The WWE does a fantastic job of not answering the questions we have for them on a weekly basis. Even when the company does answer them, it is usually not in the way we had originally hoped. Sometimes it is actually worse, though, as they will answer them, but not live up to the hype promised to come with certain angles.
A good example of this is last week’s Dear WWE. We asked the WWE several questions, and for the most part received horrific answers.
- What is next for Brock Lesnar? Well, rumors, but nothing of his future being discussed on Monday Night Raw.
- Was Survivor Series really it for Goldberg? Nope. Not at all. One day after his supposed “one-off” match he tossed his hat in the Royal Rumble.
- What will Baron Corbin’s punishment be? After Danial Bryan threatened Corbin with punishment due to interfering at Survivor Series, nothing happened. Instead, he is feuding with Kalisto.
- The Miz is going to…? Feud with Dolph Ziggler, again, naturally.
- The Build for TLC will start how? The same way it ended upon entering Survivor Series: in underwhelming fashion.
Here’s our set of questions this week.
Are New Day becoming heels?
New Day is closing in on another milestone. While they have the modern-day record (whatever that means) for longest tag team title run in company history, the trio is quickly approaching another convoluted “longest title run” mark. One that is currently held by Legion of Doom/Road Warriors rip-offs Demolition.
There’s generally a rule of thumb when it comes to good guys in regards to discussing legendary wrestlers that came before them. You know, they aren’t supposed to bash them (even if the thing they are bashing was/is patently absurd).
Yet, there we were, and not only did New Day poke fun at Demolition, but they cheated to win their tag team title match against Sheamus and Cesaro. Those aren’t face-like tendencies.
The WWE has multiple decisions it needs to make over the course of the next few weeks. Does it want New Day to capture yet another record? How much longer can the unicorn-loving friends hold the straps before it hurts other teams in the division? Also, would a heel turn benefit the division as a whole?
Maybe this is being read too much into, but New Day has been doing heel-ish things. Monday Night Raw should be a decent measuring stick to see if that was just a one-off decision to make fun of former wrestling stars, or if there’s about to be a drastic shift in the tag team division.
Will We See The Undertaker This Week?
The Undertaker told us that if the blue brand failed to win its (men’s) five-on-five match at Survivor Series that there would be hell to play. SmackDown didn’t win, yet “The Deadman” was nowhere to be found on the latest edition of Tuesday night’s best wrestling program.
Does that change this week?
Rumors are running wild throughout the mean streets of the Internet that the WWE would like to get an Undertaker-AJ Styles feud going to lead into a WWE World Championship match at the Royal Rumble. With the company’s second best Network Special still over a month away, it does provide the company some leeway until Taker needs to return to TV if that rumor is actually true.
Not to mention the fact that TLC is a week away. Forcing together a feud on the go-home edition of SmackDown would just feel wrong.
Nevertheless, the Undertaker said he was back and that he isn’t only going to be defined by WrestleManias anymore. If that is the case, where in the hell is he?
Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt Are a Tag Team?
Poor, poor Luke Harper. If you look hard enough inside your closet, you can see him behind your old vintage t-shirts shedding a single tear over the fact that he’s constantly being taken for granted. For whatever reason, despite being hugely talented, Harper is nearly always pushed as the least important factor in all things Wyatt Family related (especially now that Rowan has vanished).
Anyway, it appears as though Orton and Bray are going to stand in American Alpha’s way to see who gets the next shot at SmackDown’s tag team titles.
For American Alpha, they still need to chase the titles before winning them. Not to mention you don’t want a face versus face tag team title match at TLC, so having a heel team go over AA makes total sense here.
What does not make sense, however, is teaming Orton up with Bray. If the WWE wants to give titles to The Wyatt Family, the team should be either Wyatt and Harper (with Orton lurking) or Harper and Orton (with Bray leading). This isn’t that complicated.
Still, leave it to the WWE to force Randy Orton onto us. Also, force Bray to look weak — through magic and bad booking — during that process.
How Sloppy Will SmackDown’s Go-Home Show Be?
Luckily for the blue brand, most of the matches at TLC were built-in feuds from before Survivor Series. There hasn’t been a huge need to build Miz vs. Ziggler Part XIIX again. A similar thing can be applied to Styles vs. Ambrose, Nikki vs. Carmela, and so on.
All of that can be true and at the same time a man can ponder about the potential abomination that awaits on Tuesday night.
Think about it logically: The WWE has roughly two hours of programming to fill, but can’t have a slew of meaningful matches — save for AA vs. The Wyatt Family — take place. So, in turn, we are likely to see not only a lot of fluff, and a whole hell of a lot of James Ellsworth, but some of the most forced and awkward backstage promos of all-time.
Here is to hoping I am wrong, but the WWE has an iffy track record with go-home shows as is. You couple that with one taking place two weeks after the last Network Special and abomination nearly for sure awaits.
What’s Next For Kevin Owens?
Owens might be the most talented overall performer in the WWE. A combination of incredible in-ring skills and some of the best mic work in this era of the company, yet the creative team has decided to book him as a rather generic heel Universal Champion.
Last week we all witnessed Owens retain his title against Seth Rollins after getting help from Chris Jericho, which marks the millionth time it took outside interference for our beloved KO to hold onto his strap.
The outcome of the match makes it appear as though Owens vs. Rollins as a feud is not yet done, but does that mean we are in line for a super-gimmick-heavy match at Raw’s next Network Special or will the WWE force a different No. 1 contender onto Owens?
Regardless, Owens should win clean at some point. That would be neat. On Monday Night Raw, we will probably find out if he’s going to have the chance or not through who — and/or what — is awaiting for him from an opponent and match-stipulation standpoint.