Oh my stars

Epico & Primo: The Shining Stars
Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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Webster's defines debut as "the first time an actor, musician, athlete, etc., does something in public or for the public."  On the May 16, 2016 episode of Monday Night Raw 'the voice of the WWE" Michael Cole wrapped up a match featuring Epico & Primo (The Shining Stars) as "What a debut!" 

Los Matadores & El Torito
Courtesy: WWE

The problem here is Epico and Primo have been a WWE tag team for nearly five years. In fact, they're former tag team champions. And before that Primo and his brother Carlito were the tag champs. Up until a few months ago the Colon cousins donned masks an wrestled as Los Matadores.

Primo, Rosa and Epico
Courtesy: WWE

I understand their match on Raw this week was a reboot for their characters. They're now the Shining Stars, but they're still Epico and Primo.  They don't seem all that different from the team that transitioned to bullfighters nearly three years ago.  I shouldn't just pick on Cole, as tweets earlier in the night teased a debut.  I'm sure someone higher on the food chain told the announce team to sell the match the way they did.

The Shining Stars on the beach
Courtesy: WWE

I see why WWE doesn't say Bray Wyatt was Husky Harris or Luke Gallows was Festus.  But when two guys who were tag champs by the same exact names as they're "debuting" as is a bit of an insult to the fans' intelligence.  But hey, that's just My 1-2-3 Cents.  What do you think?

Tag Team Reboot

Cody & Goldust vs. Rey Mysterio & Big Show
Photo courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Tag team wrestling has been a dying art in WWE over the last few years.  Recently though things had started looking up with the formation and development of new duos.  But even in the last few weeks things have gotten interesting to say the least.

The Shield...for now
Photo courtesy: WWE

I like the fact that the Rhodes Brothers are the current tag team champions.  While I was disappointed to see the Shield's reign come to an end, I think the company needs to figure out if they're going to use them as a six man tag team or individuals.  I'm still not 100% keen on Dean Ambrose with the U.S. Title, but that's a blog for another day.  Now there are rumors (even hints being dropped) that Roman Reigns will venture off on his own.  I wonder if Ambrose and Seth Rollins will pick up when Reigns leaves off.  But I'm putting the cart before the horse here.

Also throw into the mix The Wyatt Family, which kinda falls into that same Shield category in my opinion.  They're guys who I could see having legit careers as singles wrestlers too, which isn't a bad thing, I just hope they get some time to compete as a cohesive unit and the WWE doesn't split them up too soon.

RybAxel vs. Tons of Fun
Photo courtesy: WWE

Los Matadores, The Prime Time Players, The Real Americans, The Usos, and 3MB are the tag team type teams on the roster right now.  I was disappointed to see Tons of Funk get split up, but it appears that R Truth and Xaiver Woods are developing as a team.  Ryback and Curtis Axel are also coming into their own as a unit.  Let's fact it, the WWE didn't do much with either man in 2013, so maybe creating "RybAxel will help breath life into both men's careers.

Henry & Langton vs. Real Americans
Photo courtesy: WWE

Now it looks like Rey Mysterio and The Big Show and Big E Langston and Mark Henry are starting to compete in the tag team ranks.  This is just my opinion, but I think Show and Rey are two singles guys who creative has nothing for, so they're testing the waters with them as a team.  They recently beat Goldust and Cody Rhodes in a non-title match.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  But I can tell you, I don't like Langston and Henry as a team, only because Big E just won the Intercontinental Title.  He should be focused on defending that championship as far as I'm concerned.

I think it would make sense to reintroduce fans to Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd, now that Kidd is back and healthy.  I wouldn't mind an Air Boom reunion either, and there's plenty of budding talent on NXT.  It'll be interesting to see what 2014 will hold for the tag team ranks.

Boo: Hell in a Handbasket

Hell in a Cell 2013
Photo by WWE

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

A few months ago, Kevin started branching out and making my123cents more of a pop culture blog instead of strictly a wrestling blog. I’m thinking I should probably start to follow in his footsteps and write about anything other than wrestling. Last week, I wrote about how I was done watching TNA because I didn’t want to watch WWE-lite.  After watching this year’s “Hell In A Cell” pay per view, I think I don’t care to watch WWE. This show encapsulated the majority of what’s wrong in wrestling today.

