Since relaunching NXT in August 2012, we’ve seen a lot of different faces going through the black-and-yellow brand. Originally intended as a developmental group, the television product has slowly morphed to the point where it’s now getting easier than ever to decry the show as “Triple H’s vanity product”. (Warning: NXT spoilers lie ahead – even though WWE’s advertising it)
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In years gone by, it’s been a bit of a stereotype – you can’t bet on wrestling, it’s fixed! Well, in recent times, bookmakers have been offering odds for pay-per-views for several months now, with those odds usually shifting at the last minute (particularly if a certain dolphin-themed Redditer has his say!)
In amongst the responses to my “Royal Stumble” column over the weekend, there was an interesting alternative viewpoint to “why WWE has a dearth of credible championship challengers”, and the answer is simple: they’ve sacrificed everyone in an attempt to build up Roman Reigns. Although WWE did ultimately achieve their end goal of getting the fans to accept Reigns, ironically, it was at last year’s Rumble where the signs were clearly displayed that this was the wrong time to push Reigns.
Next Sunday sees the WWE kick off 2016 with its first pay-per-view of the year; the 29th Royal Rumble event. Traditionally, this is the first major sign-post on the road to WrestleMania, and the start of three months of segments ending with wrestlers pointing to a sign.
Within the space of 24 hours this week, WWE played crowned a new United States champion, and then yanked the rug out from underneath him, in what is the latest example of myopic booking.
In June 1993, the WWE was forced into a complete rethink of their main event babyface scene. Having seen Bret Hart drop the company’s main title to Yokozuna at WrestleMania 9 (for a massive 22 seconds before that was passed onto Hulk Hogan), it was clear that the company didn’t think that the “Hitman” was their man. Unfortunately, by the time summer came calling, Hogan had left for WCW, dropping the title back to Yokozuna on the way. For the first time in almost a decade, WWE didn’t have a patriotic babyface around their main events.
With WWE now reporting on the strong rumours of signing the New Japan foursome of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson and Doc Galloway, thoughts now turn to what WWE will actually do with their new arrivals. Now, I can only suggest that these are “Triple H signings”, given that these fit the template of the signings that he’s been credited with to date. So, with that preemptive idea in mind, here are a few “good idea, bad idea” suggestions for WWE and their newbies.
Twenty years ago, when wrestling was in the midst of the “Monday Night Wars”, part of the allure of the ongoing WWF vs. WCW battle was to see just who was jumping ship. Last night, hours after New Japan’s WrestleKingdom 10 show, we had 2016’s version of this, with news breaking of WWE “signing” the quartet of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows and “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson.