Current WWE

[cm funk]

 

Working wise I think it will be an adjustment for Rollins, but I think he will be okay. While he was better as a face, he worked fine as a heel both in tags and singles matches for the first year of The Shield's run.

 

The Shield, as great as they are/were, didn't exactly turn in inspired heel work from what I've seen of their PPV matches, which is probably why they were already earning cheers as "cool heels" even before the turn. They've always been heels by association - they've relied on the "the numbers game" for beatdowns, but they've also taken that approach for their face work against the Authority. That's Wrestling Faction 101 stuff, no matter what side you're working on.

 

More importantly, Rollins and Reigns spent most of their time in the tag division simply going toe-to-toe with their opponents. Outside of Rollins attacking Rey Mysterio after his elimination from the Survivor Series tag match, they didn't do a ton of deliberate heeling in the ring that I can recall. They yanked the Usos off of the apron to cutoff a Goldust tag attempt in their Hell in the Cell triple threat tag match, but that's not really heelish as much as it is smart.

 

And Rollins' typical role within those tag matches was transitioning into and feeding the hot tag. His finisher is a nice spot but, outside of his middle turnbuckle stun gun spot, his control work in the PPV matches that I've seen consisted of rapid double-teams and pedestrian offense. More than once, he ate the opposing team's finisher to either end the match (Battleground, HitC) or open up the legal man to a spear from Reigns that would turn the tide or maybe even win the match (the six-man at WM29). Hell, he spent most of his time in the TLC handicap match giving Punk offense.

 

Sure, part of Rollins' lack of opportunity to shine as a heel may be by design; Reigns was very clearly the guy they wanted to protect in the Shield, so that severely limited their options for structuring any kind of vulnerability into their tag matches that didn't compromise Rollins in the process. (The fact that Rollins is willing and able to take flashier bumps doesn't hurt either.) But Rollins never really stood out with what time he had as a heel anyway -- his stock only started to pick up once they started facing heels and he could open up with more aerial offense.

 

Shawn Michaels was in a very similar situation when he turned -- even though his offense as a heel was laughable, he could bump like a fiend -- but he could also work around those limitations by being incredibly charismatic. Unless there's something amazing hidden in Rollins that we haven't seen, he doesn't have that same safety net.

 

also, smh at comments vis a v Rollins' motivation for turning heel

 

He was "the Architect" of the Shield. He sweat and bled and kept the unit together. HHH gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. Fuck those guys. Rollins gettin PAID and all that. He's the man now, dawg.

 

This isn't complicated storytelling.

 

This whole angle started with them already working for the Authority as their enforcers -- they broke ranks once they found out that HHH had orchestrated the attack on them right before Wrestlemania XXX. Why would Rollins, only twenty-four hours after going to war with these guys, trust anything that HHH would offer him?

 

 

Rollins has had a seething undercurrent of anger for a while now. Ambrose was the leader of the group at first, then Reigns, and Seth is like, "UMMMM.....I'M THE MAN. FUCK THIS."

 

It's total Owen Hart heel turn-ish.

 

Also, in terms of the way matches were worked, Rollins would often take pins but often be the difference maker offensively. Of the 3 he was the guy most likely to be put down for a 3 count due to his reckless nature, but also the guy who could come out of nowhere for the 1-2-3

[BillThompson]

I can kinda get the "they could go their separate ways as singles and be friends" idea, but really, what is the point of that?

 

To do something different for a change. In the real world I don't say to my partner, "Ryan, we've tackled just about every heart attack there is to tackle, now I'm gonna punch you in the face and find a new partner." More often than not people go off and do their own thing while still maintaining their friendships. Only in pro wrestling is it a must that one guy must turn on the other. Personally I think it's done so often that it devalues the moments when it does happen.

[DR Ackermann]

When they had the brand split they were able to use that as an excuse to break teams up amicably.

[rovert]

PWInsider

 

WWE's talent relations department issued letters this week to former contracted talents and referees offering them financial assistance in a number of ways never before offered by the company.

