Wrestlemania : the build, the prospects, the predictions....

Well, it's that time of year again, when WWE rolls out the red carpet for its flagship supershow.  So are you feeling hyped?  No, nor am I.  Mania XXX had such a hot build, with underdog babyface Daniel Bryan reaping a genuine wave of popular support on his way to a memorable double victory.  By comparison, the big story this year - the faltering rise of Roman Reigns - feels like a real damp squib that has failed to light up.

For all that, I have tried to tell myself that the show could be better than my initial low expectations.  With this is mind, I'll use this blog post to break down how the build for each match has progressed, as well as weighing up the prospects and predicting the results.  So let's dive in.

Tag Team Title Match - Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (w/Natalya) (c) vs The New Day vs The Usos (w/Naomi) vs Los Matadores (w/El Torito)

The Build

Close to non-existent.  There has been a low-level Total Divas-related rivalry between Tyson and the Usos, though this makes little sense unless you watch the E! Network spin-off.  Immediately there's a problem, in that storylines should be self-supporting.  You shouldn't need to watch supplementary programming to understand what happens on the main show.  Even then, it's messy, given that Cesaro does not appear in Total Divas, so his presence in this rivalry is somewhat random.  However, throwing in further bodies dissipates even this weak build-up.  Los Matadores and The New Day are both very lame, one-dimensional teams conforming to lamentable racial stereotypes.  They are merely making up the numbers, and are proving that WWE's tag-team division, which was healthy two years ago, has now run out of steam.

The Prospect

The match is on the pre-show, so is unlikely to last more than a few minutes.  Given the number of wrestlers involved, it's going to be hard for anyone to stand out. True, there might be crowd-pleasing moments with the Cesaro swing and the Usos' high-flying exploits, but this will ultimately be forgettable.

The Prediction

Kidd and Cesaro to retain .  They haven't held the title for long, so will probably be allowed to keep the belt a little longer.

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal - The Miz, Curtis Axel, Ryback, Fandango, Adam Rose, Zach Ryder, Jack Swagger, Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Damien Mizdow, Sin Cara, Goldust, Heath Slater, Mark Henry, Konnor, Viktor, Hideo Itami

The Build

You could argue that the build for this year's tournament started to fail straight after last year's match.  Cesaro looked set for a big babyface run, but he lost all momentum following a dreadful run with Paul Heyman.  Famously, Vince criticised the Swiss star for not reaching hard enough for the mythical 'brass ring', but the truth is WWE Creative had no idea what to do with a guy who has both indie cred and a powerful WWE-approved physique.  Whatever, his dismal 2014/15 has severely diminished the standing of this whole tournament.

It could be argued, of course, that a tournament like this is a double-edged sword.  On one hand, it gives the maximum number of wrestlers a Wrestlemania moment.  On the other, it reduces the prestige of the Showcase of the Immortals, which is supposed to be an exclusive club for the elite performers.  No wonder this has been bumped to the pre-show.  Thus, most of the midcard with prospects is in the ladder match on the main card.

That said, there is one great storyline hidden among the enhancement talent that is making up the numbers.  The Miz vs Mizdow storyline has developed patiently and has been perfectly played by both, with crowd reactions basically turning Mizdow face.  This should be the main story here.

The Prospects

Again, this will be rushed, unfortunately.  There will be a lot of exits based on just a couple of pieces of offence, which makes no-one look good.  However, it could do a job in moving the Miz/Mizdow storyline on its next stage.

The Prediction

Damien Mizdow to win, after turning on The Miz and eliminating his hated employer.  This will mark Damien's formal face turn and give the pair a proper rivalry leading to a showdown at Extreme Rules.

Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton

The Build

This has occasionally been overplayed (Orton's extended beat-down of Rollins following his face turn went on so long, I almost started feeling sorry for the latter...) but has been built soildly.  Orton's motivations for this grudge are easy to understand, and WWE did a sensible job in not rushing him back to action.  He had become stale, and it was a good idea to let the memories of lacklustre previous runs fade before his return.  Besides, he's looked a lot hungrier since coming back.   Rollins, of course, has played an exceptional heel role, oozing evil from every unctous promo he delivers.

I only have one serious disappointment here. Given this is a match between a seasoned main-eventer and a big rising star, it seems odd that it has no title implications at all.

The Prospects

It almost goes without saying that this should be a highlight of the night. Rollins is simply one of the best technical wrestlers in the company and he should produce a minor classic with Orton.  The one thing I will say is that Rollins needs to set the pace here.  Left to his own devices, Orton can fall back on a series of rest holds that drags down the speed of the match.  He needs to ensure that the pace matches that of the excellent matches that Rollins has had with, for example, Dean Ambrose.

The Prediction

Seth Rollins.  He needs the win to maintain his aura as a top heel.  Particularly if he features later on in the main event....

