Welcome back to Wrestling with Mediocrity! It has been a bit of a strange week in WWE. The TV was better than it has been recently, but it absolutely tanked in the ratings. The worry is that this leads to Vince giving up on the things that fans believe are working. Hopefully instead he moves away from the many things that have become stale in the product.
One thing that most certainly is working is the push of Becky Lynch. She had a really strong week with good segments on both RAW and SmackDown. It’s no surprise that as soon as she gets super hot both Helmsley and Steph wangle their way into her angle. Giving them the severe benefit of the doubt I do believe that it was mainly done because even now, in 2019, the only way they know how to successfully book a babyface is to have them involved with heel authority figures.
While Becky is definitely over, I was pretty shocked by the lack of crowd reaction she got on RAW. The initial pop to her music was good, but other than that and the odd quick Becky chant fans were sitting on their hands. A few people remarked to me that they took it as the fans being so invested they were quietly listening to the promo and I really hope that was the case.
With regards to the historically low ratings and half empty buildings for TV, this ties back into my argument about poor booking at the Royal Rumble. To build ratings and pull in casual fans the small details matter. Maybe some hardcore fans will forget that Becky tapped out, that Sasha tapped out AND got pinned and that Finn got beaten during and after the match, but casual fans looking for a wrestler to gravitate towards were left wanting. As I said a few weeks ago, the lapsed fans I watched the Rumble with finished the PPV with no interest in returning to watch WrestleMania this year. Clearly there were many more like them because despite the drop in ratings throughout 2018 I don’t think any of us predicted viewership would sink to these depths during the biggest few months of the year.
I found the tease of the Kurt Angle retirement speech on RAW quite sad. A few years ago fans would have given almost anything to have Kurt back for one more match. Now we see him losing in four minute TV matches to Baron Fucking Corbin. Rumours are always around that Helmsley resents Angle and that may play a part in him being marginalised, but while I am far from his biggest fan I have a hard time believing that in 2019 HHH sees Angle as a threat. Instead it just feels like another example of WWE not booking their legends as special attractions and with dignity, an issue that goes way beyond Kurt Angle.
I’m sure there are people somewhere looking forward to the introduction of the Women’s Tag Team Titles, but I just don’t see the need for it at this time. There aren’t enough women on the roster to have a good competitive division at present which unfortunately makes the decision feel rushed. It also seems to be built around Sasha & Bayley being crowned champions but I don’t know how much faith I would put in Sasha Banks at this point. She is one of my favourite women on the roster, but she gets hurt WAY too often. It’s a strange one as well because I don’t think she endangers her opponents in the ring like a Nia Jax, but instead she doesn’t seem to protect herself well when executing moves. It’s like she missed the day where they learned how to bump.
Speaking of Nia Jax, she is about to be involved in an inter-gender match with Dean Ambrose at a live event. Feelings seem to be mixed on WWE doing inter-gender matches. Personally I am dead against it. I like my wrestling to have a more realistic sports like feel and a man wrestling a woman takes me right out of the immersion. It becomes more of a performance than anything else and I think it will hurt the business if they start doing it on TV. I’m not surprised it is being tested on a house show. I also think it hurts the women’s division as a whole. Something WWE has worked hard to make more prestigious over recent years.
One last thing on the women’s division. I meant to mention it last week and I have brought it up before but I do wish WWE would hold the women’s Royal Rumble on a different night. Two rumble matches on the one night is an absolute chore. Why not have the women’s rumble in May/June with the winner getting a title shot at SummerSlam. The Royal Rumble is one of the most exciting nights of the year so instead of burning people out with a seven hour show why not have one every six months and let the fans be excited for them?
Elias vs Jeff Jarrett absolutely died on it’s arse. I always liked Jeff Jarrett, especially back in mid 90’s WWF. For that reason I popped when I saw him return at the rumble, but this was one week too many. The crowd couldn’t have given less of a shit and it’s hard to blame them. Elias turns back heel out of nowhere and Jeff is out there doing all the old heel lines trying to get a babyface reaction. Nostalgia is good in short doses, but this is one that maybe needs to go on the shelf for a little while now (Wishful thinking).
I’m not sure what to make of Nakamura and Rusev as a team at the moment. I can imagine them having good chemistry but I find it really hard to care about two singles wrestlers being randomly paired together. Especially when you think back two weeks and they were feuding. Vince clearly is trying to make an extra effort with the tag divisions at the moment but we need some legit teams. I would rather they called another few up from NXT instead of stapling two existing roster members together.
That will wrap up this issue of Wrestling with Mediocrity. Given the ratings this week there is a chance things could be shaken up to an extent so you may see a more exciting RAW and SmackDown than usual. As always any thoughts on what you have read the best two ways to get in touch are via Twitter and Email. Have a great week!
