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Welcome back to the EXCELLENCE IN COLUMN WRITING exclusively here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. Here I am, coming off the heels of my WWE Money in the Bank 2016 Review... Boy am I glad that I watch RAW on Tuesdays on Hulu. Taking Monday OFF from pro wrestling has become a necessary thing to unwind and also catch up on sleep. Multi-tasking between watching the NBA Finals on the television, watching Money in the Bank on the Smartphone, and then writing a column to be completed by Money in the Bank... I was exhausted. It is nice to be in bed by 10:30pm on Monday nights... To follow-up on Sunday night's WWE Money in the Bank, I have a song... DING DONG! REIGNS HAS LOST! REIGNS HAS LOST! REIGNS HAS LOST! DING DONG! REIGNS HAS LOST! I'm channeling my inner Bill Hicks there... Since November 2015, we've had to endure Roman Reigns being SHOVED DOWN OUR THROATS as the next Main Event Babyface and WWE Champion. That is despite the guy not having any success as a midcard babyface singles wrestler. WWE has tried repeatedly since early 2014, starting with that RAW match against CM Punk where Reigns was the ONLY member of the Shield to defeat Punk in a singles match on January 6th, 2014. I commented on the match the day later by saying: I'm sorry to say this, but I was not impressed by Roman Reigns first time in the singles main event spotlight. He looked clueless and green out there, as if he needed some more time in the Tag Team division. The only advantage Reigns has over most in the WWE is his look, but the ability and charisma aren't there to draw beyond that. But the WWE will try... Last year, WWE was dead serious on making Roman Reigns defeating Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 31 but then Lesnar signed a 3 year extension to change those plans... But at Money in the Bank 2016, Reigns lost 100% cleanly to Seth Rollins... As bad as that match because Reigns was huffing and puffing... The ending was every bit as satisfying as the Cleveland Cavs winning their 1st NBA Title with Lebron James. DING DONG, REIGNS HAS LOST! And them maybe to put a cherry on top of it all, Dean Ambrose comes out, attacks Rollins with the recently won MITB briefcase, and then becomes WWE Champion himself. It's like back-to-back Cleveland Cavs titles now! Then, you hear the news today, oh boy... This is why Roman Reigns lost 100% clean to Seth Rollins and why the babyface push has ended... Maybe? Per WWE.com, retrieved 6/21/16: STAMFORD, Conn. — WWE has suspended Joe Anoa`i (Roman Reigns) for 30 days effective immediately for his first violation of the company’s talent wellness policy. Several things to note here: (a) WWE's Wellness Policy works! One would figure that the top star of a company (or at least in their minds) would get special treatment or at least a warning behind-the-scenes. Nope. Let's give the WWE Corporate credit where it's due. (b) If Reigns is taking something to enhance his look, why bother? He's getting pushed by the WWE anyway and his clothing is such that it covers much of his body from having to be muscular. KABOOM, the WWE Marketing Machine that spent all of its resources since January 2014 to get ONE GUY over has a full roster of upper midcarders who have 0.500 winning percentages of even wins and even losses. NOBODY and I repeat NOBODY has been allowed to get over as a babyface since early 2014 and if anybody sniffed success, they would get jobbed out. LOOK at Dean Ambrose's 2014-2015 Pay Per View singles record. It is hysterical! Then, when he gets serious matches during 2016, he's completely confused on how to act as a Main Eventer. Now, however, the WWE needed a babyface immediately and they rushed Dean Ambrose to the WWE Title thanks to Roman Reigns fumbling his own ball. Will it work? Well, WWE has to LET DEAN WIN MATCHES... RAW gained over 400,000 in viewers between this week and last... DING DONG, REIGNS HAS LOST! REIGNS HAS LOST! REIGNS HAS LOST! DING DONG! REIGNS HAS LOST! Dean Ambrose had done nothing but eat crap sandwiches as served up by WWE Creative since the Shield broke up during mid-2014. I'm happy for him... But I'm also happy for the comeback of Seth Rollins and getting the clean win over Roman Reigns. That was more of a definitive win. Looking back at 2015, many of us took Rollins for granted... To me, I was highly critical of how WWE messed with Seth Rollins such as (a) banning the Curb Stomp and (b) having him constantly argue and feud with Corporate Kane. If you look at 2015's Pay Per Views, Seth Rollins had an amazing year. But WWE Creative screws with everybody not named John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar (OVW Class of 2002 members), and Roman Reigns (Vince's personal favorite). It SUCKS that Seth Rollins has to do the Pedigree as his finisher. SUCKS!!! WWE has to figure out how to better connect with its fans... MANY wrestlers have been on the brink of getting over yet because of the personal tastes/preferences of Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, and Kevin Dunn along with many corporate EVP, SVP, and VP types who don't know pro wrestling, they were sabotaged. Dean Ambrose's natural growth as a babyface was sabotaged with repeat losses in order to help get Roman Reigns over for example. Daniel Bryan was CRAZY over with the fans between 2013-2015 and yet WWE did everything in its power to destroy him. CM Punk during 2011, gets crazy over and is completely destroyed because