WWE's letter noted that they are now offering, free of charge, financial and debt assistance serves through a financial firm for anyone who was ever under contract. The assistance would include help with financial management and for talents who are in debt, help with debt consolidation.

WWE is also offering a $5,000 per semester scholarship to any former talents who wish to further their college education. The letter noted that talented needed to enroll by 8/1 to be eligible for the $5,000 available for them for the Fall 2014 semester and then provide proof of enrollment to WWE.

The letters were sent out earlier this week and former talents are just starting to receive them. Obviously, this is a huge positive for anyone who chooses to take WWE up on the offers.

Yikes

WWE The College Years

[Strummer]

At the tapings tonight Rollins did the whole "you don't deserve an explanation" deal. Lame. Lame . Lame. Apparently he drew solid heat though

[Matt D]

It is smackdown.

[Dylan Waco]

Honestly "you don't deserve an explanation" is probably not the worst idea given the available options. While I agree with the argument that it can be explained and you can look at the past and see where seeds were planted, the reality is that the timing of it was abysmal. I didn't want The Shield to break up period, but I could have lived with it if had occurred on Sunday, or at MITB, or right after MITB. But the night after The Shield wins definitively, in a match where Rollins had been in a savage war with both Orton and HHH? It's just stupid and if TNA had done the exact same angle (and they have done things like this many times) it would have been universally panned.

 

Interestingly I had the exact opposite experience of Kris at work today with people basically making the point above ("why would he join the losing team, this is stupid") and absolutely no one understanding the angle, or liking it at all. Having said that it is possible the "why would they do something so stupid?" aspect could draw viewers...and if they get the explanation above it's not going to be good.

 

One final point - I strongly disagree with the notion that The Shield had nothing left to do as an act. They were together for about eighteen months as an act. In that time they were consistently over, consistently high end performers in the ring, and they consistently found things to do with them. They had barely scratched the babyface surface with them. If you want to make the argument that this is not a bad time I'd listen (doubtful I'd agree but I could see it), but I can't think of any reason to believe the group had been completely exhausted.

[Matt D]

I think the best logic is that Trips only offered the deal once he got desperate after the Shield beat them so definitively. Before that, the deal wasn't on the table. Hell, maybe even Rollins went to Hunter on his own after Sunday and Rollins' plan all along was to push him to the point where he'd TAKE the deal. I think having Rollins be the one behind it all and that he architect-ed himself a shit ton of money and the new "Face of the WWE" role would be seen as not giving Hunter enough credit (or heat) though.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I haven't seen RAW yet, but if they had had HHH offer a briefcase full of money to Seth, Seth appears to be turning it down only to clobber Ambrose with it, then it'd be awesome.

[sek69]

I haven't seen RAW yet, but if they had had HHH offer a briefcase full of money to Seth, Seth appears to be turning it down only to clobber Ambrose with it, then it'd be awesome.

 

 

Yes, and then HHH could be Harley Race to Randy and Seth's Dick Slater and Bob Orton (hey!)

[Dylan Waco]

I hope HHH paid Rollins in cocaine

[Dylan Waco]

I think the best logic is that Trips only offered the deal once he got desperate after the Shield beat them so definitively. Before that, the deal wasn't on the table. Hell, maybe even Rollins went to Hunter on his own after Sunday and Rollins' plan all along was to push him to the point where he'd TAKE the deal. I think having Rollins be the one behind it all and that he architect-ed himself a shit ton of money and the new "Face of the WWE" role would be seen as not giving Hunter enough credit (or heat) though.

 

I honestly think one of the key goals of this is to get some real heat on HHH and Orton, who simply don't get reactions as wrestlers

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

 

I haven't seen RAW yet, but if they had had HHH offer a briefcase full of money to Seth, Seth appears to be turning it down only to clobber Ambrose with it, then it'd be awesome.

 

 

Yes, and then HHH could be Harley Race to Randy and Seth's Dick Slater and Bob Orton (hey!)

I was thinking Paul Jones, Manny Fernandez, and Jimmy Valiant.

 

Of course, I ALWAYS think about that.

