State of the WWE, Post-Night of Champions

We’ve now had time to digest what happened to the WWE at Night of Champions, and we’ve seen the fallout from the pay-per-view event. Let’s examine a few issues going on at the moment… 

The United States Championship Feud 

Sheamus is still champion. In one of the best matches of the evening, he and Cesaro basically stole the show. I figured Sheamus would win, and he did. But the trouble is his character remains staler than month-old bread. Cesaro is rapidly approaching the same stage of his career. WWE seems adamant in not wanting to change either man’s character or alignment, yet they’re just watching both men tumble down the roster. If Sheamus is going to remain a babyface then he needs to enter a program with Rusev for the US Title. If he’s going heel, then I can think of several wrestlers he could feud with to get him there, including one who might be able to pull off the double turn. 

Cesaro, back when he was US Champ

Cesaro, meanwhile, now moves on from chasing Sheamus. I’ve yet to determine why WWE is dragging their feet with Cesaro. He has all the talent in the world and he has a move set perfectly suited to a babyface. Yet the stubbornly keep him heel. When he began to get too popular, around the time of WrestleMania, WWE latched him on to Paul Heyman, just to try to remind people to hate him. But the thing is, we love Paul Heyman. Sure, he’s a smarmy heel, and you hate his character…but Paul Heyman the man is no mere mortal when it comes to wrestling. Cesaro needs a shot in the arm, and more importantly, WWE Creative needs a shot in the arm to realize how to properly utilize him. 

The Intercontinental Championship Feud 

Alright, here’s the deal: I really like Dolph Ziggler. The guy should be main eventing by now. He’s got the moves, he can sell an opponent’s offense like no one else (Seth Rollins is the only other guy that can remotely sell like Ziggler), and he has the attitude. But, for some reason, WWE would rather keep him mired in the midcard while guys like Roman Reigns, who are bigger but have less personality, climb to the top. I also like the Miz. There, I said. I like the Miz. I like his character. He does exactly what you want a heel to do. He makes you hate him. 

Once Ziggler and the Miz began feuding, their feud reached comedic proportions, but it was keep the fans’ attention. Miz brought in Damien Sandow (now Mizdow) as his stunt double. Ziggler countered by bringing in R-Truth as “R-Ziggler.” 

At Night of Champions, Miz defeated Ziggler for the title, grabbing the tights when he rolled Ziggler up. On Raw the next night, Ziggler reclaimed the title, using Miz’s own tricks against him. An argument could be made that trading the title back and forth so much cheapens it, but I don’t really agree. It shows that the feud is fairly evenly matched. If given the opportunity, I would eventually have Miz win the feud, maybe at Hell in a Cell. Afterwards, Miz starts calling out wrestlers that we know are not in the building, and then bragging about how no one will face him. Meanwhile, he keeps belittling Damien Sandow. Finally, Sandow snaps and blasts Miz with the title, setting them up for a feud and getting Sandow to be a babyface for the first time. 

If you don’t know, Damien Sandow is fantastic on the mic. For some reason, WWE thought it would be a good idea to let him win the World Heavyweight Championship MITB briefcase in 2013. When John Cena returned from injury and defeated Alberto Del Rio for the title, Sandow confronted Cena the next night on Raw. He beat Cena with the briefcase and then cashed in. For whatever reason, though, Creative could not get past the idea that Cena has to win every time, and so a one-armed John Cena defeated a fully healthy Damien Sandow. This sent Sandow into a character tailspin. Of course, Creative’s reliance on John Cena has sent many characters into a tailspin. 

The Curious Absence of Bray Wyatt 

Case in point, Bray Wyatt. The feud Wyatt and Cena carried into WrestleMania was actually quite good. Everyone around will tell you that Wyatt should’ve won, but again, WWE thinks John Cena should only ever win. Cena and Wyatt faced off at Extreme Rules and it took Wyatt, Harper, Rowan, and a child with laryngitis to defeat Cena. At Payback, Cena and Wyatt engaged in a Last Man Standing match that saw John Cena literally bury Bray Wyatt. 

Wyatt was thrown into the Money in the Bank ladder match, but did not figure in the decision. He then attacked Chris Jericho, leading to a series of matches, one at Battleground, one at SummerSlam, and finally a cage match on Raw. Wyatt won the feud, but once again WWE Creative booked him to look as weak as possible. 

I wrote to a friend the other day that it seems as though the Creative team called Wyatt into the office and said “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to book you against John Cena. You understand that John Cena is the greatest thing to ever happen to me…er, I mean, to the WWE, and so I can’t…I mean, we can’t let you dominate him. Cena’s gonna win at WrestleMania, we’ll let you win at the next pay per view, but we’ll come up with something creepy, like a hoarse childe or something, and then at Payback, well, Cena’s gonna have to bury you…literally. I mean, we’re not having a Buried Alive match, but if we still did, Cena would be dancing on your grave at the end of the night. Then, if you’re still over after our best efforts to destroy you…I mean, build you into a monster heel, we’ll talk about our next step. Now, go wait in the hall and send in my favorite wrestler…err, John Cena.” 

