This week’s RAW did an excellent job of building up to Great Balls of Fire, giving equal time to all of the major storylines. Fans continue to cheer Strowman who is set upon eliminating Roman Reigns from the WWE altogether, while Chad Gable was given an opportunity to showcase his talent against the Phenomenal AJ Styles.
NXT continued the trend of putting on the match of the week, which left fans speculating as to what the future holds for the Wednesday night roster. As we look forward to WWE’s next PPV, here is what we learned from the company this week.
#1 Enzo Amore proved why he needs a push more than Big Cass
It’s now widely assumed that Big Cass will be the one to break away from the tag-team he once share with Enzo Amore and go on to be a main event star for the company. Rumours have been circulating for some time that Vince himself is very keen on Cassidy and has big plans for him going forward.
Unsurprisingly, however, it has been Enzo who has really shone since the two split up a couple of weeks ago. We probably could have done without the backwards running and ‘Certified G’ stuff as Amore came to ringside, which ruined the moment just a little bit, but the two promos he has cut on the mic have both been exceptional.
You buy into what Enzo Amore says 100%. He has the ability to suspend your disbelief just a little bit, and he is allowed to stray from the typical WWE style of talking to the point where you’re actually forced to think about what he’s saying. You never quite know what is going to come out of his mouth, which is a real rarity these days.
Your preference between these two is obviously going to come down to what you value most in your wrestling product. If you’re a fan of talking segments and promos, Enzo will be your guy. If you prefer to see larger than life athletes perform high impact moves in the ring, then you will most likely back Big Cass.
In an ideal world, both men would be getting a push, but there has always been a risk with Enzo that without his 7-foot tall partner, WWE’s creative team are gong to struggle to know what to do with him. This, of course, would be a huge shame.
Also read: WWE Great Balls of Fire 2017: Results prediction and analysis
#2 Strowman really needs to win on Sunday
I must admit, I was highly sceptical of Braun Strowman as a main event star this time last year. The WWE was right to put him in a series of squash matches because his size and stature are quite clearly his greatest assets. But there were still concerns about his personality skills and his ability to connect with the audience. And while those doubts still remain for many of us, he has managed to get the vast majority of fans on his side in a way that very few thought was possible.
Admittedly his feud with Roman Reigns has helped. They could probably put Stephanie McMahon in the ring with Roman at the moment, and you’d most likely hear the fans cheering for her. But in the past few weeks, the fan reaction to Braun has felt like more than just anti-Roman heat.
Roman has faced off with other heels in recent years such as Sheamus and Bray Wyatt, and neither of those two men received quite the same level of admiration as Strowman is getting. Maybe fans just love to see the Big Dog getting thrown about the place, but they also seem to enjoy the fact that it is Braun doing the throwing.
The two will meet at Great Balls of Fire this Sunday in an ambulance match, and this is a match The Monster Amongst Men needs to win. The two currently share a victory each, and with rumours circulating that Roman might be facing Lesnar at Summerslam, you feel as though this might be the final meeting between these two adversaries.
Of course, in Vince’s head, you can’t send Roman at Brock Lesnar after failing to defeat Braun Strowman, but if the Chairman were able to look past his love for Reigns, he would know that win or lose, the people are going to be backing Lesnar as the face if he is to go up against Reigns next month.
It is Strowman who has the most to lose here because there is no guarantee that fans will still react well to him once he moves onto somebody else. Assuming he will remain heel after Sunday, can you imagine fans cheering as loud for him if he were destroying somebody like Seth Rollins or Finn Balor every week?
#3 Rusev’s character hasn’t progressed at all since he left
Despite his many shortcomings, it does always feel special when John Cena makes his return to WWE. Love him or hate him, he is by far the biggest celebrity the company has at the moment, and he is able to remind you of that every time he picks up a microphone.
His return this week to Smackdown Live was well received. We learned that he would be a free agent, meaning he is free to fight members of the RAW roster as well as Smackdown’s, and we also found out who his first opponent would be.
When Rusev’s music hit during Cena’s promo, fans were initially excited. This is a return we have been anticipating for quite some time, after all. But the reality of the situation soon hit when we realised what the timing of this return actually meant.
For months now, the WWE Universe has been speculating as to what role Rusev will play when he comes back. Is he going to go after the WWE Championship immediately? Will there will a programme involving him and Shane McMahon? Some fans even predicted we would be getting a Rusev face turn, allowing him to feud with Mahal over the title.
All of these hopes were soon dashed, however, when we realised that Rusev, at least for the time being, is going to be playing the same role we’ve seen him play since his debut a few years ago.