[Matt D]

 

I think the best logic is that Trips only offered the deal once he got desperate after the Shield beat them so definitively. Before that, the deal wasn't on the table. Hell, maybe even Rollins went to Hunter on his own after Sunday and Rollins' plan all along was to push him to the point where he'd TAKE the deal. I think having Rollins be the one behind it all and that he architect-ed himself a shit ton of money and the new "Face of the WWE" role would be seen as not giving Hunter enough credit (or heat) though.

 

I honestly think one of the key goals of this is to get some real heat on HHH and Orton, who simply don't get reactions as wrestlers

 

 

I suppose I get that, but my idea is better. I don't have the first idea what to do with Orton at this point except for maybe being the Wyatt family gimp.

[cm funk]

Honestly "you don't deserve an explanation" is probably not the worst idea given the available options. While I agree with the argument that it can be explained and you can look at the past and see where seeds were planted, the reality is that the timing of it was abysmal. I didn't want The Shield to break up period, but I could have lived with it if had occurred on Sunday, or at MITB, or right after MITB. But the night after The Shield wins definitively, in a match where Rollins had been in a savage war with both Orton and HHH? It's just stupid and if TNA had done the exact same angle (and they have done things like this many times) it would have been universally panned.

 

Interestingly I had the exact opposite experience of Kris at work today with people basically making the point above ("why would he join the losing team, this is stupid") and absolutely no one understanding the angle, or liking it at all. Having said that it is possible the "why would they do something so stupid?" aspect could draw viewers...and if they get the explanation above it's not going to be good.

 

One final point - I strongly disagree with the notion that The Shield had nothing left to do as an act. They were together for about eighteen months as an act. In that time they were consistently over, consistently high end performers in the ring, and they consistently found things to do with them. They had barely scratched the babyface surface with them. If you want to make the argument that this is not a bad time I'd listen (doubtful I'd agree but I could see it), but I can't think of any reason to believe the group had been completely exhausted.

 

 

I just don't think a dominant babyface faction works. We were all expecting The Shield to break up quite a while ago and they morphed nicely into a babyface trio thanks to the Wyatt feud.....but really what else do you do with them as a group? I don't dig the "they go their separate ways but remain friends" angle. If you do that, then what? That doesn't work for me. I'm struggling to think of a babyface faction that worked that way, would love to see examples. I suppose the closest example would be The Freebirds? But they were heels, who only worked babyface when the crowd was digging them so much.

 

There's also a major problem in modern WWE that there are no strong heels. The good heels get cheered now because the crowd is meta. The classic babyfaces get heel heat. The cool heels get face heat. This really isn't WWE's fault, it's just due to fans being "in on it" so to speak. Bad News Barrett, Cesaro......they get cheered because they are awesome. WWE wants them to be heels, but the crowd wants to cheer them. Zeb Coulter....crowds love him. He's such a heel....but WE THE PEOPLE got over huge with crowds. Bo Dallas who just debuted and is such a sleazy heel is already getting face responses. It just is what is. Look at the roster.....who are the heels? John Cena might get the biggest heel heat and he's the whitebread superman babyface. Crowds started trying to turn Orton face earlier this year when he was the BIGGEST snakey shitbag around and was involved with screwing Daniel Bryan over at every turn

 

So I guess my question is.....what do you do with The Shield as a babyface trio? Who do they work with? Where are the strong heels to pair them against? If we're talking about drawing heat and drawing money I don't see what they could do with them at this point. They don't break up, then what? They go their separate ways, then what? This was a heat drawing money angle, imo, and maybe lets see where it goes from here and avoid the knee jerk "BUT I LOVED THE SHIELD" reactions

[shoe]

This was so hot shoting. They really needed to keep these guys together while letting them work singles feuds. We could also see umbrella story's with them as a team. Have single feuds, that lead to 6 mans or tags on Raw , Smackdowns, etc. The Freebirds just didn't work 6 mans. Buddy Roberts would wrestle Ice Man, Gordy would work Kevin etc. The Shield had a lot left in the tank. The booking here was a poor decision.

 

 

Sheamus and Ceasaro was another issue . Neither guy should be losing at this time. No matter what the finish. Bottom line they shouldn't have been booked against each other at this time. Though I loved the whole hand shaking thing.