US Championship Match:  Rusev (c) vs John Cena

The Build

The whole storyline of the evil monster heel from behind the Iron Curtain is ridiculously dated, and just doesn't work properly in 2015.  I mean, I doubt that most of the WWE's audience even knows who Vladimir Putin is.  However, despite my better judgement, I have found myself enjoying this.  Call it a guilty pleasure, I suppose.  For one thing, I actually believe in the bulky Bulgarian as an effective wrecking machine, which says something given my usual antipathy to 'big men' wrestlers.  The other selling point is, of course, Lana, who week after week steals the show with ridiculously sexy promos...or at least she did.

The build-up here has still been a mess, but it's one I can work around.  As the all-American boy, John Cena's promo work has been tinged with an unpleasant jingoism, and he's shown some apparent heel moves: torturing Rusev so that he agrees to a match, for example.  Also, John, when you say you believe that the USA is the  'greatest country on earth', do you not understand how such sentiments play in every country that's outside America?  WWE is an international company which needs to start behaving like one.

For all that, I find this watchable because I just reverse the roles.  I see Rusev as a proud patriot standing up for his culture in a land full of xenophobic bigots who believe that only Americans are allowed to feel national pride.  (Incidentally, I suspect that the reporters who handle the commentary for Russian TV spin the action in precisely this way.  If they don't, they should....)

But one thing makes me angry. The delectable Lana has recently been missing and will doubtless be away from Wrestlemania too.  The reason why?  She's shooting a film for WWE Studios.  Yes, that's right, just at the point when her client faces the biggest match of his career, she won't be ringside because of some straight-to-video b-movie which will probably just be the butt of a joke in Kayfabe News a few months later....WWE, your timing is ludicrously askew here!

The Prospects

It won't be a classic, but that's not to say it won't be enjoyable.  Cena normally rises to the occasion in big events, even if he doesn't usually lose all his faults (the loud spot-calling, his notorious no-pressure STF), and Rusev will bring the aggression.  I'll be relying on memory to imagine a blonde in a red suit yelling 'CRUSH HIM!!!!' on the sidelines, though....

The Prediction

Cena, sadly, because the whole story is geared to supplying a big patriotic finish to Rusev's streak.  I hope I'm wrong.

The Bella Twins vs Paige and AJ Lee

The Build

Divas booking has been horrible for quite some time.  Last year, I wrote a detailed takedown of why the Bella Twins storyline made no sense, and since then it's managed to defy logic even further, with the twins reuniting for no apparent reason, despite Nikki's humiliating treatment of Brie.  Meanwhile, the oddball 'frenemies' AJ and Paige had a weird rivalry where the face/heel demarcation seemed arbitrary as they were essentially playing the same character.

At least pitting AJ and Paige as faces supplies a logical twist here; they should be partners as they have so much in common.  And there are signs that AJ's much-discussed #givedivasachance hashtag is having a positive effect.  Last week's Raw feature a ten-minute plus match that may well have had the best in-ring action in any recent Divas match.

The Prospect

If it follows the pattern of the Raw match, this might surprise a few people.  Of course, Paige and AJ are strong workers, and there are signs that the Bellas, though still lacking in their mic work, have worked hard to improve their ring work.  Expect shenanigans at the end, leading to further friction between the frenemies....

The Prediction

The Bellas continue to get the better of this feud, though they will cheat to win.  This will continue the storyline, with either Paige or AJ getting a title match at Extreme Rules.

Sting vs Triple H

The Build

I see what they are trying to do here, but it hasn't worked too well.  By limiting Sting's appearances to the bare minimum, they've built up an aura of mystery around the WCW legend, but at the expense of clarity.  What does Sting actually want from Triple H?  The silence was maintained for just too long, and WWE threw some weird segments into the mix.  Remember the fake Sting that shocked HHH, who was clearly taller than the real Sting and had a different hairstyle (apparently, this was actually Heath Slater)?  Or that weird promo where they distorted Sting's voice so you thought it was another imposter?  Then there's the fiction they've maintained that his basically been sitting on his backside for fourteen years.  The commentators asked why it took this long for Sting to come over, but have been unable to inform the audience that the reason is that he was being paid a lot of money by Dixie Carter for all that time....

Finally, Sting did finally arrive on Raw to talk about his motivation, and, yes, he's just basically pissed about the WWE defeating WCW in the Monday Night Wars.  This feels like an anti-climax, as this is ancient history now. How relevant is this to a modern audience? to win

The Prospects

At the end of the day, this is a major singles match between two competitors whose combined age is 101, which speaks volumes about WWE's continued reliance on ageing part-timers in big events.  That said, Sting's performances towards the end of his TNA run ranged from average to very good, and his body is in enviable shape.  Triple H, meanwhile, had a great opening match with Daniel Bryan last year. so it looks like he's also in great shape.  Add to the fact that weapons will certainly be involved (the sledgehammer and the baseball bat have both featured in the build-up) and this could be entertaining.  I just hope they don't overbook too much interference from The Authority.

