First off apologies for the original Wrestling with Mediocrity # 22 article bizarrely disappearing last week. We were having some back end problems with WordPress and it decided to chuck that edition into the ether. Anyway let’s talk about the real burning issue here; Super Showdown. Now I didn’t watch the show. I refuse to take anything to do with Vince promoting Saudi Arabia, but I did obviously hear about Goldberg brushing aside the Fiend and so on Friday I checked the results. It’s hard to put in to words how idiotic the booking was, but I’ll try my best to explain it over the next few paragraphs.
I guess we’ll start with Fiend/Goldberg. Honestly in some ways I don’t mind having 53 year old Bill as champion again. Since we all knew the opponent was going to be Reigns, at least this way it’ll be no more than a 7 minute bad match at WrestleMania. Fiend v Reigns could have easily been a 20+ minute bad match. On the downside Vince did just bury his most protected star on the roster and it’s unlikely that this pivot means we will be spared Reigns/Fiend, it just means we will get it post Mania with Bray chasing.
I do find it curious how angry everyone was about this finish though. I mean I get it, it’s Vince going back to the previous generation but this narrative about how he won’t give new stars a chance is both valid and not applicable here. Even if we toss out Husky Harris (and we should) Wyatt has been kicking about the main roster for 7 years. That’s longer than the likes of the Ultimate Warrior spent under Vince’s then WWF banner as an active wrestler. Also, his matches are shit. I thought it was a huge mistake giving him the world title in the first place have been waiting for him to lose it. Would I rather it was to a current star? Yeah of course, but there’s only so long you can go having dreadful title matches (isn’t there Diesel?). Personally I find Bray Wyatt/The Fiend a great character and personality, but a poor wrestler who I don’t want to see in the ring.
A much more egregious bit of booking was Lesnar v Ricochet. Look we all knew that Lesnar was winning, but these two could have had a great match. Instead Ricochet gets buried six feet under and it does nothing for the Beast. It’s so easy just to look at this and shrug, but only two years ago Ricochet was literally seen as the future of this business. He should have been a main event talent for the next six or seven years. Instead he has now been slotted at a midcard level that he’s not going to ascend from. He better hope his contract doesn’t have too long left, because he is quickly becoming damaged goods.
Possibly the worst booking on the show (although really you could toss a coin) was the gauntlet for the prestigious something or other trophy. R-Truth, a joke character, not only beats Bobby Lashley, but the returning US champion Andrade. I couldn’t care less about Rowan, but this was just the absolute shits. Then, just to put the icing on the cake Undertaker apparently injects himself into the match, lumbers down to the ring and beats his upcoming WrestleMania opponent with one chokeslam in 10 seconds. A signature move, not even his finisher! Why would anyone now care about seeing these two face off at the biggest show of the year? Honestly it would still have been bad, but why not have AJ go through everyone else in the gauntlet then lose to Taker. At least that way he can come out and say he had been the Phenomenal One the whole match and Taker didn’t get him at his best.
As for the rest of the show, it sounded inoffensive but sloppy and lacking any real intensity. The Viking Raiders losing to Gallows and Anderson is dumb, but the fact that it was a pre-show match just shows how little they care about the tag division. I just finished watching Omega & Hangman v Young Bucks from Saturday night in what might be the best tag team match I have ever seen and then you look at WWE and it’s just such a wasted opportunity. They have some amazing teams, but Vince has shown us for years and it has been confirmed by those to him, he doesn’t care about tag team wrestling.
That will conclude this edition of Wrestling with Mediocrity. A rather short one but I couldn’t let the colossal fuck up that was Saudi Blood Money pass without breaking down why it was so terrible. Honestly one of the worst booked shows in WWE history, which unfortunately at this point is saying something! Have a great week everyone, I’ll be back when some more talking points take my fancy.
Peace ✌️
-VDZE
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