[cm funk]

I can only speak for myself but I found myself starting to get a bit bored with The Shield as babyfaces. They're awesome and all that, and this year up til now with them has been fun, with the Wyatt feud and Evolution......but I just didn't see where you go from there. Just my personal opinion, but I'm really glad they broke up and looking forward to Rollins as a heel and Ambrose as a babyface. Reigns......eh, they've got big plans for him but it wasn't time to pull the trigger on him yet. He's being slowly primed, and I think this angle can only help him. Reigns-Rollins 1 on 1? I'd pay 5 bucks for that.

[Dylan Waco]

Every faction in history has done there own thing at points. I actually can't think of any faction ever that didn't spin off into their own feuds while keeping the group together as a whole. Of course you could argue that this is the point - The Shield were different because they broke the norm in this regard and that's part of what made them stand out. I'm not sure I'd buy it 100 percent but it's an argument I could get.

 

Honestly I think there are a ton of things The Shield could have done. Reigns could have spun off into a feud with Orton, while Rollins/Ambrose went after Harper/Rowan for the tag belts (I think they will beat the Usos soon). If you think that idea is stupid, I could certainly see them each going off in directions to collect all the major singles belts. There are ways they could have set up individual feuds v. a litany of guys including Cesaro, Barrett, Orton, Sheamus, all of The Wyatts, Rusev, et. More important than that to me though is that if you are going to do the turn, do it when it makes sense, not when virtually any argument you can come up for it is destined to be an eye roller.

 

It may very well be that this turns out to be a money drawing angle. It's not impossible by any means, and there is a lot of strong talent involved. I'll also be the first to admit that a lot of my reaction is based on how much I loved The Shield as a group, just as I think a lot of the people who are favorable to it are favorable because either A. It was a surprise and smart wrestling fans fetishize things that "shock" them and B. People really like Rollins and desperately want him to be a main event singles talent. But I hate the timing of it, I think the motivation behind it is questionable, I'm not at all convinced Rollins is right for this role (god I'm dreading any and all promos from him), and it pretty much guarantees that Raw becomes a really low priority for me on Monday night for the time being (loss of Shield matches + lots of potentially horrific promo segments involving Rollins = no thanks).

[cm funk]

huh

 

I think Rollins has been cutting great promos for a while now and I'm totally digging the Owen Hart vibe from him. Maybe that's just me.

 

I'm waiting for Rollins to open RAW next week and scream "I AM NOT A NUGGET" lol

 

I also think he's a fantastic performer, and, I have faith in him to transition into being a heel in this context. I'm already liking what I saw from the SD spoilers. I see good things in Rollins' future.

 

I think my favorite thing about all this is that Ambrose wasn't the one to turn. Ambrose as a babyface has been so awesome. If every show involves him cutting insane promos and getting the shit kicked out of him, sign me up

[The Man in Blak]

Some thoughts on Main Event:

 

- I like Bad News Barrett, but they give him a five minute opening segment to build yet another IC Title defense against RVD and he gets virtually nothing out of it. It's a flat crowd, but that still can't be what they want to see from a test run of extended mic work from Barrett.

 

- Goldust pulling off a hurricanrana never ceases to be amazing.

 

- Kingston's appeals to the crowd are really awkward; I have no idea what that arm juggling thing is supposed to mean and that alternating hand clapping thing is useless, just like 90% of all pre-finisher taunts. I blame Shawn Michaels for this.

 

- I know I'm probably in the minority here, but the Wyatts without Bray don't really do that much for me at all as personalities.

 

- Amazingly, they also give RVD a response segment with Renee Young and you can probably imagine how well that goes.

 

- The Barrett/RVD match here might actually be better than their Payback match, if it wasn't for the finish.

 

- If Cesaro is going to continue to spin his wheels, is there any chance they can let him work out a new finisher in the process?

[Dylan Waco]

huh

 

I think Rollins has been cutting great promos for a while now and I'm totally digging the Owen Hart vibe from him. Maybe that's just me.

