Posted in: Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders: The WWE Month in Review (December 2014 TV, TLC & NXT Reviews, Wrestler/Match of the Month)
By The Doc
Dec 30, 2014 - 12:41:49 PM


The Snowman is a genius




QUESTION OF THE DAY: With Daniel Bryan announcing that he will be in the Royal Rumble, do you think Roman Reigns is still the favorite or do you think that Bryan’s return necessitates a change in approach for Mania?

The following is a case study of WWE’s product for the month of December 2014.


Generally, a Typical Last Month of the Year for WWE Television

In stark contrast to the show-wide focus exhibited throughout the build-up to the Survivor Series main-event in November, WWE's month of December was a return to what we've come to expect in the fourth financial quarter. TV programming felt, largely, like a series of re-runs and throwaways. Not a single story arc came across as something that would have been any less memorable having simply read about it online. Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose will likely go down in history for having fired a blank in their feud. As talented as Bray clearly is, he has not done much in the second half of the year to build on what he accomplished in the first half. The Lunatic Fringe, who had been on a hot streak prior to engaging the Eater of Worlds, was unable to continue his momentum. Both stars are still sitting pretty heading into the Mania Season, though, as I remind you that critical success is only part of the game; their current positioning in the hierarchy is right where it needs to be for them to be high profile Show of Shows combatants. Wyatt, though, really does need to evolve. He's gifted Chris Jericho over the summer and that feud laid an egg. Then, he gets to work with the hottest new babyface on the roster and that, too, was a bit of a flop. Compelling as he may be, these stories just aren't clicking.

Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler were deadlocked in a tight race all month for the Wrestler of December; and it's not just because they are my two favorites on the roster. The Architect has been so, so good as a character since his heel turn and, now, he's found himself carrying lengthy segments on the microphone with ease. I'll tell you why he's emerged as my favorite of this new generation – he works harder than everyone else on his craft. He took a perceived weakness (mic skills) and made it a strength. He's found a workout regimen that works for him and has added the bulk necessary to compete with and look credible against anyone. The Breakout Star of the Year in my mind, Rollins seems on his way to a huge 2015. He wrapped up his 2014 nicely in a solid angle with John Cena in absence of the Authority. The Show Off, meanwhile, is making the most of his latest opportunity. I, for one, am loving it. In one of those “WWE will care about this” kind of news items, Ziggler was named the Wrestler of the Year by Rolling Stone Magazine. That's pretty cool. He looks to me like he's getting his swagger back in the character department to accompany his usually stellar in-ring performances, which were the main things that kept him in the game with Rollins for me. His matches with Luke Harper this month were outstanding and varied in their execution.

It was filler galore throughout the rest of the show, as the lack of a roster-encompassing storyline (like in November) was certainly felt almost immediately on my end. Though it was nice to see an actual angle in the Tag Team Championship feud, there was not much else to creatively sink your teeth into this month.

Of course, the key word in the headline for this section was “generally.” The final Raw of the year last night was outstanding, in my opinion. It was incredibly noteworthy across the board and sent us into 2015 on a high note with plenty of talking points. Daniel Bryan is back! No matter your feelings about the Yes! Man, how can you deny that the reaction he elicits will make the Road to WrestleMania a lot more exciting?

NXT Takeover R-Evolution Review

I’m, admittedly, not a huge follower of NXT. Yet, I do follow it through our resident NXT guru, Oliver. I’ve watched bits and pieces of all their major events this year, but I paid particular attention to their latest. Something is brewing down there in Florida and I had to take a closer look. Takeover: R-Evolution put on display a fact that I find fascinating – that WWE’s future stars are, perhaps, smaller statured than they have ever been. The largest man of the top five talents in NXT is Kevin Owens and he’s less than six feet tall, cut from the body style of Bray Wyatt and Mick Foley. I certainly didn’t see a John Cena, Randy Orton, or Batista on that card. I don’t even see a Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels, in regards to their look, as those two relatively diminutive top guys were, at least, classically good looking. While I don’t think that’s a bad thing for the current crop of NXT stars, per say, I do think it’s very different from the rest of the WrestleMania Era. Never before in the modern history of pro wrestling has a class of talents looked the part less than the one we saw tear the house down and offer up arguably the best “special event” of the year.

Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn was an amazing performance. I truly wonder if Zayn, who has a lot of the same likeable qualities as Daniel Bryan, can duplicate even a fraction of the main roster success of the man to whom he’ll most frequently be compared. Neville, meanwhile, is the athletic evolution of Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, with physical intensity to spare. I was more impressed with his controlled fury than I was of all but one of his peers. That peer was Finn Balor. Ask many pro wrestling aficionados about who they think will be the breakout star of the five top NXT stars and the general consensus seems to be that Owens is the man. If I had to pick the one guy who stands out most to me, though, it would unquestionably be Balor. His war paint jumped off the screen at Takeover, his presentation alone as memorable as the outstanding main-event for the NXT title. Balor’s tag partner and tag opponents may all end up successful main roster additions, but I don’t think any of them will be the star that Finn will be. If NXT Takeover: R-Evolution was any indication, the future is brightly unique.

TLC Review

The sixth annual TLC PPV was, like many of its predecessors, an event that looked quite enjoyable on paper. Generally, I view this show as “fun” and little more, so my expectations are rarely through the roof. I think it works best that way for the December PPV, frankly. When expectations rose a year ago with a high stakes match of massive historical implication and then failed, it tarnished what has otherwise been an entertaining PPV since 2009 that has offered more good memories for me than bad ones.

