What a difference four days can make. Last Thursday, WWE presented NXT: Takeover, a show with mostly non-main roster talent that had two really good matches and arguably the best Divas match since NXT: Arrival. Last night, WWE presented Payback. Payback had a mixture of established stars and fresh talents who have the crowd soundly behind them, yet the only thing memorable about the show was how unmemorable it will end up being a week from now. I realize with “pay per views” now being on the WWE Network almost exclusively there isn’t the need to convince fans… I mean, members of the WWE Universe to fork over $45 on a monthly basis. However, WWE needs to realize with these shows being three hours long, they need to entice fans to spend that time watching the show. Out of the three hours for Payback, only about 45 minutes were worth watching. And that’s being generous.
Bad news for RVD Photo courtesy: WWE.com
Payback was essentially a one-match show in my opinion. There are several popular WWE Superstars that I don’t really care to watch and that affects my view of the show. That list includes, Sheamus, Rob Van Dam (which is sad since I used to be a huge RVD mark back during ECW’s heyday) and Evolution. Because of that bias, and the fact I didn’t watch the show until around 11pm due to watching the Kings/Blackhawks game, I’ll admit that I didn’t really give 100% attention to the Cesaro/Sheamus, Bad News Barrett/RVD or Big E/Rusev matches. In addition to matches with little personal interest, another complaint I had was with the announcing. I know complaining about WWE announcing is like complaining about a visit to the DMV. You know what you’re going to get before you get there but it’s still annoying. During Payback, Michael Cole started a new trend of telling the WWE Universe what hash tag to on Twitter during each match. When he wasn’t coaching the social media users, most of the time he sounded like he was parroting whatever was being said into his ear instead of actually calling a match. JBL and Jerry Lawler were their typical selves. So take that how you will.
Evolution vs. the Shield Photo courtesy: WWE.com
As for the actual matches, other than the Shield doing a complete sweep over Evolution in the elimination match main event, I don’t think there was anything worth going out of your way to see on this show. Even the Shield/Evolution match wasn’t as good as their match at Extreme Rules. It was more of Evolution lays out a member of the Shield until another member of the Shield comes flying into the picture taking out all three members of Evolution. Repeat that sequence for 30 minutes.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Photo courtesy: WWE.com
The big announcement coming out of the show is Daniel Bryan is still WWE Champion after his wife Brie Bella decided to quit instead of being fired. After quitting, Brie slapped Stephanie McMahon who then ran off backstage never to be seen again. If you like bad acting, this segment was designed for you.
They're both still standing... Photo courtesy: WWE.com
The moment that really took me out of the show and made me question WWE booking was John Cena defeating Bray Wyatt in the Last Man Standing match. Everything WWE has done right with the Shield, they seem to do wrong with Bray Wyatt. Even though John Cena put over Bray at the press conference table, having Cena come out victorious instead of helping establish a new talent, doesn’t make sense to me. Or maybe I’m just a bigger Bray fan than Cena fan so I’m upset Bray didn’t win. Overall, if you have three hours to kill and are looking for something to watch, go to SMVOD.com and buy Chikara’s You Only Live Twice. If you have 30 minutes to kill, the Shield/Evolution match isn’t a bad time filler. Match results : Sheamus defeated Cesaro to retain the US title RybAxel defeated the Rhodes Brothers Rusev defeated Big E. Kane attacked Kofi Kingston before his match with Bo Dallas Bad New Barrett retained the IC title over Rob Van Dam John Cena was the last man standing against Bray Wyatt Paige defeated Alicia Fox The Shield had a clean sweep against Evolution in an elimination match.
Jeff Hardy made his return
to TNA IMPACT the same day he was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 30 months
probation in his 2 year long arrest for drug possession. Technically, Jeff made
his return a week before the sentencing since the episode was taped as part of
a double taping in Huntsville, Alabama. I think it was very optimistic move by
TNA management to bring Jeff back prior to finding out what would be his
eventual penalty.I also think it
was a decision which reinforces my belief TNA management puts profits over the
well being of their employees.
