What has the WWE done lately?
Posted by: Remy on 06/09/2004

I’ve been home for the summer for about two months now and one of the things I had looked forward to the most was being able to watch wrestling regularly again. Initially things were pretty good. Raw was finally starting to make some noticeable improvements and, for the first time in years it seems, I was really looking forward to Raw every Monday night. But while I couldn’t watch Raw regularly while I was away at school, I was still able to catch it from time to time. The real treat was looking forward to seeing a PPV again. The big event where anything can happen, and where it’s all about showcasing great matches that have been built up to a PPV worthy level. Therein lies the problem.

Many of the matches listed on the card for Bad Blood have had very poor build ups. In fact, I think it’s quite apparent that they have had more PPV worthy matches on Raw then they are trying to sell on this PPV for $35. I’ll get the exceptions out of the way right now though. HHH vs. HBK and Orton vs. Benjamin are the only two matches on the card that have been promoted properly, in my opinion. The rest of the card seems to be sorely lacking any type of intensity.

So my question is, as originally stated, what has the WWE being doing lately?

I want to look at the Tyson Tomko vs. Chris Jericho match first. Has Tomko even cut a promo yet? None that I recall, that’s for sure. He’s supposed to hate Jericho because Christian and Trish are paying him, is that it? Perhaps that’s a half decent premise to get something STARTED, but so far that’s all they’ve really got to go on for a PPV level match. To me, it just isn’t enough.

And here’s my problem with that situation: they have had more then enough time to do something better. Isn’t that why they’ve started having brand PPV’s every other month, instead of every month?

Now don’t get me wrong here, Jericho has been phenomenal lately and appears to be getting close to re-gaining his main event status. However, Tomko is as green as they come and the fans really are not familiarized with this guy. Now sure, Christian is injured and they had to come up with something else, but even that is not a good enough excuse for me. Why not add a stipulation at least? Isn’t that what they’re supposed to be for, to add something interesting to an otherwise plain match? I don’t think that would have required a lot of effort, but it sure would have made me more interested in seeing this match.

I’m also not too impressed by the Eugene vs. Coach match. On the other hand, I’m just not a big fan of non-wrestlers being in PPV matches. Isn’t that why so many internet fans hate the McMahon’s? Eugene, while saddled with a comedic gimmick, can wrestle and can wrestle well. I think it would have been much more interesting to invest in a feud where he could really show that off better then he’s been able to so far. Hell, I think it would have been better if Bischoff had decided to really screw Eugene over by putting him in a match with … his mentor William Regal! Now that would have been interesting on many levels, if you ask me. I’m not entirely sure if Regal has been cleared to wrestle yet, but bottom line, I’m just not all that interested in seeing Coach wrestle.

Then there is a thrown together women’s match and a thrown together tag-team match. I don’t think I even need to go into very much detail, in fact any detail, to support what I’ve been saying all along here. Where the hell is the build up? These matches could have been thrown together for a Raw, and they are certainly not PPV worthy when I’m paying $35 for it!

Clearly, however, the biggest travesty on the upcoming PPV is the world title scene. There are several contenders that could provide a decent match for Benoit, and honestly, I even think Kane is one of them! The angle that set Benoit vs. Kane though, is simply horrible. Winning that battle royal with outside interference from HBK is not the way to make Kane look like a contender. It only served to further the HHH/HBK feud.

That’s a relatively small issue, however, compared to the fact that since the last PPV Kane has mostly been in an angle with Matt Hardy and Lita! In what way does this relate to the title scene? Once again, as I’ve shown before with several other matches on this PPV, it was thrown together merely a few weeks ago and has received far too little attention since then. The entire focus has been on the Hell in a Cell match. Where is that kind of intensity on the rest of the card? No where. And I honestly don’t feel like they haven’t had more then enough time to come up with something a little better.

The fact of the matter is that individually entertaining Raw’s, do not equal an interesting PPV.

Remy

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