The Prediction

Sting.  This is a hard one to call, but HHH has shown willingness to put opponents over, and Sting winning would make for a bigger headline.

Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Bad News Barrett (c), Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, Luke Harper, R Truth, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust

The Build

I was pleased that this time the much-ignored midcard actually got a storyline of sorts.  The problem was that the story was deeply silly, with Ambrose initially stealing the belt, before the rest of the contenders  played pass-the-parcel with it and R Truth generally behaved in a nefarious fashion.  This really isn't doing anything to aid the belt's reputation, plus it generally made Barrett look like a chump.....

Regarding the presence of strong fan favourites, I can see both arguments.  Yes, they might be better off in singles matches, but they raise the status of the match and this is an arena they can shine in.

The Prospects

This could easily be the match of the night, given that it is absolutely stacked with exciting talent.  Ambrose, Bryan and Ziggler are all accomplished aerial performers in particular, but everyone can contribute something of worth.  Just try to forget the silly build-up and enjoy the daring high-flying action.

The Prediction

Hard one to call.  If the WWE is serious about rebuilding the belt's reputation, then Daniel Bryan is the obvious choice.  However, if WWE is worried that DB is too injury-prone (surely the main reason he isn't in the main event mix), then they might shy away from giving the belt to him, and Dolph may be ruled out for similar reasons.  In that case, Dean Ambrose looks like the best bet.

The Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt

The Build

Bray Wyatt has delivered on the mic time and again, but the lack of the Dead Man's presence has harmed the build.  Too often Wyatt has basically just been talking to himself, and there's no danger when there's just a solo performer out there.  Also, with Wyatt rarely competing in the ring this build is all talk basically.  For all that, a couple of nice theatrical moments have raised my interest.  For one thing, when Taker accepted the challenge by sending lightning down to set fire to Wyatt's rocking chair was marvellous, not least because of Wyatt's reaction.  Instead of being spooked, Wyatt started laughing, to recognise that Taker speaks his language.  Great touch, that.

The Prospects

I can't see this being anything other than awful, as Taker is in terrible state, as he proved against Brock Lesnar last year.  Wyatt is good, but probably not good enough to carry him.  This match will be heavy on theatrics no doubt, but it won't be enough

The Prediction

Bray Wyatt has to win.  It would represent the ultimate passing of the torch, with Wyatt now crowned as the strangest man in WWE.

World Heavyweight Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) (c) vs Roman Reigns

The Build

This has been a mixture.  Paul Heyman has been predictably stellar, delivering impassioned promos to explain why Brock Lesnar is the ultimate fighting machine. However, this hasn't worked well enough, and WWE now has to face facts; the Roman Reigns experiment has failed.  He hasn't successfully looked anywhere near dominant enough, and the crowds know it.  His promos often seem whiny and petulant, when he should be strident and forceful. Also, he hasn't wrestled enough lately.  WWE needs to show us how strong Reigns is; instead they are trying too hard to merely tell us how good he is.  He had a great Fastlane match with Daniel Bryan, so why not build on that success? Getting a string of WWE stars like Jericho and Ambrose hasn't helped as it's too obvious they are parroting lines fed to them from head office.  Again, it's too transparent.  Fans in 2015 will no longer accept being told who to like.

Meanwhile, when Lesnar and Reigns faced off at the end of the go-home edition of Raw, it ended with a risible tug-of-war over the title.  This had all the excitement and tension of watching two children arguing and claiming ownership of a One Direction pencil case....

Oddly enough the best piece promotion from Lesnar occurred outside WWE, when he admitted he'd signed a new contract with the company.  Suddenly, the coronation of Roman Reigns seemed less certain.

The Prospects

A straightforward match between this pair offers little interest for me.  This is likely to be the kind of lumbering big man match that I rarely find entertaining.  There would be some peaks with the big power moves, but the likelihood is that there will be lulls in between.  However, I suspect that there will be big shocks along the way.  With Paul Heyman lurking, he may turn on his client, given his past record of treachery.  Then again, Seth Rollins will be watching with interest as he clutches his MITB briefcase.  Expect plenty of intrigue outside the ring. 

The Prediction

Seth Rollins cashes in his Money In The Bank contract on an exhausted Roman Reigns who has just defeated Lesnar.



Of course, there may be surprises, such as the return of Sheamus, alongside the music interludes that act as toilet breaks.  My main hope is that the show feels like an event, and not just a regular edition of Raw with extra bells and whistles.










  

WWE FastLane : Where is WWE heading?

 

Increasingly, it's becoming clear that WWE is being written on the fly, and it's hard to work out exactly where the main storylines are going.   With this is mind, I'll use this blog post to evaluate three current talking points.

