What you need is one who can get Indians into the arenas. Jinder Mahal, who though not good was a better wrestler than Khali, couldn’t do it. Khali somehow must move tickets, and that counts more than wrestling ability.
Rusev and Swagger was the only interesting thing last night. I wish Swagger was going to win this weekend.
Sting’s commercial was pretty good too.
I’m really looking forward to Battleground, which is surprising for a mid-summer filler PPV - the card is pretty solid, most of the feuds have been set up pretty organically, and there are a few matches where there’s no real safe bet on who the winner will be.
Eh, I wouldn’t mind seeing Rusev crush until about, say, September when a certain Gold Medalist’s TNA contract supposedly ends. Having one of Lana’s rants interrupted by “Anthem” would absolutely blow the roof off the place.
Assuming, of course, that Angle is fir to ever wrestle again.
Yeah, but did you hear the crowd switch to boos when the realized it was just a commercial for the game and he wasn’t appearing?
God yes.
He can’t even frigging walk why is he still there?!?!
I’d rather see Angle take on Swagger than Rusev. Swagger can go in the ring. If Angle can still go, that would be a fantastic match.
Rusev hasn’t done anything to impress me yet. Neither has Reigns, for that matter. They need to organically push people like they did 20-30 years ago. They keep trying to rush people into main event positions and they crash and burn because they’re too green.
Eh, I don’t see Rusev being beat until after they think he’s ready to be fed to Cena.
Slowly up the card until then, slide back down the card after. Just like Rybak, Wyatt, etc, etc.
Some of the guys like Khali are for purposes unrelated to RAW/PPVs. Khali is a big international draw, and the WWE really believes that if it can somehow get even a teensy little bit of the Chinese and/or Indian markets it’ll cause their profits to mushroom (Cena has said he receives Mandarin lessons, for example.)
Big Show is another one, I actually thought Show after his first few “green” years developed some real in-ring talent and was impressive athletically as one hell of a guy. But it’s been a long time since he’s been remotely interesting in terms of story lines and he hasn’t been on TV a lot this year. But my understanding is Big Show still does a lot of live events and is still a big draw for those–there are always going to be people willing to pay money to see a legitimate giant, and whatever else Show/Paul Wight is, he’s definitely that.
To me it’s just a question of whether they’re using the match to try and revive Swagger’s career. Dutch Mantel is great but is having trouble doing much with with soulless Jack Swagger (who is a gifted athlete but lacking in passion/entertainment value), and now that the Real Americans is just Swagger that gimmick probably needs to morph in a way. If they aren’t using this match to bring Swagger back to top tier, then they’re looking to build Rusev into the next monster heel to feed to whichever main eventer baby face they want to push (could be Cena who they feel needs pushed at all times, for example.)
Might have some more walking wounded at Battleground. The reason why Bray Wyatt showed the right side of his face during his promo was because Ric Flair accidentally busted his eye wide open. During a house show, Flair was wearing a jewelled ring when he hit Bray.
Also, Seth Rollins had to be helped to the back after RAW went off the air. He landed on his foot awkwardly when he was thrown out of the ring and looked to have sprained his leg. Here’s hoping he and Ambrose don’t accidentally maim themselves in their match Sunday.
I love the WWE. I have always been a huge fan of Triple H and The Undertaker. I loved watching Lita wrestle back in the day 
Rollins ‘injury’ was story-related. Supposedly Bray Wyatt feels his stitches are a badge of honor, having come from Ric Flair at MSG.
How can Khali draw money if he’s never on? (Not that I’m asking for more Khali!) To the side, Bo managed to make his match with Khali awesome. Bad giant!
Rollins did a hell of a job selling that knee injury–there was a lot of speculation around that it was a shoot. Well done, Traitor Rollins!
My understanding is Khali is being used to try and get WWE more attention in India. I assume he probably is a big part of any live event tours they’ve done in India. I have no idea how often that happens, I know back in the 90s Bret Hart went to India and was very popular, so they do go to the subcontinent from time to time.