 

I'm waiting for Rollins to open RAW next week and scream "I AM NOT A NUGGET" lol

 

I also think he's a fantastic performer, and, I have faith in him to transition into being a heel in this context. I'm already liking what I saw from the SD spoilers. I see good things in Rollins' future.

 

I think my favorite thing about all this is that Ambrose wasn't the one to turn. Ambrose as a babyface has been so awesome. If every show involves him cutting insane promos and getting the shit kicked out of him, sign me up

 

Ambrose has exceeded my expectations as a babyface to be sure, though I still think he's natural heel. Rollins as a singles heel I just can't take seriously, at least not on the surface. Totally disagree with you on him as a promo. He's probably one of my two or three least favorite promos in wrestling to be honest. I also think he could end up having the John Morrison problem of being a better heel in terms of presence, but having the look and offense of a babyface.

[The Chief]

- I know I'm probably in the minority here, but the Wyatts without Bray don't really do that much for me at all as personalities.

 

 

 

 

Oh man, do I disagree with this. I really, really dig the current dynamic and I'm a little bummed they're rushing Bray back to TV so quick. A month off would do wonders for all of them. You've got Harper and Rowan as basically lunatics with nobody to guide them and to me that's so much more interesting. You can put over how these guys were dangerous before, but they're even worse now that they're lost and have nobody telling them what to do. You're setting up more storyline opportunities because when Bray comes back, he has to try to steer the ship in the right direction again.

 

Plus I think Harper showed Monday night that he can talk on his own. You know the story about The Brood; the first time Edge was given the opportunity to talk, he seized his opportunity and impressed everyone backstage. I think Harper was put in a similar situation for a reason.

[The Man in Blak]

- I know I'm probably in the minority here, but the Wyatts without Bray don't really do that much for me at all as personalities.

 

Oh man, do I disagree with this. I really, really dig the current dynamic and I'm a little bummed they're rushing Bray back to TV so quick. A month off would do wonders for all of them. You've got Harper and Rowan as basically lunatics with nobody to guide them and to me that's so much more interesting. You can put over how these guys were dangerous before, but they're even worse now that they're lost and have nobody telling them what to do. You're setting up more storyline opportunities because when Bray comes back, he has to try to steer the ship in the right direction again.

 

Plus I think Harper showed Monday night that he can talk on his own. You know the story about The Brood; the first time Edge was given the opportunity to talk, he seized his opportunity and impressed everyone backstage. I think Harper was put in a similar situation for a reason.

 

I do agree with you that keeping Bray Wyatt off of TV for a while is a good move -- I still feel like the Cena program did more harm than good to his viability as a character, so letting him slink away to lick his wounds for a while is a natural fit. The empty rocking chair, which is a great visual touch, always teases the possibility of a return, so why not let it linger for a bit?

 

And, from a booking standpoint, I also agree that the idea of the Family becoming more unhinged with no one at the wheel to steer them is a good one. It builds in a possibility for some unrest when Wyatt comes back and either finds the Family succeeding in his absence or a struggling Family blaming him for abandoning them.

 

But Harper's promo itself, while being a nice change of pace, also spewed out the same cryptic, biblical junk that you'd find in Bray Wyatt's mic work. It's probably just a matter of taste, but I feel like that sort of material needs Bray Wyatt's theatricality to make it sing - without Wyatt serving as the charismatic and unpredictable snake oil salesman, it comes across to me as second-rate and played out. By delivering it so earnestly and seriously, it treads too close to the Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness or the Dungeon of Doom for me.

 

The real test for Harper, which apparently may not come since they're already racing to a Bray Wyatt comeback on Smackdown (why?), isn't the first promo without Bray at the helm -- it's the second one and the third one. It's the promos where he doesn't have the element of surprise that will show what kind of connection he can make with the fans.

[rovert]

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

Another tale of two promotions in terms how they present Wrestling.

[flyonthewall2983]

Was just about to post that lol. I didn't see the match, but one thing I am very curious about is if Ric and Bret buried their animosities any. I hope so, Ric needs as much emotional support from his peers at this point in his life.