I’m probably not going to break any new ground here. In fact, I’ve heard enough over the last twelve hours to know that I feel the same way that a majority of the internet wrestling community feels.
And let me preface everything I’m about to say with
this: I’m a Roman Reigns fan. I am.
I’ve bought action figures for my nephews for Christmas, I’ve gone to
see Smackdown in Birmingham simply because I knew he was going to be
there. My cousin’s wife even called me
out on Facebook when I said that Dean Ambrose was my favorite thing about
wrestling (because she had gone with me to Birmingham and saw my reaction to
Roman when he came out through the crowd).
I’m admitting that and opening myself up to ridicule because of it.
A little background is that in the 90s I was a WCW person
because I absolutely LOVED Sting. That
isn’t to say I didn’t watch Raw. I
did. I liked Shawn Michaels and DX, but
my heart belonged to Sting (and in a lot of ways, still does!). I tend to go towards the good guys. But around the time I went to college in
2001, I had stopped watching. I only
picked it up again because I saw a story about Daniel Bryan on ESPN, I think,
about the Michigan State player doing the “Yes” chant. No idea what that was, I checked youtube and
found the cage match which was Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan vs. The Usos. The crowd was so into that turn by Bryan that
it made me want to see more. I went back
and found videos of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan and the Shield. I was like, “Wow, wrestling has really come a
long way”. So, I started watching
wrestling again because of Daniel Bryan, which really made me sad when he
retired a few weeks ago.
All that being said, I just don’t understand what happened
last night at Fastlane. The only way I
know how to do this is to a “Great, Good, Bad, and WTF”.
Last night had some pretty/excellent matches but they were overshadowed by the crap that went down in that last hour.
The Phenomenal:
AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho: Match of the night, for sure. These two showed why they are considered some
of the best. AJ was Phenomenal and
Jericho was just as awesome. You could
see flashes of Jericho as a heel.
Jericho kicking out of the Styles Clash was bullshit, but then AJ took
all of Jericho’s finishers and managed to get out of those, so I’ll not
complain about that too much. The right
person won this match and kudos to Jericho for coming back and using his name
to help get new guys over. He’s one of
the good guys, for sure. And he’s damn
sure one of the best heels I’ve ever seen.
The Good:
Brie vs. Charlotte:
They told a compelling story.
Brie was a little sloppy in the ring, but she managed through it and
Charlotte and Brie had a decent match. I’m
surprised Flair didn’t get involved, but if Brie is going to be retiring, then
it makes sense to have the champ pin her clean without interference from the
dirtiest player in the game. Over all,
this match wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great.
As I said, the story was good.
The story was better than the actual wrestling that we got.
Becky & Sasha vs. Naomi & Tamina: Sasha is over as
hell, isn’t she? And it’s no wonder
why! Once she was in the ring, she was a
force! That pink hair flying around as
she laid waste to her enemies. And
Becky, I love her more and more each week.
I really hope Wrestlemania is a triple threat between Becky, Sasha, and
Charlotte. Those three women could tear
the house down. But that’s not taking
anything away from Naomi and Tamina.
They played the heels so well.
They were a great foil for the likes of Becky and even Sasha. They cheated, they double teamed! And at times, the transitions in all of their
movements were so fluid! This whole
match worked because all four of these women have amazing skills as both
wrestlers and performers. Kudos,
ladies. I thought this match was
actually better than the championship match which came later.
Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler: Owens just rocks so hard. He’s SO good!
It’s amazing to watch. And I’m
not even going to say something as patronizing to say that he’s good for “his
size”. Fuck that. He’s fucking awesome! To watch him flying around the ring is
awesome, but I think what I like the most about him is that he trash talks and
insults the wrestler and the fans. I’m
waiting for the day he hauls off and hits Cole, and it will turn him face in a heartbeat! None of that is to take away from Ziggler,
because he’s been so good for so long.
You always believe that he’s capable of achieving anything, even though
the WWE obviously doesn’t see it that way.
I’m glad Owens won as he needs to have a title. He’s more interesting as the one have to
stoop to anything to save his belt rather than chasing after one. Keep a title on him for a while, please, WWE.
The Bad:
R-Truth vs. Curtis Axel: This was painful to watch. I am
often amazed, though, to see how much Curtis Axel looks like his late
father. The only saving grace to this
match was that it ended quickly. It wasn’t
long. Sometimes I find the antics of the
Social Outcasts funny and sometimes I just don’t care. This was one of the don’t care times. As for the Gold dust & R-Truth angle, I
just don’t know what’s happening there.
At this point, I don’t care. Good
for them that they have something to do, but I don’t want to watch it.
The Giants vs. The Wyatt Family: Why did we have to get this match? If the point was to show how “strong” the Wyatt
family was, then you failed completely. You
don’t need to get Ryback, the Big Show, or Kane over. They’re over.
