RAW Asks Who Has Bad Blood...

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?

 

Well, it was an interesting weekend. AEW has all the attention right now due to All Out being no All In. Most viewers preferred All In as All Out seemed to go “too far”. I didn’t see it for myself but I’ll catch the said better matches some time this week but I did see enough on social media to form somewhat of an opinion. Let’s get into it, shall we?

 

So, I was actually feeling a little excited for AEW as they seemed to be finding a good stride to establish and then they just missed the mark. Is it a failed experiment? Not quite. Let’s start with the Steel Cage Match between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page. With the lead up of Strickland’s “family home” being burned down by Page, I was expecting a “blood bath” of sorts. I thought and was half-expecting them to go out there and “kill each other” like they’re s’poseta but no, they added an extra layer as Page “rigged the game” by drugging Strickland, syringe and all, to deal him a chair shot for the win.

 

The main problem I see here is simply believability. If this were real, Strickland could press charges. Who knows where the syringe came from or what it’s filled with. Are we really supposed to believe something like this would actually be allowed? The crux of kayfabe is that you have to stay within the realm of believability. Once things like syringes come into the mix, you prompt your onlookers to think, if they have any sense, and I hear AEW is an educated crowd. So, the minute this happens, you challenge a sense of believability. Drugging the man has to be some form of assault and now you have to explain why this is “legal” not to mention the hygienic issues. You don’t want to get the Crowd thinking about it. You want them going along. The moment it took this turn, I have trouble believing it. Long story, short.

 

We know there’s an air of the ridiculous in the Wrestling World so, we don’t mind if shit goes over the top. To a certain extent, it should. However, there is a ceiling. You don’t want to prompt our disbelief. The moment I saw the syringe in Strickland’s tongue, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. You lost me. I was looking forward to catching this match too. With the setup, I thought WWE shouldn’t even bother with their own Steel Cage Match with Solo Sikoa and Cody Rhodes but now, why the hell not. We know where it won’t go, at least.

 

AEW should keep it simple in places like this. The setup was great. Strickland all lit. Page ready to get crazy. They should have just beat the hell out of each other and destroyed the place. Left a big ole mess for staff to clean. That should have sufficed and I would have been fine with a draw or some bullshit interference that gets Page the win so Part 2 could happen at any moment but no. Let’s “drug” this guy and give him what for. Please. The concept is just dumb.

 

On that note, the other questionable bit was the Heel turn of the Blackpool Combat Club on Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan after his match with Jack Perry. For some reason, Jon Moxley felt that he should half suffocate Danielson. Now, right there, you lost me. You’re going to kill Daniel Bryan? Really? Never mind the legal repercussions, you’re going to try and “kill” Daniel Bryan? The only one I’ve seen get away with “attempted murder” under these sorts of circumstances is Randy Orton. And note how most of us were laughing with him and not at him.

 

Again, you run into the believability of the action. Why would anyone out there let anyone else murder someone, much less the beloved Danielson? What is supposed to be a pointed, “bad ass” moment tumbles into the ridiculous. We just can’t believe it and it becomes an exaggerated display of “violence” that serves no real purpose. Again, I would have preferred a general beatdown or even dragging him outside and “running him over” or something. I don’t mind creative violence but “attempted murder” is just hard to pull off and if you are to do it, it’s advised to be sprinkled liberally with humor so it’s clear no one should be calling the police.

 

Orton may have just gotten lucky but he played it off beautifully so that we just laugh and threw a playful hand at him. With Mox, I’m just like, “What are you doing?” Again, there may be more going on here so I would actually kinda keep an eye on him. I feel it’s all for play-play but we know the guy has some self-destructive tendencies. He has to remember, the trick to being a good Heel is that we have to like you too. Baron Corbin and Shayna Baszler had trouble finding the right tone because they were being “too mean”.

 

Like Team America tells us, this world is filled with Dicks, Pussies and Assholes. No one likes an asshole. Mox has to make sure that he stays a dick when playing bad. He doesn’t want us to hate him. He wants us to love, hating him. And I wouldn’t try to do anything too Triple H-like these days either. I don’t know if the kids would follow. They’d take it too serious and miss the whole point. Think Blazing Saddles. That may have only suited the Attitude Era.

 

The bright spot, however, shouldn’t be a surprise as I hear PAC and Will Osprey put on a real banger. That I’ll track down and take a look at. I’ve been vocal on how I want PAC back over at WWE but I’m not sure how or when that happens. All I’m saying is that he needs to be more widely showcased. I know he can get good matches out of AEW but he needs some “WrestleMania Moments” if you get what I mean. I hope it happens while he’s still sharp.

 

In any case, let’s come back around to the WWE Universe. We have some administrative news to toss around as word is that RAW will be going to a 2-hour format in October in anticipation of commercial free action on Netflix next year. Most commenters feel this is a good thing. It would free up my Mondays a bit but I’ll have to see in it action first. I kinda like taking my time with it as well.

 

There’s also concern that the stacked roster would keep a lot of good workers off the screen but the shorter format may give Creative an opportunity to rotate people in and out so that everyone gets enough rest and recovery and therefore minimize injuries overall. We will see what actually goes into effect.

 

And so, that more or less brings us to tonight’s RAW. Focus is now on Bad Blood set for the first weekend of October. For tonight, we’ll hear what Drew McIntyre has to say about giving CM Punk some time off. The Unholy Union will see if they can reclaim the Women’s Tag Team Titles from Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. There will be a Fatal-4-Way for a shot at the Intercontinental Title as Ilja Dragunov, Pete Dunne, Braun Strowman and Jey Uso do battle. I’m not sure how many people will be involved but there will be a sort of sanctioned brawl between the Wyatt Sicks and American Made. And since the show is in Calgary and supposed to be some kind of “season premiere” we have Bret Hart on hand to commemorate the history of this fine pastime.

 

Unofficial watch party is still at 8pm PDT. May cut it a little close, but I’ll be there. Feel free to play along if you’re in the mood.

 

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)