6-Man Tag, Dude Love & Other Shenanigans
I'm not a fan of 6-man tag matches in general, mostly because the time spent wresting is not equal-to-or-greater than the time spent introducing the damn participants in the match! This just felt like an unnecessary mash-up of guys WWE needed to get out in front of a crowd. What other reason does WWE have pairing Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara for the first time, let alone with Sheamus? Their meeting could have, and should have been done on a much bigger scale.
The heels were slightly better matched, but nothing that happened in this short contest felt fluid. The booking was as thrown together as the participants, and the only saving grace is that it actually furthered an angle between Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho. If they're going where I think they're going – a SummerSlam briefcase vs. career match – I'll be absolutely overjoyed.
Switching gears: Mae Young and her grown-up hand was easily the pop of the night. At least, it got the best reaction live from my bedroom… Sometimes WWE can pull off stupid, cheesy comedy and have it work perfectly. It's usually when they keep it wrestling-related, and this was one of those incredibly rare situations where a dumb backstage segment had me falling out of my chair laughing.
Unfortunately, the rest of hour one didn't do it for me. Brodus Clay was funny and clever for about two weeks, but only because he wasn't nearly what we expected him to be. Now we're to the point where the entrance for his entrance is about as long as his actual in-ring time. Dude Love didn't even provoke a grin from me; how Mick Foley does stand-up comedy is probably the greatest modern miracle of the 21st century.
Bryan and AJ's Wedding, the Rock Returns
Jerry Lawler has been married so many times he's got rice marks on his face. That joke was about 100 times more effective than Slick's return to Monday Night Raw. If I barely recognize a wrestling personality, you know you're in trouble with the casual crowd. Why Slick when WWE has Ted DiBiase, an actual ordained minister (and recognizable talent), at their disposal?
AJ and Daniel Bryan have been one of the most intriguing angles on WWE TV in recent months. Fine, it's been mostly AJ. I think I speak on behalf of most of the WWE Universe when I say I did NOT see that twist coming at all! Definitely a great moment, and one that belonged on the 1,000th episode, but was it a good move for the future?
The fans love AJ – that right there worries me. Face GM's are boring, and Teddy Long has done next to nothing in the last eight years to prove me wrong. She will use her platform to get revenge on Bryan over the next few weeks, but then what? Where are her credentials? What makes Vince thinks she has any ability, or even the desire to run the show? The move just doesn't make any sense, but I'm very interested to see how long they'll try and play it out. Don't be surprised if this boils back down to John Laurinaitis at some point.
And finally…the Rock has come back to St. Louis. What a huge moment for CM Punk and Daniel Bryan! I'm sure it seems like Rock buries his opponents, what with his verbal tirades and tendency to leave guys laying in the middle of the ring. But as one of my followers said on Twitter, it should be considered an honor to take the Rock Bottom, or any other finisher from a star of the Rock's caliber. That may have been the biggest move Daniel Bryan has ever taken; no matter the outcome it was a positive step for his career, I guarantee it.
These are the kind of moments that WWE should be using the Rock for. He's made it very clear that he intends to be an on-again, off-again talent for the foreseeable future. Knowing that, with the big John Cena "dream match" out of the way, they can start to use his star power to put over the future of the company. They started that here with the Rock calling Punk the "best in the world"; whether Dwayne Johnson believes that or not is completely irrelevant.