Being the 4th of July, it did make sense for some anti-American villain to come out and interrupt the US hero, John Cena. But thinking more long term, this is unlikely to do anything for Rusev. The two will meet at Battleground in a Flag Match, which Cena is probably going to win. Even if the unthinkable happens and Rusev does come out victorious, the point still stands that we will be getting progress whatsoever in the Rusev character when so many fans think he should be in a higher position than his Anti-US gimmick allows him to be.
#4 The WWE know how to hold a grudge
Speaking of Rusev, the return of his wife Lana has been one confusing mess from start to finish. Fans were admittedly happy when the Ravishing Russian made her Smackdown Live debut, but her sudden insertion into the Smackdown Women’s Championship scene felt incredibly premature. In hindsight, we can probably say that Lana was just being used to give Naomi something to do while the rest of the roster battled over the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Lana failed to win the title at the first time of asking, in what was a pretty short, underwhelming match. She has since been given two further opportunities, and each time she has failed. The trilogy of matches have left her looking utterly sub-par, and it is difficult to see where she goes from here. The word ‘burying’ does get thrown about a little too much these days amongst wrestling fans, but on this occasion, it seems the word is totally apt.
The more cynical wrestling fans will claim that this is all the result of Vince McMahon holding a grudge over Rusev and Lana for announcing their engagement in the middle of a storyline in which the pair were separated from each other. The feud between Rusev and Dolph Ziggler wasn’t exactly setting the world alight, but in Vince’s eyes, putting the breaks on a story angle yourself is a big no-no.
If it is the case that Lana’s treatment is the result of a Vince Mcmahon grudge, then it is very worrying to think what the future holds for Lana. Perhaps this will result in her being future endeavoured before long, which would be yet another example of Vince cutting his nose off to spite his face.
#5 Chad Gable is ready for a single’s push
One highlight of Smackdown Live this week was the impromptu match between AJ Styles and Chad Gable. After both losing to Kevin Owens in singles competition recently, Smackdown GM Daniel Bryan decided to have the two wrestle each other in a ‘win, and you’re in’ match for the number one contender’s battle royal.
As you might expect, the match was a technical masterpiece with both men demonstrating their raw talent for mat-based, submission style wrestling. It was widely assumed that AJ would get the victory, but this didn’t seem to take away from the enjoyment of the affair.
For one reason or another, American Alpha has not been able to reach the heights of popularity they once enjoyed down on NXT. Their involvement in Smackdown Live has been minimal, and their championship reign has now become a distant memory. Fans knew that both were richly talented in their own right, and would make excellent single’s stars, but their treatment so far as a tag team has raised many an alarm bell in terms of their future.
Thankfully, at least for Gable, it looks like the Smackdown Live creative team are willing to give him the spotlight. If his performance here against AJ Styles is anything to go by, we can expect the Olympian to appear in more high profile singles matches on Tuesday nights going forward.
With the US title picture currently filled by KO and AJ, and with other superstars like Nakamura and Sami Zayn on the horizon, it is uncertain whether Gable will be getting his hands on a belt anytime soon, but there are still plenty of other guys for him to compete against.
#6 Roderick Strong’s gimmick is getting a little tiresome
NXT is making a habit of putting on the match of the week at the moment. Last week’s showdown between Asuka and Nikki Cross left fans more than a little impressed, and this week it was the turn of the men to show why NXT is more than just a secondary show.
Roderick Strong and Bobby Roode saw out the week with a 20-minute spectacle for the NXT Championship. The two men played off the story of the match very well. Roderick Strong even managed to score a pinfall on Roode, but the decision was quickly cancelled out when the referee realised Bobby’s foot was under the rope. This was a nice way to play off the loveable underdog persona they are currently doing with Strong, and the match was managed to endear him to quite a few of the NXT faithful.
The only slight concern with Strong is that this looked like his one and only chance at the title. There are several other competitors including Drew Mcintyre and Hideo Itami that have their eyes on the champion, and there might not be the space for Strong once these feuds begin to transpire.
While he is currently doing all the right things in terms of getting his character over with the fans, the whole ‘came from nothing’ gimmick is starting to get a little tiresome. We have seen the same video package for the past few weeks now, which took up a lot of the one-hour show on Wednesday night. Sooner or later, Strong will need to incorporate more into his overall persona before fans begin to tire of him and his story.
#7 The Superstar of the week is: Enzo Amore
While Enzo did not wrestle this week, his promo work alone made him stand out above the rest. He and Big Cass are on the verge of a potentially fascinating storyline at the moment, and if there’s anyone the WWE can trust to get the rivalry over in terms of promo delivery, it is Enzo Amore.
Let’s hope that the pair and work their magic over the next few weeks, and Amore’s promo work will continue to meet its already high standards. Congratulations, Enzo Amore.
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