Before I get all negative and cynical, I’ll mention the few positives of the show. The opening Tag-Team Title match was, as expected, really good. Goldust is making the most of his return to WWE. Goldy and Cody are working well as a team and their feud with The Shield has provided several exciting matches. 

Summer Rae dropkicks Nattie
Photo by WWE

Summer Rae had her WWE debut match in a mixed-tag match. Summer teamed with dance partner Fandango to battle Natalya Neidhart and The Great Khali.  Anyone who watches NXT knows Summer Rae can deliver inside the ring when given the chance. While she and Nattie had a decent match last night, I can’t get my hopes up too high for the future as WWE is not known to give the Divas much time nor do they let the talented Divas really showcase their talents. 

Now lets move onto the cynicism.  While Summer Rae had a good debut, I couldn’t help but wonder why this match was on the PPV. This wasn’t anything more than what you’d find on RAW or Smackdown. In addition to this match, Hell In A Cell also featured The Real Americans vs. Los Matadores and an impromptu match between Big E. Langston vs. Dean Ambrose that ended in Dean being counted out. Originally Big E was supposed to face Curtis Axel on the YouTube/WWE App pre-show match, but due to Curtis being injured the match was scrapped and the match with Dean was set up during the pre-show. Due to the not being originally scheduled, I anticipated a count out to end the match as I couldn’t see Dean losing the US title nor would it make sense for Big E to lose when he’s starting to get a push. If WWE pulls and audible and continues a feud between these two then the ending to the match could be justified. This match served no purpose other than to fill 15-minutes of airtime on a show with too much filler if it doesn't lead to an extended feud.

Ole! It's El Torrito
Photo by WWE

While Los Matadores and The Real Americans was set up for the PPV over the last couple weeks of RAW and Smackdown, my issues is the match was more about getting El Torito over than anyone else in the match. I may be wrong, but I’d be willing to bet the commentary team spent more time talking about “the bull” than talking about anyone else in the match. This is one of WWE’s biggest problems right now, in my opinion. No wrestler is getting built up to be a major player. Wrestlers are either becoming mid-card comedy/humor fodder (Santino, Fandango, Tons of Funk) or simply stuck into mid-card purgatory (Ziggler, The Miz, Sandow).  This was evident in the two main title matches.

The Champ is here! Again
Photo by WWE

John Cena returned after a two-month hiatus for elbow surgery and promptly won the World Title from Alberto Del Rio.  There was no warm up match to see if Cena was healthy to compete. There was no, he’s been away for two months so now he has to work his way back to the top story. John Cena simply walked into American Airlines Arena and regained the “Being John Cena” title. It’s almost like WWE wouldn’t know what to do if John Cena wasn’t holding a title. Instead of using Cena to help elevate new main event talent, he has to be the man on top. After nine years, it’s time for Cena to not be the main focus. I strongly believe if Cena were gone for at least a year, his return would negate the “Cena sucks” jeers.

Orton wins
Photo by WWE

As bad as Cena winning the World Title is, it’s overshadowed by Daniel Bryan once again looking like a joke. Thanks to a super kick from guest referee Shawn Michaels, Daniel Bryan failed to become a three time WWE champion in the span of two months. After the match, I commented on Twitter that WWE should stick a fork in Bryan, as he’s officially been Zigglered. Even if he wins the title in the coming months, the current storyline has devalued him to the point where I don’t know if fans would buy into him being a credible champion.

In the last five years, how many legitimate main event wrestlers has WWE created? The only name I can think of that may fit the bill is Sheamus. But I’m not even sure if he’s at that level. The lack of trusting anyone other than Cena or Attitude Era wrestlers to be the focus of shows is hindering WWE’s enjoyment factor for me. Maybe I’m the only one who feels this way.

Last week, I said I was done watching TNA. This week, I’m going to say that with the exception of NXT, I think it’s time I take a break from WWE programming. I’ll still keep up to date on what’s happening and will still make plans to attend Wrestlemania 30, though that’s more for the chance to hang out with friends from around the world than about the show. But as for watching RAW or Smackdown on a regular basis, I’m done.

So look for more pop culture blogs in the future. At least until the return of Chikara.