After reading Hardy was
making his return, I was secretly hoping the judge in the case would be a
wrestling fan who was tired of TNA’s ineptitude and would sentence Jeff to at
least a year in jail just to make TNA look foolish for bringing him back on the
day of the sentencing. Since Jeff doesn’t have a match announced for the No
Surrender pay per view, why didn’t TNA wait until after the PPV to bring Hardy
back? Other than bringing Jeff back when they did allowed him to make a return
in front of an actual paying crowd instead of the mix of tourist and TNA
loyalists at the Impact Zone.
Sting pins Hardy (Impact Wrestling)
Since Jeff’s embarrassing
performance at Victory Road, there have been no reports of Jeff admitting to
having any type of substance abuse problem, or taking any action showing regret
and remorse for the situation.Why
does TNA feel they needed to bring Jeff back? Given the firing of Matt Hardy a
week prior to Jeff’s return, the decision to have Jeff return makes very little
sense. I’m trying to think of anything Jeff has to uniquely offer the TNA
product.
Ratings will not
dramatically increase with Jeff’s return. There aren’t any dream matches I can
think of that are new.It would be
foolish to put Jeff in any program for a title given his track record. So what
benefit does TNA see in having Jeff back on the shows?It would be different if Jeff had
publicly apologized to the fans and to the TNA staff.If he had asked for a chance to right the wrongs and said he
wanted to show the fans the Jeff Hardy they enjoyed during the Attitude Era,
maybe I could understand bringing him back. But, as I’ve said, there has been no
remorse by Jeff. At least none that I’ve seen been made public.
From Impact Wrestling
With Kurt Angle’s recent DUI’s,
the hiring of Rob Van Dam and Brian Kendrick who have both made public
statements about their marijuana usage, and now the continued employment of
Jeff Hardy, TNA, I feel, is setting themselves up for a potential media
backlash. What happens when one of their wrestlers either has a serious or
fatal accident? The cynic in me says if that that happens, the media will
mention them as former WWE wrestlers instead of current TNA wrestlers and the
blame will be deflected away from TNA. Even if that is the case, TNA needs to
wake up and implement a drug-testing program similar to WWE’s and make it
publicly known. If they want to be the number two promotion, they need to start
acting like it instead of being a glorified independent promotion.
From Impact Wrestling
I
hope Jeff Hardy recognizes the severity of his arrest and decides to clean up
his personal life. Hopefully being back on the road with TNA won’t bring a
return of his personal demons. I guess only time will tell.
What
are your thoughts? Should TNA have brought Jeff Hardy back or should they have
moved on and pushed new stars? Share your thoughts on our Facebook or Twitter
pages.
Since Sunday is the second annual Money in the Bank pay per view, I decided now is as good a time as any to share my thoughts on past MITB matches. The idea originated at Wrestlemania 21, and featured six guys: Christian, Edge, Shelton Benjamin, Kane, Chris Jericho, and Chris Benoit.
That first match was the best of the series in my opinion. I could have seen any six of those guys winning and cashing in to face the champion. At the time of the match in 2005, there were three former world champs in it (Kane, Jericho, and Benoit). All three of those guys had short runs as champion, so it wouldn't have been a bad thing for any of them to win.
Jim Ross described the match as a human demolition derby. There were a lot of exciting spots in it and all six guys did a great job telling a story in the ring. Highlights include (I just watched it again last night), Shelton Benjamin doing the T Bone to Edge off the top of the ladder, and Chris Benoit climbing the top of a ladder and doing a diving headbutt from the top and hitting Kane. Like I said anyone could have won that match and I would have been fine with it. Clearly, this was the event that put Edge's main event status career into motion. I liked how the match played out with all the spots and the drama involved. Then of course, Edge finally snatching that briefcase and clutching it for dear life afterward. I also loved the way Edge kept it for almost a year before cashing it in. The whole angle played out well and elevated Edge to the next level. That's what MITB is supposed to do.
Flair goes for it...