The Main Event - Bryan vs Reigns

 

Let's be clear, this is a mess. By putting chosen one Roman Reigns up against the people's favourite Daniel Bryan for a shot at Brock Lesnar's title at Wrestlemania, they have essentially nullified the whole point of the Royal Rumble.  History has repeated itself as farce: this is the second year in a row that hostile crowd reactions to the treatment of Bryan at the Rumble has forced WWE's hand.  They've panicked and clumsily inserted him back in the main event picture.  Again.

Leaving aside arguments about whether Reigns is ready or not, it was clear that the live audience is heavily split.  Reigns has recently been getting some audible cheers, but an awful lot of boos are drowning this out.  It's not entirely his fault, as the fans booing him are probably those who were cheering him during his Shield run.  Indeed, I believe the real target of their ire is the poor overall booking that marred the 2015 Rumble.  It wasn't just that Reigns was being given an arguably unwarranted push, it was much of the action was severly disappointing.  Fan favourites like Bryan, Ambrose and Ziggler were cheaply dispatched like jobbers.  It felt so perfunctory, and even Kofi Kingston's escape, now an annual feature, felt disappointing in comparison to previous years' athletic feats.  When Reigns was left alone in the ring, he acted as a conduit for the fans' frustration, and has been doing so ever since.   Going ahead with a straightforward Lesnar/Reigns match-up at 'Mania without addressing this was clearly asking for trouble.

However, it should be noted that last year's Wrestlemania did become one of the most memorable WWE events in years thanks to Daniel Bryan's heroics.  The swerve was the right thing to do then, and it could be the right thing now.   Over the past week, Reigns' uneasy partnership with Bryan has lit up his prospects following a dismal program the former has been working with Big Show.  On last week's Smackdown, they worked a long 'tag-team turmoil' tournament that saw the team of Reigns and Bryan triumphant after performing throughout the entire 45-minute match.   During the match, the pair proved they were professional enough to be an effective team against several specialist duos, but also that tensions were continuing to simmer.  One notable moment was when Reigns looked uneasy as his cousins, the Usos, emerged as their next opponents.  As Bryan unloaded a vicious series of kicks on one of the twins outside the ring, Reigns even intervened of behalf of his relative.  This showed a more human side to Reigns that helps flesh out his underdeveloped character. 

Then on Raw, both had matches with lumbering big men, though the action in the ring was never the point.  As Reigns faced Kane, Bryan sat ringside and tried to distract his FastLane opponent by starting Yes chants.  This was designed to get under Reigns' skin.  Then, during Bryan's main event with Big Show, Reigns returned the favour by chatting with fans ringside, signing autographs and distributing t-shirts.  Finally, at the end of the match, the two men faced each other and the tension spilled over into a brawl.  The crowd reacted strongly to this ending, which was believably intense.

So the build-up to FastLane's main event has, eventually, worked well thanks to simpler, straightforward booking.  There's a lesson here...But the question remains, what will the outcome be?

Firstly, we could get a big clean win for Reigns.  This would make Reigns look like a viable future champion if he can prevail against an elite performer, and this will benefit his aura.   I have no doubt that this is the result WWE want, but the risk is obvious.  Given Bryan's enduring popularity, if he jobs to Reigns, his fans will surely turn on the big man.  The boos would get much louder and WWE would probably be forced to turn Reigns heel, which would be awkward as they want him to be the next big babyface.  I don't think they want to book heel Reigns versus heel Lesnar.

The second option is a clear Bryan win.  This is the most unlikely option.  Yes, it would be a crowd pleaser, but it would also be an admission that the Reigns project had failed. He would go down in history as the Rumble winner who never got to headline Wrestlemania, and that would hurt his reputation too badly.  Remember how Damien Sandow's career dwindled immediately after he failed to cash in Money In The Bank?

The most likely option is a no contest or a screwy result either way that leads to further storyline complications.   This would pave the way for both men to face off against Lesnar in a triple threat match.  This isn't ideal, as a common complaint about WWE PPVs is the number of inconclusive finishes that dog main events.  However, it could be the least worst option, as it would allow the Bryan vs Reigns feud to simmer further all the way to a 'Mania match that the WWE Universe would accept as legitimate.

Main Eventers in the Mid-Card

As a fan of Dean Ambrose, to me his brief main event run seems like an odd fever dream, as most of the finishes were so bizarre (distracted by a hologram?  temporarily blinded by an exploding monitor?).  Of course, he was only elevated due to the injury-enforced absences of Reigns and Bryan, but he was extremely over, as his merchandise sales proved.  So it's a little worrying that he's now languishing back in the mid-card following a poor feud with Bray Wyatt.

Nonetheless, I'm reasonably comfortable that his IC Title feud with Bad News Barrett is a decent prospect.  For one thing, his rationale, quickly explained in a promo, is clear and unambiguous.  He wants the prestige of the belt, and sees a sarcastic Englishman barring his way, so he wants a match at FastLane.  Furthermore, the farcical bondage-themed contract-signing (dubbed '50 Shades Of Ambrose' by online commenters) was his most entertaining segment in months.  David Otunga even joined in the fun on Twitter, mock-complaining that, in his expert legal opinion, the contract was clearly signed under duress and should be thrown out.   I believe that Ambrose, who has a stronger status in WWE than career mid-carder Barrett, will win the title.  He can then, booked properly and given plenty of air-time, elevate the title and maintain his own profile until he's ready to re-join the main event scene.  No need to rush things.

