There’s no hiding it; the WWE had a bit of an off week. Considering this was a go-home show for Raw, our excitement levels for Payback are collectively pretty low. The week did get progressively better, however, and there were still some decent segments to talk about, but all in all, we won’t be remembering very much of the action before too long. That being said, here is what we learned from watching WWE this week.
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#1 ‘Go-home’ shows aren’t as important as they used to be
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Back in the days of the attitude and ruthless aggression eras, go-home shows were part and parcel of the WWF/E product. The content overall was generally better back then anyway, but when it came to the Raw or SmackDown before a PPV, you expected that little bit more. Go-home shows today just don’t fulfil the purpose they used to. If it wasn’t for the commentators constantly reminding us, we might not otherwise be aware there was a PPV scheduled for the end of the week a lot of the time.
Many subtle changes have made WWE’s modern era distinguishable from the 1980’s and 2000’s, but one obvious factor is the WWE network. Gone are the days in which the company had to promote and encourage people to buy their PPVs for $40-50 each.
Nowadays if you’re a wrestling fan, you’re probably a subscriber to the still very reasonably priced network. This, unfortunately, means the writers don’t have to try quite as hard to get you excited for the upcoming event, and it’s also the reason why we get so many last minute matches thrown in with no backstory or payoff.
This week was a shining example of this. True, promoting matches is slightly more challenging when you’re in the middle of a superstar shake-up. Jericho and Owens couldn’t have a face to face altercation for example, but looking at Raw as a whole, nothing was really done to get us ready for this Sunday. The main event of the show had nothing to do with anything Payback related. As of this moment, we aren’t even expecting an IC title match between The Miz and Ambrose.
It is always a shame when a company feels it doesn’t have to try as hard to get our attention, but I suppose this is the genius of the WWE Network. Once you’ve subscribed, it will take a lot for you to back out.
#2 Dean Ambrose is slowly getting back to form
In my 10 questions from Wrestlemania, we most need Answering article for Sportskeeda, I asked whether Dean Ambrose even cared anymore about being a WWE superstar. Ever since his fantastic rivalry with Seth Rollins in 2014, Ambrose has been on a downward trend. His matches and promo segments have felt half-hearted, and he has done nothing much to progress his character for the past three years.
Thankfully, however, his transition to Raw, as part of the superstar shake-up, seems to have done him a world of good. This week he was involved in both the opening segment and the main event match-up. The chemistry he had with The Miz last week was still apparent here, but it was his comedy interplay with Chris Jericho that made him shine on Monday night.
On a good day, Ambrose has the ability to be the Chris Jericho of the new era. Although their in-ring styles are very different, they both have the talent to mix serious and comedy segments together and adapt to the situation accordingly.
It was refreshing to see the WWE mention the previous feud between the two, with Ambrose buying Jericho a new jacket and Jericho reminding Dean that he owed him $15,000 for destroying the old one. Both men, when they can be bothered, try that little bit harder to make a program work, and for that, we should be appreciative.
If Dean can keep this up for a few more weeks, and provided he doesn’t fall too far down the pecking order when Roman Reigns returns, we could see a permanent return to form for the Lunatic Fringe.
Also read: Best and Worst of Raw: 24th April, 2017
#3 Alexa Bliss knows how to handle difficult crowds
We’ve all known it for quite some time now, but Alexa Bliss is surely destined for great things if she keeps going the way she is. While I still think losing Charlotte has damaged the Raw women’s division, Alexa is proving she has what it takes to hold the others up.
This week her promo skills were on full display. After enjoying the natural babyface reaction one tends to get from their hometown crowd, Alexa was facing a far more hostile audience on Raw this week. A few lines into her monologue, the crowd annoyingly started chanting “WHAT?” at her –as if we really need to hear that again! A lesser talent would have become flustered and probably raced to the end of their segment to avoid too much embarrassment, but Alexa was quick to acknowledge and deal with it like a pro.
Even before she took any notice, the chants themselves weren’t working because Alexa doesn’t follow the typical WWE promo style of stopping after every line, which generally makes the “WHAT?” chants so tempting. She speaks in a believable way and gets her point across effectively. This is exactly what we need from our superstars today, especially in the women’s division. Here’s hoping she becomes the champion on Sunday.
As for the rest of the roster, Bayley’s likeability is still dragging her along, but her mic skills need a vast improvement, quickly. Sasha is marginally better on the mic and can go in the ring, but after she interrupted Alexa on Monday night, it felt like the whole segment fell flat. Bliss is the measuring stick at the moment, and it’s time the other women stepped it up a little.
