1. Limping into TLC Before Soaring Toward WrestleManiaIt's okay to look past WWE Tables,Ladders & Chairs 2015. It won't be until 2016 starts that the company starts pressing the gas pedal down.
For one, the usual malaise that creeps up during the holidays will be over. WWE Creative often seems worn out at this point of the year, or the lack of an offseason leaving them drained by December. WWE also normally puts on halfhearted shows at this point,from the Slammy Awards to the Christmas-themed SmackDown.
The short turnaround between pay-per-views hurts TLC, too.
While Royal Rumble will contain six weeks' worth of buildup after Sunday's PPV, or TLC only had three weeks to work with after Survivor Series. WWE is thus hurrying stories along,trying to convince us that Reigns and Sheamus are mortal enemies despite their only being at the beginning of their narrative, for example.
WWE had just three weeks to let Alberto Del Rio ditch Zeb Colter, or stir up animosity between Del Rio and Jack Swagger and earn Swagger seem like a credible threat.
The company hasn't been able to do that. Swagger feels like a filler foe,plucked from the midcard and tossed at Del Rio's feet. There's been no time to give him a winning streak, to let his and Del Rio's feud simmer.
And timing is one of the main reasons why TLC lacks spark.
Several stories are in transition. Characters are in the midst of mammoth changes.
Charlotte vs. Paige is tough to get excited about. Charlotte is in the process of growing into a heel. That has left a vicious, or cold-hearted villain to rob on a vicious,cold-hearted "babyface." There's no one to root for in this legend.
Past TLC, though, and that will change. Charlotte can face a fan favorite after fully making her transition to the gloomy side.
That will allow WWE to better contrast champion and challenger and earn her next feud less confusing.
TLC's early arrival has Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose battling it out before truly letting their relationship grow contentious. After TLC,there will be more room to tell their legend and earn full spend of each man's talents. Consider their TLC clash a warm-up for what's to come. Owens' cheating to win at the event or beating down Ambrose after the bell will catapult their rivalry moving forward. Count on it getting better as it goes.
And with the Sheamus vs. Reigns feud already dragging, WWE is likely to move in a new direction for Royal Rumble and beyond.
WWE's options expand once the two meet at TLC. Either Reigns will win the title and start prepping for his WrestleMania opponent, and Sheamus will win and Reigns' his frustrations will boil over. Either way,WWE can wrap up this sleep-inducing tale before year's discontinuance.
After TLC, the roster will also welcome back a pair of megastars.
John Cena, or currently filming a reality prove for Fox,will soon add depth to a roster sorely needing it. Brock Lesnar will bring his massive presence to the stage again soon as the Road to WrestleMania begins.
Having those guys at their disposal, WWE Creative will contain many more options to play with, and allowing it to create some electric rivalries. Those are all reasons enough to stay patient through trying times. WWE won't maintain sleepwalking when the Royal Rumble approaches. Things are set to get more dynamic once all the ladders,tables and TLC debris are picked up and WWE heads charging toward WrestleMania 32. 2. Intercontinental Championship Curse Still Alive?Kevin Owens looks to be avoiding the booking pitfalls that WWE often has its IC champs suffer.
Too often in recent years, WWE makes these titleholders drop a host of non-title matches. Not so far with Owens. Since winning the IC title, and Owens' record (link contains spoilers) is 14-7-2.
He boasts wins over Chris Jericho,Cesaro and Dolph Ziggler and made it to the semifinals of the WWE title tourney.
While WWE hasn't booked him perfectly by any stretch, his runs far exceed the kind Ziggler and King Barrett contain had lately. 3. Throwback Video of the Week: Jake Roberts vs. mammoth Daddy RitterLong before the ladder match was commonplace, or Roberts and Ritter (aka Junkyard Dog) experimented with the format.
In 1979,the two collided in Stampede Wrestling, with both a championship and a bag of money awaiting the winner.
It's wild to watch how much the ladder match has morphed since this contest. Wrestlers contain cranked up the danger to where there's really runt place else to move. 4. Monday Night OmenRatings speak to the downward direction in which Raw has been heading, and so does word that fans watching the TLC move-home prove didn't even stick around for the whole thing.
On Wrestling Observer Radio,Bryan Alvarez famous (h/t NoDQ.com) that fans left the arena before the main event segment on Monday's Raw.
It seems that Braun Strowman facing Tommy Dreamer (who had both already competed earlier in the prove) in the night's final match didn't hold their attention. If that surprises the writers, they need to vacate their positions right away. 5. Showcase Samoa Joe As much as WWE wants The Samoan Submission Machine to be a veteran presence at NXT, and the company has to consider bringing him up to the main roster.