Then Barrett can continue his new feud with Wayne Rooney......

More intrigiung is that John  Cena, the ultimate main event-hog, has also dropped down to the mid-card.  He's the latest opponent for the formidable (pseudo-Russian) Bulgarian Brute, Rusev.   So far, Rusev's mouthpiece, Lana, has taunted Cena for being an old, broken-down man.  This approach is interesting, as it could be more reality-based than is immediately clear.  At 37, Cena's hardly ancient but it's known that he is carrying injuries.  Never the sprightliest of performers, Cena has lately slowed down his style and now wrestles at a very deliberate pace, and more infrequently.  I suspect that he's paying the price for rushing back too quickly from injury breaks.   Whatever, to maintain his monster heel momentum, Rusev needs to win this, and I believe he will.  I think Cena is just starting to transition into a part-time role now.

Of course, if Super Cena returns and squashes Rusev in five minutes, forget I ever wrote this.....

Rollins is in limbo

No-one in WWE has been quite as feted over the past year as Seth Rollins.  As the Authority's chosen figurehead, he has been faultless both as an explosive technical wrestler and a genuinely loathsome promo guy.   He is the perfect heel.  So it seems very odd that he's been allowed to drift so badly, and he even admitted as much in his promo on Raw last week.   Er, is it really a good idea for WWE to point out booking errors in this manner?
 
Part of the problem is that, as the Money In the Bank briefcase holder, he's had virtually no chance to cash in as Brock Lesnar never wrestles outside PPVs.   The case has become a bit of an albatross, as he can't really get involved in the main event scene given that the holder is supposed to stalk on the outside then strike unexpectedly.  An absentee champion makes this strategy impossible.


At the moment, he's engaged in a filler program with the similarly drifting Dolph Ziggler.  The action's been good, but the storyline background isn't strong.  The whole Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback sacking was an underwhelming angle that should be forgotten, yet this is dragging on now.  There'll probably be a six-man tag  match (also involving J&J Security) at FastLane, which will have its moments but be inconsequential.

I understand the idea is that Randy Orton will return in the run-up to 'Mania' as a face, and this will be a major program for Rollins.  This is fine, but surely he could be used better than this in the interim.  After all Ambrose has unfinished business with his treacherous former compadre.

The rest

Elsewhere, it's more predictable.  Bray Wyatt is being prepared for a match with Undertaker and will continue to issue cryptic statements.  Sting will continue to spook out HHH, but will be elusive.   The Bellas will continue their dominant mean girl act, but Paige might get a surprise victory over Nikki leading to a re-match at Wrestlemania.   The tag team division will continue its slide towards irrelevance.

FastLane is a real turning point for WWE.   Booking has been unsatisfactory for a long time now, but they need to tighten up the storylines to set up the year's biggest show.  Whether they can do that remains to be seen.

The Death of Kayfabe, pt 94....

Watching TNA's re-boot, it's been very noticeable how they've embraced 'the reality era' in wrestling.  A definite effort has been made to place their show within the real world.  So far Mike Tenay has hosted sit-down interviews with both Magnus and Kenny King.  In both cases, the interviewees adopted the same strategy, delivering a mixture of comments in character combined with reflections on the real-life journeys both men have embarked on as professional wrestlers.  In truth, it's not too difficult to tell where the boundaries between the two men's actual life stories and the boasting of the fictional characters lie, but these have still been revealing segments that are a damn site more interesting than the scripted 'interviews' trotted out by certain WWE talents recently (no names need to be mentioned....).   Elsewhere, Lashley has addressed MVP using his real name, Hassan, and the commentary team have dropped references to other wrestling companies, showing that they see themselves as part of a wider overall industry.  Josh Matthews has even been caught using insider terms, like 'audible' (i.e. loud spot-calling), while the mic's on.

WWE, of course, created the reality era when it green-lighted C M Punk's legendary pipebomb promo.  In seven minutes, a stunned Raw audience witnessed something it had never heard before. This was a distinctly tweenerish heel promo that insulted the audience but chimed with the IWC with its complaints about the staleness of the WWE product and its failure to build new stars.   By self-consciously breaking the fourth-wall and even including a shout-out to a short-lived WWE star using (gasp!) his indie name of Colt Cabana, he drew gasps from a crowd used to an extremely insular product. 