#4 Nakamura probably needed a better first opponent
To their credit, the WWE have handled Shinsuke Nakamura's main roster debut quite well. Seeing the King of Strong Style wrestle should feel like a big deal, so having him come in and immediately get in the ring with a jobber wouldn’t have done the occasion justice. Instead, they have slowly introduced him to fans who don’t watch NJPW or NXT and are building up his first match like the attraction that it is.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find anyone better than Dolph Ziggler to face him. That’s not to say the in-ring action won’t be great. We all know Dolph can go in the ring, and he is still one of the best sellers the WWE has right now. Shinsuke’s strong style moves ought to look quite effective at Backlash.
The problem lies in Ziggler’s mic skills and overall persona. Dolph isn’t known for being the best talker in general, and the promo between the two of them this week was very awkward indeed. For Nakamura to have any success in the WWE, he is going to need to work with some talented talkers. His English isn’t great, and his character is a little different to anything WWE-only fans are used to.
Dolph doesn’t have that out and out heel persona that helps dRaw heat onto himself and support on to his opponent. A far better feud would have been Nakamura Vs. The Miz. He would have been able to do 80% of the talking, and he actually has the skills to come across as an effective heel. Hopefully, the match we have will be fantastic, and both men can move on to something a little more suited to their respective skills.
Also read: Best and Worst of SmackDown LIVE: 25th April, 2017
#5 Charlotte could work well as a ‘tweener'
Last week’s Wrestler of the Week, Charlotte Flair, had another busy day at the office on Tuesday night. After defeating Naomi to earn her spot as the number one contender last week, she found herself in the main event of the show to compete for the title itself.
Charlotte is effectively between two different feuds at the moment. On the one hand, she is fighting Naomi for the title; and on the other, she has the newly formed ‘welcoming committee’ (I hope that becomes their official name) to contend with. All of this is starting to point towards a face turn for the Queen. But if this week was anything to go by, the company might do better to consider making her a tweener instead.
The tweener character isn’t something you see a lot of in today’s WWE, which is strange considering how many heels get cheered and how many faces get booed on a weekly basis. A tweener is someone who just does their thing and lets the crowd decide for themselves, a bit like Stone Cold Steve Austin. Turning Charlotte face would be a bit of a mistake considering she is very good at being obnoxious and looking down at everyone else. However, the dynamics of her against a hostile stable works too.
Charlotte is basically in a league of her own at the moment, so separating her from the standard babyface/heel divide would make sense. This is essentially the role she played this week on SmackDown, and hopefully, we get to see a similar thing play out over the next few weeks.
#6 NXT showed the rest of the roster how it’s done
In a pretty lacklustre week, arguably the better show of the three this week was NXT on Wednesday night. The show kicked off with a high-intensity altercation between Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross, which would lead later into a match that never got started. This was a nice break from the traditional formula of a match, a promo segment, another match, etc. Cross was the only member of Sanity to appear this week, and she is more than capable of getting herself across as the ‘crazy heel chick’ character.
Alistair Black continues to impress as he also offers something a little bit different from the norm. Something about him reminds me of Baron Corbin’s early days in NXT; let’s hope the meditative one enjoys the same amount of success as the aforementioned.
The highlight of the show and probably the week as a whole was the final match-up between Gentleman Jack Gallagher and Tyler Bates for the United Kingdom Championship. Despite this match essentially being a marketing tool for the upcoming United Kingdom Championship weekly show on the WWE network, both men treated this as a big deal.
Gallagher, in particular, knows how to entertain a crowd both with his wrestling ability and his rather elaborate, performative style. If the sole purpose of this match was to encourage people to tune into the UK show on the network, it’s pretty safe to say the objective was achieved, and then some.
#7 And the Superstar of the Week was…Jack Gallagher
After a slow and uninspiring set of shows, it was somewhat challenging to pick a superstar of the week this week. Nobody really stood out above anyone else. Despite Alexa Bliss’s fantastic performance on the mic and Ambrose’s return to form, it was probably the United Kingdom Championship match that this week will be remembered for.
Gallagher did come out on the losing side, and you wouldn’t hear too much disagreement from me if you thought Bates deserved the accolade more, but there’s something about Gallagher that tells me he’s destined for great things. He’s a comedy character you can also take seriously in the ring. He carries himself differently than 90% of the roster, without being too left-field as to put us off. Together with Bates, Gallagher dragged this week by the collar and turned it into a passable seven days. Congratulations, Jack Gallagher.
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