In the case of WWE it is so easy to focus on the bad. Conversely, it’s really easy when looking at TNA to focus on the down right ugly, but let’s try to keep this fun and bounce a around a bit. This columnist will do his best to not go on a 17-page diatribe about how WWE is missing the boat and needs to strap a rocket on Dolph Ziggler’s back and have him main event WrestleMania. Speaking of which…
The Booking of Dolph Ziggler- Bad then Good
Ziggler’s year has been eventful to say the least. Talk about running the full gamut of good, bad, and ugly. Ziggler’s year started off with a whole lot of jobbing. Wait that may not put how bad it was into perspective. Ziggler jobbed so much Barry Horowitz offered to put him over because no one should lose that much. The only positive thing about his losing streak was Ziggler still went out there night after night and stole the show. He managed to have great matches (albeit in loosing efforts) with Bray Wyatt, Wade Barrett, and Rusev.
It wasn’t a main event push, but hey, we will take whatever positives we can get when it comes to Ziggler. It did finally seem like the higher-ups were buying in to Ziggler. He was even made a member of John Cena’s Survivor Series team. The Fans went nuts. Finally we get to see Ziggler back in the main events! And then they have him loose (pretty handily) to Luke Harper. Ok, no big deal. You can’t hold a title forever. Then for three to four weeks straight we were forced to witness the destruction of Ziggler and pretty much every other member of team Cena (except Cena). It’s hard to view someone as a main eventer if they end up staring at the lights at the end of every Raw and Smackdown.
All signs pointed to Ziggler jobbing once again at the ppv. With the stakes so high (The Authority will be out of power if team Cena wins, but if they loose everyone on team Cena will be fired, except Cena himself) it seemed that Ziggler was destined to fail as he had been booked to in most cases. In the end, Ziggler was booked to go over (win) and be the soul survivor. He single handedly defeated 3 members of Team Authority, saving the jobs of Team Cena, and subsequently ousting the Authority. Ok, ok, Sting helped a little, but that is beside the point. Standing tall over the ruins of the biggest heel faction in recent memory definitely should be classified under “the good”.
Daniel Bryan’s World Title Win at WrestleMania- The Good
Let's skip over the fact that Daniel Bryan wasn’t supposed to be in the main event at ‘Mania. In fact, the rumored Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan rematch was the actual plan. Now that you are done throwing up in your mouth at how stupid an idea that would have been, let get to brass tax. WWE dropped the ball on Daniel Bryan big time. Everyone knew it. Even Mick Foley, who tries to be as pc as possible had to say something about how horrible they were booking Bryan.
In the end, the powers that be realized their mistake of not having Bryan in the Royal Rumble, and immediately shoehorned him into the main event at ‘Mania. The resulting matches (Triple H vs. Bryan and the triple threat match in the ‘Mania main event) were awesome. It was a rocky road but ‘Mania ended, as it should have: with Daniel Bryan holding both world titles over his head.
The CM Punk Saga- The Ugly
There is no other way to describe CM Punk’s departure from WWE. Punk has never had an issue voicing his displeasure so when he decided to walk away it was to no surprise of anyone. Punk had a great run in WWE, but it was obvious that every day was a fight for him. This isn’t the place to detail every issue or gripe he had (feel costless to listen to them here) but the fact that WWE brass decided to call Punk a quitter on national TV when they knew full well they actually fired him (on his wedding day) is the definition of ugly.
The Emergence of NXT as the Dominant Brand- The Good
At this point, is there a person on the planet *cough* Vince McMahon *cough*, that doesn’t recognize that the NXT product is head and shoulders better than anything that has been on Raw or Smackdown in the past year? You would really have to be out of touch *cough* Vince McMahon *cough*, to not realize that the formula for a successful wrestling show is not long drawn out promos, underdeveloped storylines, or “sport entertainment”. The NXT weekly show draws in a pretty wide audience (for a show on the Network that is), but the real litmus test is the overwhelmingly positive reviews the NXT specials have gotten. Everyone from Stone Cold Steve Austin to The Iron Sheik has heaped tons of praise on the youngster in NXT.
The strange thing about the overall awesomeness of NXT is that Triple H has been running it. Everyone questioned what the future of WWE would hold once Triple H was in charge. In retrospect, its funny that Triple H spent so much time dumping on the likes of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, but he is forging his administrative legacy of the backs of Indy superstars like Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, and KENTA (You will never hear this writer call him Hideo Itami. That is not his name!). Not only has NXT showcase talents that the more hardcore wrestling fans have been aware of for years, they also manage to organize a woman’s division that is head and shoulders better than the main roster's Divas division. The matches that NXT Woman’s Champion Charlotte has had against Natalya and Sasha Banks are both match of the year candidates. The Divas division can barely manage to string together five minutes worth of decent wrestling.
WWE’s Main Rosters Failed Attempt to Out Perform NXT- The Ugly
This should have been a bigger story than it was. It seems after the last NXT special, the WWE main roster came together and decided they were not going to be outdone by a bunch of rookies. The prevailing notion is that the reason the NXT shows are so good is because the NXT wrestlers have costlessdom that the main roster guys do not have. All that said the resulting WWE TLC ppv was a total stink fest. If the main roster guys wanted to show they could go, they failed miserably. Well all except for Luke Harper and Dolph Ziggler. They had the match of the night.
TNA Finally Gets A New TV Deal- The Good And Slightly Bad
TNA has been struggling for a long time. Why? Nonsensical booking, investing too much money into marquee costless agents that were past their prime 10 years ago and various other issues. Wrestling fans know that not having a TV deal is usually a death sentence for a wrestling promotion (see ECW). Once Spike TV decided they were going to move on due the fact that the show cost them more than they were making it seemed to be the death knell for the company.
Regardless of how you feel about the TNA product, you have to admit one of the problems with the world of professional wrestling is the lack of legitimate competition. Wrestling’s golden age happened due to the intense competition between WWE and WCW. Without parity, the industry became stale. Once you are the only game in town, there is no reason to out do yourself. TNA can’t be considered legitimate competition to WWE, but it’s better than nothing. So TNA will live on. You are probably wondering what the bad is here. TNA’s new TV deal is with a station called Destination America. You are now probably wondering what the heck Destination America is. You’re favorite writer has no earthly idea what that is either. Hey, it’s better than nothing.
Brock Lesnar Defeating The Undertaker at WrestleMania- The Bad
You had to see this coming. Let’s not waste too much time on it, but heating up Lesnar by having him break the streak then him disappearing for months was bloody stupid. Never mind the fact that Lesnar doesn’t need the heat. He is a monster and everyone knows it. But since we are talking about Brock…
Brock Lesnar’s Title Reign- The Ugly
Have you heard the one about the guy who won the world title at ‘Mania but got stripped of it because he couldn’t defend it due to injury? What if I told you that a few months later someone would win the title and not defend it for months on end with out any legitimate reason given why it is suddenly ok to not defend your title. That pretty much sums up Lesnar’s title reign. Yet another waste of time. This seems to be a theme when it comes to Lesnar.
The Ultimate Warrior’s return to the WWE- The Good
Warrior coming back to WWE and being inducted into the Hall of Fame was a momentous occasion. No one ever thought the McMahons and Warrior would ever be able to come together after all of the accusations, lawsuits and general mudslinging. After his induction, Warrior did a guess spot on Raw. His words were chilling and heartfelt. Less than 24 hours later the Warrior passed away, but in the end, Warrior managed to reconcile with almost everyone he clashed with and at the end of the day that is all that matters.
What do you think of the good, the bad, and the ugly so far? Comment below! Stay tuned for part two coming soon!