That Wrestling Blog 12/23/2018

4th Edition – December 23, 2018

Depending on where you live in the world you’re probably reading this on Christmas Eve and contrary to what may be posted on my Instagram account, I am not actually a Grinch. Christmas is a time for family and I genuinely hope that you enjoy the time with your families, no matter how fucked up or annoying they might be.

Anyway, now that I’ve gotten all the sentimental Christmas bullshit out of the way, let’s talk about the new direction of both RAW and Smackdown. It was teased that Mr. McMahon was shaking things up and that WWE would never be the same again. So when the time came and we heard that iconic song “No Chance in Hell” there was electricity in the air, the crowd was excited, what would the announcement be? It was that the McMahons would be taking control of both shows! Wait, (to quote the most annoying chant ever) what? Haven’t the McMahons been in control of WWE since the dawn of time?

They did announce that “we the people” (yeah that was a Jack Swagger reference) would be in charge of the show and that they would listen whatever we had to say. Well in true Christmas Spirit, I have a list and I hope that the McMahons check it twice. 

Here’s my Christmas wish list:

• Seth becomes the face of the company, he deserves it more than anyone
• Samoa Joe wins a title
• Nia Jax doesn’t hurt anyone in the ring
• Becky, Ronda and Charlotte main event Wrestlemania
• The tag team division is taken seriously
• The Universal Title has makes a regular appearance
• Baron Corbin is never seen again
• Michael Cole stops saying “It’s Borse Time!”
• Eugene is reinstated 

I don’t think the above is too much to ask? 

Now, if you follow me on Instagram (why they fuck don’t you?) you know that I don’t really like Baron Corbin. Now this stems from the fact that he was essentially going nowhere at the start of the year, with his terrible reseeding long hair line and his boring character. But it seems like once that horrible hair left his head, he became a new man. His biggest test by far this week, was being on live television with the entire McMahon family. As much as it pains me to say it, he really held his own out there, and to you Mr. Corbin, I say, great job. He is easily getting the most heat on RAW and that needs to capitalize on, because in this day and age of wrestling, a genuine heel is hard to come by.

It would remiss of me if I didn’t mention the new arrivals that are coming to the main roster in the coming weeks. Now, yes it is good to have new talent being called up. It creates fresh match ups and potentially can create new stars. The thing is, if this isn’t done correctly, for example AOP or Revival, quickly they can get lost in the pack and completely lose all momentum they had at NXT. 

So me, being the expert armchair booker who has never actually booked a show in his life. I will give my thoughts on where the call ups should go and how I think they can make an impact.

Lars “The Freak” Sullivan I think, would be a good fit for RAW which is kind of the land of the giants with Brock, Stroman, Drew, Lashley and Roman (get back soon). While Lars didn’t win the NXT championship, I think he could have some really great matches with the above mentioned giants. I would also like them to give him a big win straight up, not the traditional beat the jobbers for a month then get a PPV win over Elias formula. Make him come and beat Lashley the first night, Kevin Owens beat Cena the first night and look how that’s worked out.

The War Raiders also, must be on RAW. With the tag team division full of joke characters and poor comedy acts, the big boys can come in a shake up the division and bring a serious edge back to tag team wrestling. Similar to Lars, I don’t see why the Raiders can’t win the titles on their first night. Those titles mean nothing at the moment anyway, so why not let them have an impact?

EC3 should go the Smackdown Live arena. I don’t expect he will be straight into the WWE title picture but there are some feuds over there that I would definitely like to see such as Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy and the newly crowned (WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD) US champion Rusev. I think the top 1% can be a solid mid-range player for a long time, just needs to really be allowed to get his character over.

Nikki Cross should be playing wherever the Ronda, Charlotte and Becky feud is not. I am not sure whether Charlotte and Becky will be traded to RAW, or Charlotte wins the Rumble and heads to RAW but however the WWE decide to do it, Nikki Cross can’t be on that show. 

As for Lacey Evans, I’m a huge wrestling fan and I don’t really know much about her, so how is the main audience supposed to know anything? My prediction with her, is that she turns into an Iconics type act and ends up being lost in the crowd.

So in saying all that, the complete opposite will probably happen and I will be completely wrong and I will just be another “smark” who looks like a fool.

Merry Smarkmas,
Sam Story 
aka That Wrestling Guy