TLC 2014 added the Stairs match to the silly Chairs match, reminding the audience that it should not expect “a traditional wrestling show.” Prior to the event, it seemed like there would be three legitimate Match of the Night contenders. Big Show and Kane offered nothing to make me change my stance on their retirements being largely welcomed, so their matches were nothing to write about. AJ and Nikki actually had a match, but it was as uninspired as the rest of the non-Intercontinental mid-card title matches. So, the three horse race was what we got.

I was thrilled to see Ambrose and Wyatt get the main-event slot. Their feud didn’t deserve it, but they did. They worked their tails off, too. JBL said that “they were trying to out-crazy each other.” That pretty succinctly described the story. Unfortunately, the crowd did not seem to buy into it, I suspect because the entirety of the storyline had been so underwhelming. The finish was hokey to boot, destined to end up on a wrestlecrap list some day. The finish and the dead crowd did not negate the strong work from the performers, but in taking into account the overall presentation, the five-star effort from Wyatt and Ambrose did not equate to more than a [*** ¾] match. I gave the same [*** ¾] rating to the Tables match between Seth Rollins and John Cena. I won’t call it the best version in the gimmick’s history, but I will call it the most psychologically sound story ever told in a Tables match. The middle parts of the match were pretty mundane, but the final few minutes (pre and post restart) were thrilling to watch. They did a good job of keeping you guessing as to the eventual winner.

Dolph Ziggler winning back the IC title from Luke Harper in a Ladder match was the superlative work of the show. It broke no new ground, but it was as violent a Ladder match as I can recall from recent memory. The spots may not have intended to be so brutal looking, but it’s just the way it worked out. Harper nearly broke his arm on one stunt. Both men were busted open the hard way on several parts of their bodies. Ziggler’s hometown audience added a nice audio backdrop to the story and the announce team put him over huge after he won. Kudos to Cole and the Gang for making the Showoff seem like a major player in WWE. [****]

Match of the Month: Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville at NXT Takeover: R-Evolution

I wouldn’t normally take NXT into account (it's not WWE's main roster and I mainly cover WWE proper), but Zayn vs. Neville was a good bit better than the main roster’s top candidate; so, I could not ignore it. If you haven’t seen it, you really should do yourself a favor and invest thirty minutes of your time. It’s that good. Even if you’re not that familiar with the wrestlers, just watch the pre-match video promo to get acquainted and let Neville and Zayn do the rest. If you were once a fan of TNA when the X-division was at its peak, the wrestling in the NXT title match reminded me of that style. Some might call it “indy mixed with WWE,” meaning it was highly athletic and enjoyable in a manner different from the usual WWE match, but it also had a strong dose of psychology with the heel selling like crazy for the babyface while also dominating lengthy stretches. What made it stand out so much, for me, was that I know that I’m not going to see anything like it on WWE TV right now. Eighteen months ago, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins had a 4-star match on Raw without much of a story behind it. Fast forward to the present and Zayn combined with Neville for a similar bout with a tremendous story [**** ½].

Previous MOTM winners: Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan at Royal Rumble (Jan), Wyatts vs. Shield at Elimination Chamber (Feb), Wyatts vs. Shield on Raw (Mar), Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H at WrestleMania (Apr), Evolution vs. Shield at Extreme Rules (May), John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt at Payback (June), Usos vs. Wyatts at Battleground (July), Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins at Summerslam (Aug), Sheamus vs. Cesaro at Night of Champions (Sep), Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell (Oct), Team Cena vs. The Authority at Survivor Series (Nov)


Wrestler of the Month: Seth Rollins

To avoid becoming the literary version of a broken record, it’s probably a good thing that I did not start writing these until the last two months of the year. Otherwise, you might have gotten tired of reading all about Seth Rollins being the Wrestler of the Month. He earned it for a final time in 2014 with a stellar final Raw of the year. For my money, there is not a more entertaining personality on the roster right now than Seth Rollins. There’s something gritty and believable about him. Over the summer, he said that he “bought in.” Said figuratively, I think it was also literal. He has completely bought into his character. A lesser performer would have made the segment with Edge that brought back the Authority look silly and overacted; Rollins nailed it. I thought that Ziggler gave him a good run for his money, along with several others in a fairly week month, overall, but that last performance on Raw sealed the deal. He looks like he’s earning himself a big-time spot in March.

Previous WOTM winners: Daniel Bryan (January), Cesaro (February), Bray Wyatt (March), Daniel Bryan (April), The Shield (May), Seth Rollins (June), Dean Ambrose (July), Seth Rollins (August), Rusev (September), Dean Ambrose (October), Dolph Ziggler (November)


January Predictions

With Bryan’s return taken into account, the month of January and the Royal Rumble PPV will be “can’t miss” for wrestling fans. We are, now, on the Road to WrestleMania, as far as I’m concerned. Bryan’s biggest contribution to the Rumble will be unpredictability. I foresee he and Reigns jockeying for position at the top for the entirety of the next 30 some odd days. The debate will rage on the internet. Roman’s popularity will be tested in a major way. That will likely be the story of January 2015: can Reigns maintain his pops or will they be drowned out by an immensely popular comeback story? On the surface, the answer seems obvious to me (Bryan’s reactions will easily usurp Roman’s). Maybe I’m wrong. I predict that Reigns will win the Royal Rumble, with the mindset being that WWE can’t pass up the opportunity to give him Lesnar’s heat. Rollins will screw Bryan, setting the Yes! Man up to be his generation’s HBK. I think it’s going to be a wild ride. I’m going to do my best to sit back and enjoy it.