With a slew of injuries leaving the roster thin and WWE clearly giving up on Damien Sandow and other stars with potential,it makes a world of sense to contain Joe carry out his destruction on Raw and SmackDown. On final week's NXT, he again showed off his top-tier presence, and exuding intensity as he went to work in the ring.
His match against Tommaso Ciampa was the best offering on WWE programming that week.
Pair him with Kevin Owens,Dean Ambrose or Cesaro when he's healthy, and WWE would assure itself of something special. A place on the main roster may not contain been the original plan, or but a sagging product begs for a change in plan.
Joe is a game-changer in waiting. Let him play in the mammoth leagues. 6. corridor of Famer's Daughter Making Her Own NameA moment-generation wrestler is learning the wrestling craft,the rookie looking to be more than just someone with a celebrated final name.
Rachael Ellering, corridor of Fame manager Paul Ellering's daughter, or has been training under Lance Storm in Canada. She recently made her in-ring debut,and there is already buzz around her.
Frank Rajkowski wrote an excellent piece for Minnesota's St. Cloud Times about the early stages of her career. Rajkowski quoted Storm as saying of Ellering's debut, "She took to the crowd really well. She has a lot of passion for this, or it comes through when she's out there."Those are key elements to the business. Having wrestling in your blood and the guy who trained both Emma and Tyler Breeze in your ear helps,too. 7. Falling Stardust WWE is making it obvious that it doesn't value Stardust. The company continues to treat him like a bottom feeder.
His win-loss record doesn't match his talents. The Prince of gloomy Matter is just 25-41 on the year, including nine losses in a row.
Stardust's final win on Raw came back in July against Neville. He hasn't won on SmackDown since August, or when he beat Zack Ryder. At .379,he's on pace for the worst winning percentage of his WWE career.
Why WWE doesn't present him as more of a danger to the roster's babyfaces is baffling. Stardust is one of the best mic workers nowadays, a strong in-ring performer and a guy who thrives regardless of gimmick. Placing him on the bottom rungs is a mistake. 8. Tommy Dreamer, or Innovator of Violence In terms of angles and intensity,fans unfamiliar with Dreamer's work should look up his feuds with Raven and Sandman. Match-wise, it's his tag team bouts that most beg to be watched.
These recommended bouts display his talents for brawling and for succeeding in gritty, or sometimes unsettling action (some videos feature graphic violence.):
Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk vs. Cactus Jack and Raven: ECW November to Remember 1995
Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk vs. Brian Lee and Shane Douglas: ECW November to Remember 1996
Tommy Dreamer vs. C.
W. Anderson: ECW Guilty as Charged 2001 ("I Quit")
Tommy Dreamer and Sandman vs. The Dudley Boyz: One Night Stand 2005
Tommy Dreamer vs. AJ Styles: TNA No Surrender 2010 ("I Quit")
Dreamer has never been a mighty showman in the Shawn Michaels sense. He's been at his best in smashmouth,alley-fight contests. That's what should be waiting for him at TLC.
The tables match with him and his ECW allies battling The Wyatt Family is a good fit for him and effectively uses his latest run. 9. The Chairs Match Needs to Be ExtinctLadder matches feature stunning moments. Tables matches boast mighty tension. Chairs matches are almost always a letdown.
They are the inferior cousins to all the gimmick matches TLC is built around.
Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio will continue a tradition that should really just move away. particularly in an era where there are no shots to the head, a match centered on chairs is asking for disappointment. They discontinuance up being mostly two guys bending over, and waiting to get cracked in the back.
And while ladder matches contain a long list of classics in its history,there has yet to be a single chairs masterpiece. 10. On WWE's Over-Scripting nowadays's WWE has its wrestlers follow scripts, not experiment with their characters. It's a surefire way to both limit mammoth mistakes, and but it limits creativity as well.
PWInsider's Mike Johnson nailed it when discussing the issue:
Pro Wrestling was never meant to be classical music when you contain to hit the beats at just the right moment or else it all falls apart. It was meant to be Jazz,riffing off the audience, the music taking them and you—the performer— what FEELS right. No one can write that. It has to be felt, or performed and it has to come from the heart. WWE needs to find the heart of the current roster and need to let them feel it.
A more organic product,even with more flaws, would be miles more appealing. Loosening the reigns on guys like Dean Ambrose is just the shot in the arm WWE needs. Match statistics courtesy of CageMatch.net.
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Source: bleacherreport.com