Welcome to The Stockwell Section – it has been a while since the last section was posted and to be honest, the reasoning behind the lack of columns is simply because I had nothing to say – whilst I’ve enjoyed the wrestling landscape of the last few months, nothing has particularly grabbed me and I just had a feeling that if I did write a column, it would likely sound generic and similar to everything everyone else is saying or I’d quite simply repeat what I said in previous columns. Regardless, leading up to Summerslam, I’ve been getting a good feeling in regards to wrestling – on the WWE front at least, because for the last two weeks, I’ve been watching and trying to figure out where the company was headed leading into the summer PPV and the guessing game made the last few weeks interesting for me to say the least.
Even before this week’s Money in The Bank PPV, I was still unsure of the direction the company was going to take. To be honest, I contemplated writing a column predicting results for this past Sunday, but if you asked me to predict before the MITB PPV who I thought was going to win, I would have been clueless and to be honest, I was quite happy sitting back and enjoying the ride.
On the Raw side, we have two of the company’s top stars doing battle in a cage for the title. As we all know, one of the stars could and has been easily be pushed into a big matches at the bigger PPV’s, whilst the other seemed the more likely option, considering the rumours of a so called return. Then we had to consider the ongoing threat that is The Nexus who have decided target the poster boy over the last few weeks. Finally, we also had to consider that battling it out for a shot at the title were 8 stars which included frequent main event visitors Randy, Jericho and Edge and of course, the rising star that is The Miz.
Prior to the following Sunday and Monday, my mind was racing – who are they going to use for the main event – Cena or Sheamus? How would Nexus be used in regards to the bigger stars of Summerslam? Will a returning Triple H make a difference? Before Sunday, I had all of these questions running through my mind and to be honest, taking all these questions into account and leading up to MITB (and even this past weeks Raw), predicting a main event for the summer event has been extremely difficult because there are so many variables to factor in and for me, it was an exciting prospect.
After all was said and done, Sheamus walked away still WWE Champion and we found out this week that his opponent at Summerslam is none other then Randy Orton and I must admit, I have absolutely no idea why this match is taking place. The biggest story leading into the PPV is by far, the ongoing saga of The Nexus and I feel that by making this title match, WWE have lost their chance to make an impact.
Nexus as it stands, only have so much left steam in the engine and the WWE need to realize that unless they act quickly on a decision regarding the group, fans are going to start losing interest and whilst I know that particular people have already become bored of the continuous beat downs every Monday, I’m not talking about that section of the online community – you know, the impatient ones who really have nothing intelligent to add to a conversation? No, I’m talking about general fans. If WWE do not make a move quickly, I believe people will start tuning out because whilst a viewer can be patient to an extent and wait until a new chapter of the story is revealed, if a new chapter isn’t laid down in front of us soon, people are sure to lose interest in the story and the reason I reiterate this fact is because I feel Summerslam should have marked a point whereby we turn that page and enter a new chapter of the story – going on much longer afterwards is only prolonging it and as previously mentioned, risking loss of interest.
This is what I don’t understand – the Nexus angle has been played out like it is the start of a new era, like something important is happening and change is on the horizon but then, the group is not involved in the main event. I didn’t want Nexus in the main event match but rather their looming threat of disaster which now looks unlikely to happen seeing as their feud is happening primarily to Cena, who isn’t in the title match but rather a match against the seven young stars with a mismatched team of his own.
Unless WWE change how we roll into the PPV, Nexus getting involved in the main event now would be too spontaneous to make sense and considering how much time and effort has been put into the young group, I’m very surprised they aren’t a much bigger factor heading into the Raw main event at the summer PPV. It would also seem that HHH is definitely ruled out as his involvement now would only lessen the value of Orton when he faces the Celtic Warrior and talking of decreasing values – Nexus are going to be incredibly harmed by this booking choice because how are fans supposed to consider the young team seriously when they are not in the main event picture at a major PPV but rather thrown into what seems to be a waste of a match. I’d rather Wade go one on one against Cena rather then Nexus taking on this group of Raw stars. Nexus cannot stand up to these top stars, it would only make the stars who the company has built up for many years, seem weak. However, by booking this match, Nexus are certain to get their arses handed to them, in which case – they look weak.
I suppose what I’m trying to say through all this annoyance is congratulations. Congratulations WWE, you may have just officially f*cked up this storyline and to make matters worse, you are ruining the chances for Edge, Jericho, Evan Bourne, Miz, Truth, Ted DiBiase and Morrison to be in a reasonable match, rather then a match that we all know, is going to come off very badly and completely weaken a group that has been pushed as a new force within the company. Edge and Jericho could have had a rematch, Evan could have continued his input and jumped in with the two veterans, Truth could have continued beating down Miz leading up to the PPV and Ted and Morrison could have continued their feud and put on what could have been a candidate for match of the night. Rather then those matches which would have actually interested fans, you chuck together a 7 on 7 tag match with a team of Raw stars who were seemingly picked out of a hat.
I spoke about how WWE may have just missed their chance to make an impact with Nexus this summer but this match completely writes off all these other feuds as these stars now have to focus on the Nexus angle, rather then their own and we (as fans) will undoubtedly be expected to pick up on these feuds after Summerslam when WWE finally does decide to flick the switch on these feuds and to say that I am expecting particularly sloppy work from WWE in the next few weeks is an understatement – in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next couple of months border on being appalling.
PLEASE NOTE – Spoilers are listed below for this weeks coming Smackdown.
On the Smackdown side of things, we were treated to a welcomed title win from Kane and this week on Smackdown, Rey Mysterio won a match for the right to face the champ at the summer PPV. Don’t get me wrong, I like both stars and I expect a good match for both but how is this going to help the ongoing story of who attacked Taker? Rey Mysterio will not be turned heel and it is highly unlikely that he had any involvement in the attack so why put these two together? Unless of course it was Kane himself who suffers from a split personality of sorts. I understand that Taker isn’t going to be in a match at Summerslam but this match also seems to have been made without thinking about how an impact be made. Like Nexus, WWE need to figure out where they want to go with Kane and his current story arc because if a move isn’t made soon, it will lose momentum.
Before this week, I had a lot of hope leading up to Summerslam, but it seems that the company placed all their hopes in the returns of HHH and Taker, with no thought put into a backup plan. I suppose that’s why I am frustrated because for me, I’ve enjoyed both the Nexus and Kane stories as of late, and sadly, with current developments, both stories look likely to lose their intrigue and two of the better storylines of this year thus far, seem destined for ruin.
Until NXT time…..
