Got another WWE Fan Council survey in my email today. They asked whether I liked or disliked certain wrestlers, and then followed up with a series of questions of what I liked or disliked specifically about Elias and Baron Corbin.
And what did you say about Elias and Corbin?
About Elias, that he’s funny in small doses and he’s good for cheap heat, but that he’s hardly ever in matches that matter and his schtick is repetitive and seems to be there just to fill time.
And about Corbin, that his in-ring quality has dropped way off in the last year, he’s in way too many storylines that don’t require him to be there, and that it makes no sense that he’s still wrestling in dress clothes when he hasn’t been an authority figure for three months now.
I read where Meltzer said Vince thought the extra belt would add more gravitas to the main event, and there weren’t any opponents left on Asuka’s level anyway. There’s also speculation that Baszler, Shafir and Duke will run in and start the Four Horsewomen vs Four Horsewomen feud.
At the risk of repeating a cliche, Vince does “what’s best for business,” and isn’t afraid to make unpopular decisions. I think sometimes WWE welcomes disaster so they can see if something good sprouts from it.
Very good assessments. I still say Corbin is a GREAT heel because he’s just so damn unlikable. He needs to be in higher-level storylines and wrestle more because he’s so easy to hate.
Do you suppose that Braun Strowman did something to piss off Vince? He’s nowhere near the Universal Title picture now.
Scuttlebutt has it that his initial push went to his head, and it didn’t go over well with the producers.
I heard Bubba - Brother - Bully Ray say on the SiriusXM Busted Open show come up with a plausible idea why the Smackdown belt was added but might not be up for grabs in the match (and apparently, he isn’t alone in thinking this); have Becky win, then Becky, Charlotte, Bayley, and Sasha close out the show by standing together and holding up their four belts.
The only problem with this is, you can’t really do much with the “Four Horsewomen” if at least two of them have to be on different shows.
The brand split is pretty much petering out at this point, just like the first one did. I expect it’ll be done with by the time Smackdown moves to Fox this November.
I’m very excited about Kofi Kingston getting a one-on-one shot at the WWE Title at WrestleMania, to the point that I’ve been creating my own little Kofi Kingston playlist for WWE Network subscribers, with the help of Wikipedia and the Pro Wrestling Wiki.
Since WWE Network doesn’t yet have the functionality necessary to literally create a playlist like you can do with YouTube, I’ll post what I’ve got so far in a separate thread. I’ll see how far I get before I grow bored or tired of the entire exercise.
Here’s the separate thread I opened up for my Kofi Kingston playlist.
In case you don’t have HBO, WWE was the main topic on John Oliver’s show tonight (official YouTube video here), mainly focusing on the relationship between WWE and its wrestlers and their status as “independent contractors”. Oliver has touched on WWE before, especially with the controversy surrounding Crown Jewel, but this is the most in-depth look at the topic he’s done, and he brings up some information I didn’t know about.
There is no greater tweet than “Just shit in my breeches. Please retweet.”
I’m glad John Oliver didn’t go the “wrestling fans are morons” route like Bill Maher did. He recognizes the value of absurdity.
Pedantic mode: everything I have heard so far, from both Fox and WWE, says that Smackdown on Fox starts on October 4. Also, if they completely get rid of the brand split, what do they call the two women’s titles, or the two sets of men’s tag titles?
Meanwhile, the latest rumor is, the women’s title match will be “kinda sorta winner take all”; the winner gets the loser’s belt. In other words, the titles are unified only if either Ronda or Charlotte pins the other/makes the other submit. If Becky gets pinned/submits, no belts change hands, and if Becky wins, she gets only the belt of the wrestler who got pinned/tapped out.
No fucking way they get rid of the brand split when the brands will be on completely different networks.
Hell, I’d say it will never happen based only on the existence of the belts. They’re NOT going to unify the US and IC titles, or unify the Universal and WWE titles. It’s just not going to happen.
Oh sure, they can tease the possibility of unifying titles, but I just don’t see it happening and I think the fans would be unhappy about it as well as their two separate network hosts, who will want titles for THEIR shows that aren’t shared with a completely different network’s show.
The U.S. Title has been part of WWE continuously since 2002, through both brand splits, and has never been unified. The end of a brand split isn’t necessarily cause for its lineage to be extinguished.
They might just unify the WWE and Universal Titles, though.
Things that I’m finding fascinating about my Kofi Kingston play-through so far:
Watching the development of his feuds (a great one on ECW against Shelton Benjamin; several U.S. Title defenses against The Miz; his first main-event feud against Randy Orton).
Things that I’m finding annoying:
Michael Cole reminding us that RAW is “the longest-running weekly episodic television show in history”.
Michael Cole elaborating on the prestigious history of the United States Title.
Overall, I’m loving it. I’m under no misapprehension that I’ll catch up to 2019 by WrestleMania on Sunday, however.
A rare moment of common sense came over the McMahons; the match will be true “winner take all” for both belts.
My guess: Becky wins, then they ease her onto Smackdown in time for the transfer to Fox in October, then they have a tournament for the RAW belt without bothering to mention that technically it still belongs to the SD champion - pretty much what they did with the US title between when it was unified with the Intercontinental title in 2000 and when it was re-established as a separate title in 2001.
Counterpoint; no way in Hell is Fox/Disney paying out the ass to get Smackdown and put it in a prime-time slot if they’re not getting Roman, Rollins, Ronda, Brock, Braun, and the other big names that are currently Raw exclusives, and there’s no way they’re going to be Smackdown exclusives when Raw is and has always been the A-show in Vince’s mind.
The IC and US titles I’m sure will remain distinct, just like they were when the last brand split ended, but it’s high past time to reunify the tag and women’s titles, because the divisions are just too thin as they are. Right now we have two Smackdown stars challenging for the Raw women’s title because none of the Raw women have been built as credible threats to Ronda, and each brand has no more than about 3-4 tag teams who just play hot potato with the belts endlessly.
For that matter, it won’t surprise me one bit if Disney buys out WWE once Vince finally decides to throw in the towel. They own everything else already - why not add a WWE Experience to Disneyland and have wrestlers do photo-ops?
Didnt they try that in the 90s with wcw when they taped “world wide wrestling”?
Although maybe they wouldnt have to explain who they are and have reaction cue cards for the auidence for the wwe