Unfortunately, I think that's the ONLY time MITB did that for the winner. I was at Wrestlemania 22 in Chicago for the second version of the match. This one featured Rob Van Dam, Ric Flair, Finlay, Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and Matt Hardy. This one was obviously no where near as good as the first. I knew there was little chance that Hardy, Finlay, or Flair would win. However, in my (and maybe Chad's too, I don't remember) dream scenario, I had Flair winning that match. Triple H winning the title from Cena in the main event, and Flair immediately cashing in to have one more run as the champ. It would have been the "Wrestlemania moment"that Flair never got.
Wishful thinking, I know. Of course RVD did win the match and eventually the title. But if you recall, he was busted for marijuana use and his time as champ was brief. He kinda bounced around the midcard after that before finally leaving the company.
The WWE added more superstars to the third MITB match at Wrestlemania 23. And in a surprise win, Mr. Kennedy beat out the others, including Randy Orton, Edge, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, and Booker T among others. My memory of that match it was pretty good too. Better than the previous year, but still not as good as the first year.
From WWE
The one big spot that sticks out to me was Jeff Hardy doing the Swanton Bomb onto Edge as he was laid across another ladder. I think that move took them both out of the match. Ouch!
Kennedy won the match as I mentioned, and is the only superstar to date to not win the title as a result. In fact, he lost the case in a match against Edge. Story has it that Kennedy was hurt and facing a long time on the sidelines, so the company decided to have him drop the case and go with Edge again. Turns out, Kennedy's injury wasn't as bad as they thought it was. Unfortunately for him (and the fans) this was the beginning of the end for him. I don't feel like he ever rebounded from that and ended up being released a few years later.
In the following years, the competitors and it became more of a match to see how many superstars they could get on the Wrestlemania card. Who really thought Mark Henry would win? Or Matt Hardy? Or even Evan Bourne at Wrestlemania 26?
From WWE
In 2010 the WWE started the MITB ppv. Two ladder matches were featured, one for SmackDown! and one for Raw. I was surprised by the results of both matches. I didn't figure Kane would get another run as champion. But the Miz's win was an even bigger surprise for me. A good surprise though. I was glad to see him win and eventually become champion, despite the fact that he's back to the midcard.
Now we're preparing for another MITB and it's anything goes again. It's hard to pick a winner. My hope is that it's a couple of guys who haven't been champion yet. And will they eventually have someone win the match and not the title? It's happened with the Royal Rumble-Wrestlemania main event scenario. One idea I've seen bounced around is the Raw winner cashes in tomorrow night, only to lose to CM Punk and before he gets out of the ring with the WWE title forever, the SmackDown! winner rushes the ring and cashes in for the win. An interesting option indeed.
My original point for this post is that I'm not a huge fan of the speciality pay per view. I think they should have kept Money in the Bank on the Wrestlemania card and not created a separate event for it. The same can be said for the Hell in the Cell and Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV with more than one of these kinds of matches, it takes away from the uniqueness of the match. I remember when the first HITC match happened in 1997 and how they were used very sparingly for the next several years.
I may be wrong here, but I think the original idea of MITB was to create new main event level superstars. It worked in 2005 with Edge. It could have worked with RVD the next year, but his personal life got in the way. Kennedy was sure to be a champion, but he was injury prone and that took him out. The idea was successful for CM Punk who won the MITB twice and became champion two times. But after losing the belt, he seemed to falter in the midcard. It wasn't until earlier this year that the company pushed him again and put him in the spotlight. I just hope this momentum continues for him.
Swagger wins MITB at Wrestlemania 26
Now look at Jack Swagger and the Miz. Swagger was not ready to be the champion. I don't know why they hot shotted that angle. They could have let him develop more and cash in later in the year. Instead, his run as world champion was barely memorable. The Miz was ready I thought. But I think the company went to their backup plan and put the title back on Cena like they always do. Now Miz is Alex Riley's whipping boy.
No matter who wins the MITB matches on July 17th, I hope they are guys who the company puts some faith in and support not just while they're pursuing the champion, but into their title reign as well. This event could elevate the game again. I just hope the WWE is ready.