the WWE marketing machine wanted to push Alberto Del Rio as WWE Champion. Cesaro had huge momentum after winning the Andre "the Giant" Battle Royal and has been messed with repeatedly ever since. WWE even banned his Giant Swing! And on, and on, and on... You get the point. I'm repeating myself but I need to beat these points into certain fans' heads. Roman Reigns was over as a part of the Shield but he was a lost puppy on his own. In the moments where Roman Reigns has been involved with his former teammates, that's when he actually gets cheers. After the Shield beat Evolution for the second straight Pay Per View during 2014, they could have been primed to be pushed harder as babyfaces as a group. Instead, WWE turned Seth Rollins heel. While I'm overall happy with Seth Rollins as a singles wrestler (HATED him arguing with Corporate Kane), I felt that the Shield as a babyface stable had legs. I argued that on the same night Rollins turned and everybody looked at me as they were dogs being shown a card trick (another Bill Hicks reference). WWE needed babyface sensations to follow John Cena and yet they wrecked their most over group who just beat Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista in a GREAT series of matches. They could have kept the Shield together longer, given Reigns more experience in the ring as a tag wrestler, and then begin to push each as singles wrestlers as needed... But DON'T break them up. The Shield was a GREAT brand name that the WWE could have pushed and kept pushing. But now, here we are with a FAILED Roman Reigns Main Event Babyface push and now he's tarnished with the Wellness Policy violation. NOBODY and I repeat NOBODY has recovered from that stain on their career. There remains a stigma on wrestlers with drug violations thanks to the events of the past. Roman just lost any babyface credibility by that being publicly announced. What was he thinking? He had WWE Management's blessing even with the reduced RAW ratings and lower houseshow attendance. Makes you wonder how many long-term plans were just shredded thanks to this violation. Either way, the WWE Title is off of Roman Reigns. As I've been saying for over 2 years now, the guy lacks the personality, charisma, mic skills, endurance, and in-ring ability to carry himself as a Main Eventer. It looks BAD on Vince McMahon to have pushed him so hard while disregarding the rest of the WWE roster who may have been more talented than Reigns. How can Vince be the one who helped create Hulkamania and the Attitude Era be a guy who completely whiffed on Roman Reigns as a main eventer. Worse yet, much of the yes-men and family members backstage never dared to confront Vince about it. Hell, even Triple H was willing to put over Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 32. Now that Reigns is gone for the next 30 days and damaged goods for a while... WWE has to scramble on babyfaces. Is Dean Ambrose the guy? What about the DRAFT coming soon? When you put your eggs in one basket, Roman Reigns, good things are unable to hatch elsewhere. ======================================================= RAW is HULU Missed the Cut - Enzo/Big Cass vs. Vaudevillains - Baron Corbin vs. Zack Ryder - Rusev vs. Titus O'Neil Good promo to start by Dean Ambrose and then the other 2 Shield members join him to argue over title shots. Dean's work was great following his big win. Here's a novel idea for Dean Ambrose: LET HIM WIN MATCHES as WWE Champion. LOUD "you can't wrestle" chants towards Roman Reigns, which stings badly... But at least Reigns showed that he could potentially work as a heel by snapping back. Some potential there as a heel, but again, see my above rant. Weaknesses would still exist. I like the Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn matches but I'm wondering what's the point? There's just no continuity to it. Happy that Zayn got a win, but the guy has lost repeatedly since joining the WWE main roster this year. WWE has to do a better job marketing Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. They just appeared one day to maul the Usos and then they were confusing in use for the Roman Reigns feud with AJ Styles. Just poor introductions of those 2 and they haven't been put in matches to showcase why they were good in New Japan. I don't mean to bash, but you can't just debut guys without any rhyme or reason. That's why Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin are also struggling in the WWE. Funny to see them apologize to John Cena for interfering with the Styles match. Paige vs. Charlotte was OK, but the WWE has been so confusing in its use of Paige that it's hard to get behind her... Lots of talent, but again, it's how WWE Creative uses here. Interference by Dana Brooke helped Charlotte win... And then afterward, Sasha Banks was released from her restraints and allowed to FINALLY challenge Charlotte. About damn time, WWE. Someone needs to show Vince McMahon Sasha's 2015 Takeover matches and then tell him to shut up! I'm liking the potential of New Day vs. Wyatt Family. If anything, I'd use the feud to begin considering pushing Big E as a singles wrestler while Woods/Kofi would be the Tag Team Champions. Let Big E work against those hosses and see how he does. Great mic work to be had in the upcoming weeks... MAIN EVENT was Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins... Just watch Rollins running around the ring, full of energy throughout the match. And then there's Roman Reigns, constantly sucking wind