Punk is long gone (and indeed burned several bridges with a shocking tell-all exposé on a podcast hosted by Cabana himself) and it seems WWE have rolled this back a bit.  Sure, you might still hear the odd real-life reference, like Bray Wyatt taunting Dean Ambrose over his genuinely tough childhood in Cincinnati.  Yet this feels strictly incidental.  Ultimately, WWE takes place in a thoroughly unrealistic bubble, known as the 'WWE Universe'.  It's a land where no other serious promotions exist, a land where there is no wrestling, just 'sports entertainment', and where a leading monster heel flies into tapings every week from his home in far-off Moscow without suffering any jet-lag at all.

This bubble is hermetically sealed, although complications occur once you get to NXT, where outside promotions are actually mentioned (understandable, given the Japanese back-stories of Hideo Itami, Finn Balor and Adrian Neville).  However, NXT is outside the WWE Universe, and should be seen as an indie promotion that just happens to exist under the overall WWE umbrella.  It's a little tricky.

But what's this?  Recent editions of Raw have trailed the Stone Cold podcast which happens on the Network straight after Raw ends, and has featured candid interviews in which Austin has asked both Vince and HHH tough questions and got straight answers.  This features content about 'booking decisions' and backstage discussions about who is wanting to grab that mythical brass ring.  In short, the kayfabe nature of wrestling, which Raw largely upholds, goes out the window as soon as Raw ends and the Network takes over.

Essentially, in different ways, both companies are doing something very similar here.  They are saying that in the internet age, they understand that everyone knows wrestling is scripted and pre-determined.  The days when 'Apter mags' like Pro-Wrestling Illustrated pretended that all feuds were real now seem quaint.  The game is up for kayfabe.  Many complain that this has drained the fun out of the game, and the child-like innocence has been lost forever as magazines like FSM, blogs like this and endless dirtshirt sites all reveal that the reason Roman Reigns is set for the main event of Wrestlemania is that Vince likes him a lot.  It's not down to wrestling ability.

I understand this thinking, but can't help feeling it's not quite that simple.  Yes, you can say an era passed as soon as Vince admitted that wrestling was fixed after the Montreal Screwjob, but in truth, you could work it out for yourself.  When I was a kid watching British wrestling on Saturday afternoons, there was a true monstrous heel named Giant Haystacks, a king-size bully who terrorised babyfaces like Big Daddy.  My 11-year-old self saw him as the embodiment of evil.  But the more I watched wrestling the more I realised that if he really was that unhinged and violent, no-one would ever agree to face him in the ring.   I didn't yet know the phrase 'unsafe working environment' but realised that this was a situation no amount of money could persuade me to enter.  Did this detract from my enjoyment?  Not one bit.  I still bought into the matches, but realised afterwards it was all just entertainment.  In reality, Giant Haystacks was Martin Ruane, a devout Catholic whose moral code meant he often refused to wrestle on the Sabbath.

I've heard the complaint that wrestling should try to compete more with multi-layered TV shows like Breaking Bad or Game Of Thrones.  This is perhaps asking a bit too much.  After all, we're living through a clear golden age of American television that started with The Sopranos and The Wire, and a humble wrestling show might struggle to attain those levels of narrative heights.  Nonetheless, I think this complaint has a grain of truth.  The problem with most modern wrestling is that it rarely bothers to offer any compelling narratives.  Daniel Bryan's triumph at Wrestlemania XXX worked so well because it was based on a long-running story of a talented yet average-looking guy getting held down and finally triumphing because of innate ability and a hell of a lot of heart.  I have rarely felt so elated after watching a wrestling match, but this is a big exception to the usual rule.

Likewise, the one storyline I'm fixated on in 2015 is the continuing saga of Rockstar Spud and Ethan Carter III.  Unusally for TNA, they haven't rushed this one at all.  Spud's face-turn has been a slow-burner, as the easily-led Brummie has finally realised that EC3 cannot be trusted.  The latter has now employed the large-framed Tyrus (a latterday Haystacks?) as his willing henchman in an attempt to destroy Spud's spirit.  However, Spud is fighting back with the help of Mandrews, the Welshman who won British Bootcamp last year. Mandrews has an array of great high-flying moves and wants to fight for the right cause.  So far EC3's evil machinations have dominated, but everyone involved has played their part perfectly.  It's simple, old-school booking and it works.  On Sunday night, I wanted to hit EC3 over the head with an umbrella like old ladies at a 70s British show.  Despite being aware that I was watching an actor perform a role, I still hated him so much, because his performance was so despicably good. 

The death of kayfabe is not a problem so long as good stories are told in the ring, and this is the true problem.  It's not happening enough, as too many matches have minimal or no build, particularly in WWE.  But just as I can simultaneously applaud James Gandolfini's performance and be appalled at Tony Soprano's actions, I understand that Michael Hutter is doing a great job at being bad in the role of EC3.  I hope he never turns face.