Then, at Night of Champions…no Bray Wyatt. On Raw the next night…no Wyatt Family at all. On SmackDown? Same story. The problem is the WWE have a true monster heel, but they’re so encumbered by their TV-PG rating that he can’t do anything. The heels basically have to be cowards in TV-PG, because the heelish things they did in the Attitude Era are no longer allowed. The television rating is quite literally holding Bray Wyatt down. 

The Tag Team Title Feud 

The Dust Bros. are your new tag team champions. They bested the Usos at Night of Champions. Honestly, the Usos should’ve dropped the titles long ago. WWE had plenty of chances to put the belts on the Wyatt Family and create some new feuds, or on a babyface version of the Dust Bros. But no, they turned the Bros. heel and had them beat down the Usos. 

Now, with the Dust Bros as champions, the potential contenders are: The Usos. Yep, that’s pretty much it. Are you noticing a pattern yet? What I’m trying to drive home is that WWE Creative has failed to properly build their roster. They have plenty of talent, but they try so hard to get the babyfaces over and to make the heels look like cowards that it destroys the credibility of the wrestlers. 

The tag team division should have the Usos, the Dust Bros., the Wyatt Family, the Ascension (currently NXT), Slater Gator (Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil), the Woods Faction (no, I’m not letting that one go), and the World’s Strongest (oldest) Tag Team. Instead, expect another few months of Usos vs. Dust Bros. Why build up someone new when you can keep going back to the same match week after week? More on that later. 

The Seth Rollins Saga 

Former Shield “Architect” Seth Rollins currently holds the MITB briefcase. He was scheduled to face Roman Reigns at Night of Champions, but Reigns was rushed to the hospital Saturday for legitimate emergency surgery. The last I heard, Reigns is out for the next 4-6 weeks. Rollins instead took to the ring and issued basically an open challenge. He was met by the returning Dean Ambrose. 

Seth Rollins trying to kill Dean Ambrose

On Raw, Ambrose opened the show by saying he was there for Rollins and would not leave the ring. He grabbed a chair and sat down. Then we heard the music of Career-Obliterator John Cena. Ambrose smirked at Cena and, in some ways, teased a potential feud. They were met by the Authority, with Seth Rollins hiding behind everyone. Ambrose and Cena attacked and got to Rollins, who ran off. Triple H ordered Kane to face Ambrose (boring, as Kane is past his prime and has slowed considerably in the ring), and Orton to face Cena for about the 150th time this year. 
Obviously, this is leading to Rollins vs Ambrose in a Hell in a Cell match. Now it’s just to see if Creative will see it through, or if they’ll try to saddle us with another lumberjack match. 



Overall Product 

I saw written in another place the statement that part of the reason for the downfall of WCW was their continual (over)reliance on already established wrestlers instead of working to establish new guys. When you look at WCW from 1995 to their final collapse in 2001, you see that the top of their card was Hogan, Flair, Sting, and Savage. Before the end of the Monday Night Wars, WCW would lose a lot of young talent to WWE. Guys like Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Raven would all jump ship from WCW. 

Well, it’s pretty obvious that WWE is now in that same position. The roster has loads of talent, even if it’s not that deep. 

The main event tier at the moment is John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and Randy Orton. If healthy, Daniel Bryan would be on that list. Roman Reigns is fast approaching that tier. 

The upper midcard, guys that can either main event, if necessary, or play foil on the midcard titles, is made up of Sheamus, Big Show, Mark Henry, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Dolph Ziggler, the Miz, and Cesaro. 

Everyone else basically slots into lower tier spots on the roster. The problem is, WWE only seems capable of managing one storyline at a time, so a lot of these guys suffer from having characters with no direction and no drive. There are all kinds of things WWE could do to alleviate that problem…it just requires them actually crafting good stories… 

Some Actually (Hopefully Halfway Decent) Story Ideas

1. Have the Intercontinental Champion be guaranteed a WWE World Heavyweight Title Shot at one of the B-Level pay per views. This would enhance the value of the Intercontinental Championship and would create some interesting story lines. Imagine if Randy Orton was WWE World Heavyweight Champion and Seth Rollins was the Intercontinental Champion at the time of the appointed pay per view… 

2. So something special for the US Title. Maybe have two guys go Best-of-Seven or have an Iron Man match for it. Do some things that will elevate the prestige of the title. 

3. For the love of all that is holy, stop using Raw and SmackDown as a vehicle to promote Total Divas. 

4. Have more #1 Contender tournaments. Not Battle Royals. Tournaments. 

5. Bring back the King of the Ring, with the winner getting a WWE World Heavyweight Title shot at SummerSlam. 

6. Create a Tag Team Money in the Bank briefcase.