Have been for a while. In fact,
Big Show said Monday night he has two years left. And he’s willing to do the job for the
younger guys. But why have them go over
the Wyatt Family. Heel heat is sometimes
hard to come by, especially when you have a charismatic heel like Bray
Wyatt. So, legitimate heat would be to
level out the giants and have the Wyatts go over and then attack Brock in the
main event. It was logical. Spock would be pissed at you, WWE, for not
being logical! You get the heel over
because you have so few top heels in your company. HHH can’t be considered a heel at this
point. People will cheer the hell out of
him because they just don’t want Roman.
That’s not heel heat. That’s Face
heat. And it’s stupid. The Wyatt’s should be the scariest thing on
the planet to face. You had it all set
up at the Royal Rumble for a showdown between Brock and the Wyatts, and you
squandered that away with this shitty match that didn’t do anyone any favors.
The WTF:
The Peep Show: This
is bothersome because I wanted this to be so much more than it was. I thought for sure that we were going to get
Cas and Enzo. In fact, I would have bet
my left thumb on it. But that’s not what
we got. What we got…was painful! JUST PAINFUL!
I love Wade Barrett. I have
since I started watching again. He’s
great in the bad guy role. But putting
him with the other three is just horrible.
But let me start over talking about Edge and Christian. I thought this was going to be more than just
a shameless plug for their show (which I kind of liked their show as it
reminded me of old school MTV sketch comedies!). I thought that the New Day were going to come
out and start cutting a promo on Edge and Christian and then Enzo and Cas would
come out and shut them down. But
instead, we got Edge and Christian having to back down from the New Day because
everyone knows they can’t go anymore and even had Edge and Christian leave ones
the League of Unextrodinary Foreigners came out. Are we supposed to be intimidated by any of
them? Del Rio had just lost earlier in
the night and Sheamus has been out of the title picture for over a month,
now. I just don’t understand what we’re
supposed to be afraid of, exactly. Also,
the New Day, sometimes, grates on my last nerve. And tonight was one of those nights. This just all fell apart half way through
when I realized we weren’t getting Cas and Enzo but instead two teams I don’t
really care for cutting promos on each other with no pay off.
Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar: The majority of this match I totally enjoyed. These guys tore it up! There was a compelling story, there was some
really good spots and moments. There are
parts of this match that I could watch over and over again. But unlike three way match at last year’s
Rumble the ending was unsatisfactory. As
I said, I’m a Roman fan. But this just
sucked so much. I understand that there
is a lot of money invested in Roman as the potential next face of the WWE. I understand that it’s a business to run and
you want someone out there who doesn’t cause problems, has natural charisma,
and seems to be a very nice and amenable person. That’s what you want the face of your company
to be in the public eye. But here’s the
thing, it doesn’t work for a “Samoan Bad Ass”.
No one, at this point, believes that Roman is being held back from
anything, which is the story that’s being told.
Someone/something is always in his way and he keeps going after the
brass ring. At this point, HHH is a
better face than Roman. Had Roman turned
on Dean or vice versa, you have a more compelling storyline than what is
eventually going to happen at WrestleMania.
Back to the match, though.
Reigns is in the Kamora (sp?) and stands up while Brock is hanging on
him like a spider monkey! In comes a
great thinker in Dean Ambrose and lays waste to Brock and even Roman with a
chair. To then have Roman get up from
that and spear Ambrose is shitty storytelling.
You have Dean decimate both of them.
And you have Dean pin his friend.
Because if there is one thing the Authority wants less than Roman being
the champ would be someone like DEAN AMBROSE as champion. Ambrose could go on to feud with Brock or
even Taker (I would watch that). But you
put Ambrose in the picture because the fans LOVE him. If he was to actually take a chair to Roman,
he would be cheered like he was. Take a
chair to Brock, and he is cheered. He’s
the face you should be promoting because the fans are behind him just like they
were another underdog who put his body on the line, Daniel Bryan. It’s been organic and I don’t think it’s out
of default that people like Ambrose.
They’ve liked Ambrose since before the split of the Shield.
So, what actually happened was probably the worst thing that
could have happened. And I am a Roman
fan. He needs depth. He needs more than just his good guy
persona. The reason that TLC and the
match the night after worked was because Roman looked to be shedding the good
guy crap. He was just going to be a bad
ass that tore the hell out of people. He
was tired of getting dicked around. He
was tired of getting fucked over whether it was by Sheamus, HHH, or Vince McMahon. He had had enough and he fucking lost
it. That’s why it worked.
All that being said, the last hour of this PPV ruined the
first two. Amazing how that
happened.
photocredit from wwe.com
photocredit from wwe.com
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