Day to day I’m not sure how much revenue Khali drives, but I know the Big Show still does a lot of live events and is probably a big draw just due to his size. It’s possible Khali is a good live event draw even in the States just for the spectacle of him.
In general I suspect Khali will go down as one of the great McMahon mistakes, his just simply cannot wrestle or even move effectively. There had to have been some better Indian wrestlers they could have found and trained in the “business” than that guy.
Battleground Predictions?
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Cena vs Orton vs Kane vs Reigns: Cena, since they’re already advertising him defending the title against Brrrrrock Lesnar at Summerslam. Rollins will be unable to cash in the magic briefcase, because…
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Rollins vs. Ambrose: This will be the match of the night. Ambrose will probably lose, since he’s been portrayed as the scrappy fall guy, but he’ll steal the magic briefcase and keep Rollins from cashing in.
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Jericho vs Wyatt: Wyatt, since Jericho doesn’t have any problems putting over younger talent at PPVs, like he did with Fandunghole at WM. There’s got to be a surreal twist in this match somewhere. The light bright jacket vs the haunted lantern!
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AJ vs some Diva: I suspect Paige will inadvertently cause AJ to lose.
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Wyatts vs Usos, 2/3 falls: Usos, since the Wyatts don’t need the belts to get over. Wyatts trash the Usos and win the 1st fall. The 2nd match will be an Uso quick pin. Usos take the 3rd after a quinquadruple frog splash.
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Battle Royal for IC belt: Ordinarily I would go with Cesaro, but his stock seems to have fallen lately, and he’s already won the AtG BR. I BO-lieve Bo Dallas will pick up the belt and be the inspiration for jobbers everywhere.
Got the Divas match wrong… AJ and Paige are actually versus each other. I’ll go with AJ, since they gave the belt back to her immediately after she returned.
I’m personally predicting the Wyatts pick up the belts this time, to set up a feud with the Ascension when they make it to the main roster (which I predict will happen soon - they’re doing a tag tournament in NXT to pick a new #1 contender, and I’m figuring that the Vaudevillians are going to win the tourney and then the titles.)
I can’t see the Vaudevillains gimmick lasting too much longer. It’s amusing for now, but them winning the titles would be like letting Doink the Clown win a belt.
The Ascension have to drop the belts to someone if they’re going to come to the main roster soon, and I can’t really think of another tag team in NXT that’s over enough and hasn’t already been squashed by them. (Big Cass and Enzo Amore, maybe?)
(And does my memory deceive me, or wasn’t Doink the Intercontinental Champion at some point?)
Battleground
Wyatts vs Usos should be required for every PPV for the next year. They stole the show. Rowan even had some spots.
No Rollins vs Ambrose match. Guess Rollins’s leg injury was legit. Summerslam’s a better venue for their match anyway, since it’s a bigger draw.
Paige vs AJ: Solid match, but Paige is going to be cutting herself. Her angle will be the increasing presence of mysterious slashes all over her wrists.
Swagger vs Rusev: This is an awkward angle with the Malaysian jet disaster in the headlines lately. WWE has no shame anyway, but the US vs Russia schtick has been done to death. I just wanted this match to be over with quickly, but it just. wouldn’t. stop.
Bray vs Jericho: Surprise win for Jericho. Guess this means the feud continues. This match had the most time devoted to Bray’s closeups: eerie web of hair covering his discolorated eye.
IC BR: The Wizz takes it because he’s good at rolling out of the ring and being a nonfactor. Guess they thought his straight-to-video movies needed a stimulus.
Fatal 4-way: Surprisingly decent match. They pulled off the double-power-bomb-superflex spot rather well. I’ll always be a mark for Reigns’s mat punch. One of these days I’m going to take a clip of that and put in some lightning bolts crackling out of his fist.