in the same bout and we have just a team with no chemistry. WWE lucked out with The Bar because they ended up gelling so perfectly I can’t picture them on their own. Plus Cesaro is a tag team specialist so he will gel with anyone. By taking to random unused wrestlers and throwing them together and expecting the fans to rally behind them is totally asinine.
The company needs to drop the hokey pokey teams like The Ascension and really build up the division to how it use to be. Make it relevant and not meaningless. I think it is a major piece missing to their overall growth.
WWE has the money to invest in this division and it has been rumored that the company is trying to sign all major indy names, then they need to sign some major indy teams. I know contracts come in to play when looking to sign certain people but there are so many great teams out there that this shouldn’t be an issue. The Young Buck could be the way to really jump start the division and add in a few more indy names onto the already packed WWE teams and we have a solid division.
Only time will tell if WWE has any plans on revamping the tag team division so the only thing we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best. Or continue to let Mike Kanellis post throwback pictures of him with Matt Taven in hopes of reuniting the tandem this time in a WWE ring.
3: Monday Night Raw continues to be the staple in WWE television but as of late the programming has been a little off. With having a solid 3 hours to really showcase the talent and go all in on each feud they tend to make those 3 hours seem like 6. Not good.
Every fan of WWE has had issues with Raw and are starting to get to the point of having zero interest in the show. If you look at the overall roster for the Raw brand you would be confused as to why so many fans are tuning out instead of tuning in. Kevin Owens should and could be the brands top heel while feuding with the mega popular Seth Rollins over the Universal Championship but instead we have the newly crowned Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman having their beef. Blah.
There are 3 things that could shake Raw up and it needs to happen ASAP.
– Dean Ambrose recently returned and reformed The Shield with fellow members Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. While that makes for a nice return for the trio it is not where Ambrose needs to be. The best scenario here is turn Ambrose heel . Having him stab Rollins and Reigns in the back will ignite the fire in Dean that has been missing for some time now. Let him go back to the wild Dean Ambrose we all fell in love with. Not this going through the motions Ambrose we have now.
Ambrose is money. We all know that. He is just better suited for a solid heel run then being pushed as a major babyface. His character got watered down from being a face so the turn is as much needed for his career as it is for the fans.
– Bobby Lashley’s first WWE run wasn’t for me one bit. I know Vince had big plans for him but he was bland as all heck. He couldn’t get any connection with the fans. I wasn’t surprised when he and the company parted ways but I was totally surprised to see him become a major player in Impact Wrestling as a heel.
A heel Lashley is whats best for him and hopefully it happens. As a face, he just isn’t going to move up the card at all without boring the fans but a heel Lashley will make all non believers a believer. His turn if done right could be jaw dropping. The typical WWE fan might not know just how good heel Bobby is and it would be perfect.
As much as I want him to turn heel I think he needs to make a switch to Smackdown. It would give him an overall re start and would be the perfect way to get what the company wants out of him. The money isn’t on a him being a face, it is 100 % on a heel Bobby Lashley.
– Drew McIntyre’s pairing with Dolph Ziggler was a bit odd but it could turn out to be quite perfect. It is obvious the company sees big things in Drew but my worry is waiting ti long to capitalize on it. He needs to turn on Dolph and really put a thumping on him. He needs to set the tone right out of the gate. He doesn’t need to be defined by the terms heel or babyface and just let him attack whoever he wants. Once he is pushed the crowd will love him but giving him a babyface feel would weaken his character. Much like Stone Cold Steve Austin, just let Drew be Drew.
I was confused when McIntyre did a NXT run first as I thought he didn’t need it but it was the proper way to re introduce him the right way. His first run was hampered by being Vince’s chosen one. This time he is being who he should have been the first time and that is Drew McIntyre.
Out of the 3 here, Drew has the potential to be the major player here. If WWE went all in on him there is no way he would fail. He could be the next major breakout star the company needs. Only time will tell if they go this route but Vince told me, i mean judging by what I see it seems like there is a major chance they will give the ball to McIntyre. Don’t get me wrong, you can see the Dean heel turn coming but my money is on Drew. And that’s the bottom line because I am always right….
4: A few days have passed and ALL IN has come and gone. The hype for this event was off the charts. The fact the event sold out so quickly says it all. Now that I have seen all the hype, watched the event and had time to really process it all I ask myself this…. Did it live up to all the hype or was it just a typical indie show?
For starters, it surpassed all expectations I had because I was worried the event would be all buzz and no substance. From start to finish it was a fantastic show that should have Vince scratching his head. The jam packed arena was loud and ready to rumble. The lay out was brilliant with everything from the entrance ramp to the lighting being WWE professional. So right from the beginning I was hooked.
The matches were brilliantly mapped out with the best of the best going at it. Even actor Stephen Amell did a fantastic job in his match with Christopher Daniels. Each match was paired with wrestlers who just know how to work well with others. None of their styles clashed and as evident by the outcome of the event the wrestlers loved being there.
Cody is following his father’s legacy to a tee and by putting on this well received event proved that he is just as talented as his late father. You can nit pick all of the little things but for being the first event I think he (along with the Young Bucks) knocked it out of the park. By adding the final touch of Cody winning the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, the same belt Dusty wore, made for a very touching moment for any wrestling fan.
The Kenny Omega vs Pentagon Jr (Penta El Zero M) match was just as I expected….. Brilliant. I did not however expect Chris Jericho to show up and attack Omega setting up a match between the 2 on Jericho’s cruise. I actually seen he had a concert that night with his band Fozzy so I eliminated him from appearing right away so when he took off his mask (pretending to be Pentagon Jr after the lights went out and came back on) and showed the world his face my jaw hit the floor. That is way Jericho is in a league of his own.
The one thing I must add is the main event match featuring The Golden Elite (Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi) taking on Rey Mysterio, Rey Fenix and Bandido was cut short due to time restraints. A lot of negativity from fans have floored social media and I for one don’t understand why. They had time restraints to hit and couldn’t so you can only do what you can do. Nobody is perfect especially being the first event and this being the only flaw I truly think those negative fans need to keep those comments to themselves and focus on the overall brilliance from this show.
This show was the Wrestlemania of the indies and one pace to be one of the best events of the year. Kuddos to Cody and Matt & Nick Jackson on taking a gamble on this weekend long event and made history. WWE noticed, the fans noticed and most importantly Dusty noticed. I can’t wait to see what ALL IN 2 brings us….. Oh maybe hosted in Nova Scotia????
Another Rant is in the books. Thanks to all of you who take the time to read these articles. It means the world to me as I take the time to squeeze these in during any free time between work and my wife’s opposite work schedule of mine and dealing with 2 kids who are so amped up it’s like watching a movie on fast forward. Until next time folks, keep on supporting your local wrestling promotions and let them know how much you appreciate their hard work.