Time Travel With TNA

The re-boot for Impact Wrestling is going pretty well.  The presentation has definitely improved, the show seems livelier than the increasingly torpid Raw and even Taz is pretty tolerable now he's been paired with Josh Matthews.   However, some of TNA's flaws continue, and one is a direct result of their economy drive.  In order to get the best value out of booking venues, TNA shoots a lot of television at once.  On the current British tour, they are shooting two episodes per night on each of the three dates before returning to Orlando for a week of massive taping sessions that will produce programming up till the end of April plus eight One Night Only specials.  This leads to odd timing problems.

Last night in Glasgow, TNA pulled two surprises, with the full-time return of Mickie James plus the signing of Drew Galloway (who was formerly Drew McIntyre in WWE).  The former is perhaps the lesser surprise, given that TNA's women's division needs more bodies and Mickie's partner (and father of her child) is Magnus.  A very logical signing.   However, Galloway genuinely made me raise a quizzical eyebrow, as he seemed to be happy on the UK indie scene.  In particular he played a major role in BBC Scotland's "Insane Fight Club 2" documentary about cult Glaswegian promotion ICW, in which the Ayr-born grappler was apparently returning home.  TNA has pulled a definite swerve here.

However, this left TNA with a dilemma.   As there was absolutely no chance of either signing not being splashed all over social media as well as wrestling news sites, the cat was clearly not just out of the proverbial bag, but had also announced its escape via its Twitter account.  So, somewhat meekly, the company has announced the news on its website, even though the episodes in question have not been shown anywhere in the world yet.  They have issued perhaps the first officially-announced spoilers in wrestling history.  Even though their current approach obviously makes economic sense it leads to scenarios like this where the company ends up looking rather strange and not entirely professional.

Last year, I attended the London tapings, which felt a little surreal as the night was the last of the UK dates.  Three unseen episodes separated the most recently-aired edition of Impact Wrestling and the action I was going to see.  What became clear was that storylines had moved on considerably in the interim, and we could only guess at what had happened.  New alliances had certainly been formed, but why was Austin Aries acting as a referee?  And, more to the point, what was the deal with those extremely revealing shorts he was wearing?   Furthermore, wrestlers in their promos kept referring to a PPV happening in three days' time.  In reality, this event was six weeks away!

So time has a different meaning in  TNA's universe; has anyone told Stephen Hawking?   I get the feeling that even the esteemed Cambridge don, renowned for his theories about the paradoxical nature of time, may struggle to follow what's happening when he watches the One Night Only shows.   These are basically slot-filling events that enable TNA to maintain its contractual commitments to Challenge and other partners despite having drastically cut down on its PPV schedule.   They are non-canon, so exist outside of weekly storylines.  This sounds fine in principle, but it does mean that the shows are literally inconsequential.  You might see decent action, but the show ultimately won't have any lasting effects.  Even more jarring is the fact that these events still offend against chronology, simply because of TNA's predilection for constant turns.  As months can pass between the shooting and airing of a ONO special, it is inevitable that you will see current faces acting as heels and vice versa.  So the programmes seem curiously outdated.

The better ONO shows are the ones that have a theme.  Towards the end of 2014, TNA aired a rather interesting Knockouts special, in which top talent from the American indie circuit faced off against TNA stars.  This was clearly a tryout session, in which TNA could cast a critical eye over potential new female signings.  This was enjoyable as it allowed us to see the likes of Mia Yim, Reby Sky and Veda Scott on TV, and allowed the existing Knockouts (who have faced each other way too many times) to have fresh match-ups.  This is all good stuff.   However, it was just shown too late in the year for two reasons.  First of all, EC3 and Spud presented the show using heel personae, which felt odd as Spud had since turned face and was now even feuding with Dixie's evil nephew, a feud which continues today.  Even odder was the fact that we already knew who won this talent show.  Jessicka Havok, here introduced for 'the first time' was actually an Impact regular by this point.  Furthermore, she lost, which rather undercuts the 'unstoppable wrecking machine' image she now has.  It seems irresponsible to air something that actually harms the image they're trying to present for Havok.

Whatever, timing is a real mess in TNA.  On forums, I've seen it suggested that the promotion should purchase its own venue, thus meaning they don't have expensive hire fees and can shoot without long gaps before airing.  This is surely the answer, and I'm amazed they haven't set up a venue in Memphis in which they can build up a specific flavour for their product (just like Paul Heyman did with the ECW Arena in Philadelphia).  The Carters have the money to make this happen. 

I don't want this to be a complete moan, and I reiterate that I do enjoy TNA,  But this is an issue that needs to be sorted, as it's leading to absurdity.

Can the Roman Reigns project be rescued?

It says a lot that a PPV that contained a five-star match, which was a rollercoaster of excitement, still ended with chants of 'We want refunds'.   WWE managed the seemingly impossible by booking an even worse Royal Rumble match than last year.

Before I discuss Roman Reigns' badly botched coronation at the Rumble, I'll note that Seth Rollins deserves a lot of praise for his exceptional performance.  He proved that he absolutely belonged among the highest echelon of the WWE's ranks, as for long periods he was carrying that fight, and supplied the two most memorable spots: a reckless aerial dive to send Lesnar through a table, and an Adrian Neville-style corkscrew twist.  In fact, Rollins can probably feel aggrieved that the best performance of his career was overshadowed by later events.

The eventually hostile Philadelphia crowd, after failing to engage with a tepid undercard (Damien Mizdow excepted), reacted to the triple threat title match with glee, and no wonder.  It was breathlessly exciting action throughout.  So it wasn't a problem when the Rumble itself started slowly.  After all, we needed to catch our breath.  There was a nice unexpected moment when Bully...er, I mean Bubba Ray Dudley came out to a fair pop.   He proved in his TNA run that he's still got it, and I'd like to see him have one last run in the E.

The real problem started when crowd favourite Daniel Bryan entered surprisingly early.  His clashes with Bray Wyatt looked promising and were logical given the pair's past history.  However, shockingly Bray got to eliminate Bryan before the match entered its final stages.   The crowd's response immediately turned sour, as one of the potential stars of the fight had basically been given the kind of role dished out to someone like Fandango.  The crowd's mood turned ugly, and matters weren't helped by the sheer flatness of the in-ring action.   A strong performance by Bryan would have got the crowd energised, but amazingly WWE threw this chance away. 

Eventually Reigns entered to a severely subdued reaction.  The early exit of Bryan meant that Reigns was certain to win, almost, as the company is clearly unwilling to create a swerve to benefit a fan favourite like Ambrose or Ziggler.  Hell, even an unlikley victory for Mizdow would have placated an irritable crowd.  Unsurprisingly, Dean Ambrose did get the second biggest pop of the Rumble, and I started to wonder if perhaps it was his night.  No such luck; as the final foursome consisted of Ambrose, Reigns plus (give me strength) Big Show and Kane, it was clear that Ambrose's sole role was to help his former Shield colleague clear the ring.  After Ambrose's exit, Reigns pulled off a double elimination of the two big men, and, in a twist, found he also had to eliminate Rusev, which he did in perfunctory fashion.  Boos rang out, and even an appearance by Reigns' more illustrious cousin, The Rock, failed to improve the crowd's mood.   Reigns looked visibly unnerved. His big night had turned into a disaster.  Worse was to come with the news that online fans had also acted in anger, with so many Network subscribers cancelling their contracts that the cancellation page reportedly crashed.

This is brutal, and it would be easy to conclude that the Roman Reigns experiment has crashed and burned, much like the career of Vince McMahon's 'chosen one' Drew McIntyre.   However, I think it's possible to rescue this.  Reigns' debit column has clear entries.  For example, he cannot deliver a decent promo and probably never will be able to.  Also, compared to the other Shield members (both seasoned indie veterans), he is very green as a performer, and away from his signature power moves, a lot of his offence lacks conviction.

However, we shouldn't be too hasty here.  For one thing, whether we like it or not Reigns will headline Wrestlemania this year.  Plus he has good looks and natural charisma, so it should be possible to build on this.  Also, while he's not there yet, his in-ring skills are improving  But things need to change.  Not every crowd will be as hostile as Philadelphia, but if he gets booed in other smarkish cities like New York or Chicago, his reputation will suffer further.

So what can WWE do?  Here's my three-step plan:

1)  Stop the atrocious cheesy promos he's been forced to recite.   Sufferin' succotash, they've been dreadful!  I suspect WWE has started to learn this lesson, as he's been talking less recently.  He should be packaged as a man of few words who is more concerned with action.  This was how he was presented in the Shield and it worked.

2) Put him in a program with Seth Rollins.  Not only does this make storyline sense, working with a superior technician like that will improve his skills significantly.  Also, get Dean Ambrose to partner him in tag matches; they will be good matches and hopefully Ambrose's natural connection with the crowd will start to rub off on Reigns.

3) Lesnar vs Reigns isn't a very exciting prospect, but there's scope to change this as a main event.  Daniel Bryan can start lobbying that, as he never lost the belt in the ring, he deserves a chance to regain it at Wrestlemania.  This is fraught with danger, as Bryan's fan popularity would mean Reigns would be overshadowed if a triple threat occurred.  But that may still not be a bad idea ultimately. 

The reason is that Roman Reigns should be seen as a long-term prospect who should not be rushed.  The Royal Rumble match was poorly handled but hopefully WWE can learn lessons and act to rescue his project.  After all, last year's reaction to Batista led to Daniel Bryan's elevation at a memorable Wrestlemania.  A similar plan is needed urgently now.


FOOTNOTE: I'm already reading that WWE have discussed inserting Daniel Bryan into the main event and have dismissed it as it would be a repeat of last year.   Funny how repetition was never an issue when John Cena and Randy Orton hogged the main event limelight.....This is a mistake.  A re-run that the audience can get behind is better than a fresh match-up that the audience doesn't care about.