and sweating like hell. Cole blew his load over that Superman Punch in which Reigns did nothing while Rollins is the one jumping off the ropes and selling the punch. I'm STILL amused at how Roman Reigns is allowed to keep the "Drive-By" name for one of his moves. But hey, let's censor the ENTIRE Curb Stomp move from Rollins. Double standards, although not on Wellness Tests now apparently. By the way, Dean Ambrose is EXCELLENT on commentary tonight. Double countout?!? Shane McMahon comes out and demands that a #1 contender be found. Dean suggests both and Shane agrees... Triple Threat Match at WWE Battleground... Dean Ambrose hits his Dirty Deeds DDT on Roman Reigns and then hits one on Seth too. SHOW THOUGHTS: PUSH THE SHIELD. In many ways, the Wellness Suspension could be a blessing because the Shield Triple Threat match should be on SummerSlam 2016 instead. The Shield is a known WWE commodity, one of the few rare bright spots in the last 5 years for the WWE that came from developmental. This show is realizing what it had last week by pairing the 3 back up and they need to keep pushing their rivalry. They had lackluster booking during 2014-2015 that didn't really capitalize on Seth Rollins heel turn and the others seeking revenge. Hell, Dean's revenge at Hell in a Cell was oddly interrupted by Bray Wyatt for no reason whatsoever. Show was fine... [ B ] ======================================================= THE LAST WORD There's no doubt that this column is PRO John Cena. While I can agree that he's booked too strongly as a modern day Hulk Hogan at times, I can counter that by Cena's use is determined by WWE Creative. As far as I know, Cena goes along with what the WWE wants and rarely voices his dissent or forces script rewrites. Cena gets the same treatment that Hogan, Austin, Rock, Undertaker, and Triple H have received. Just a fact... Why didn't you criticize them? See, I compare John Cena to Lebron James. No matter how great Lebron James can be, such as coming back from a 3-1 deficit to lead all major statistical categories this year, there remains haters. Why? Well, Lebron James isn't Michael Jordan just like John Cena isn't Rock/Austin/Hogan. I consider Michael Jordan the BEST basketball player in the world, particularly as Lebron's career isn't over... And I also consider Rock/Austin/Hogan to be the best babyface draws of all time. But to shortchange what John Cena and Lebron James have accomplished is quite ignorant of obvious facts. I love Michael Jordan. Amazing player that transcended the sport and I often wonder how many titles he could have truly had if he didn't take 2 years off for Baseball. Amazing scorer, defender, and had that killer instinct to beat any team. Tough as nails, too... But let's consider his environment. He was coached by Phil Jackson who happened to win 5 more NBA Titles following Jordan's exit. Scottie Pippen was his small forward and at times during the 1990's, arguably the 2nd best player in the NBA and Pippen was on the same team. When Jordan left after his 3rd title, the Pippen led Bulls went deep into the NBA Playoffs. Jordan always had a great Power Forward with Horace Grant for his first 3 titles and Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman (former WCW superstar, too) for his latter 3 titles. BUT, Jordan played in an era with NBA rules that allowed more physical play like hand checks and changes and flagrant foul rules. Consider Lebron James. In my opinion, he has willed lesser teams to the NBA Finals than Jordan. James has been in 7 Title series and that first Cavs run (swept by Spurs) and then 2015's injury riddled Cavs were impressive considering the weak talent surrounding him. He had better fortunes in Miami, but those last 2 years had some injuries in place and they ran into a tough Spurs team in each year. Lebron has NEVER had a strong coach... Once Jordan gained Phil Jackson, he never lost Phil... James has had a rotating door of coaches in Cleveland and a younger coach in Miami. This year, Lebron beat a 73 win defending champion and scored 109 points in the last 3 games with 2 of those games on the road. HIS CAREER IS NOT DONE YET... But everybody knocks Lebron due to this bizarre Jordan comparison and probably trash him because of the infamous SUV purchase before he joined the NBA and then the "Decision" to join Miami. Then consider John Cena... All he has done since 2005 was drawn money for the WWE. He put butts in houseshow seats, sold merchandise, and makes many public appearances for the Corporate WWE. Let us not forget the Chris Benoit disaster that stained the WWE's image... However, WWE had John Cena to push as its face and keep the WWE family friendly. Cena is also drawing in a PG-era where he's not allowed to be rude & crude. Could you imagine Rock or Austin doing well in a PG rated environment? Oh wait, we've seen the Rock extensively try his act as a wrestler the PG Era. NOT THE SAME. Cena has had nothing but great matches and he's far more generous at putting over wrestlers over than those other main eventers. But let's look at Rock/Austin/Hogan... Have you seen the long list of opponents for Hulk Hogan during the 1980's and early 1990's? ALL TIME GREATS... Randy Savage, Sgt. Slaughter, Mr. Wonderful, Roddy Piper, Ultimate Warrior, and the Undertaker. Rock and Austin had each other in the SAME era and wrestled at 3 freakin' Wrestlemanias together, main eventing 2 of them. But both had a STACKED roster to wrestle like Kurt Angle, Triple H, the Undertaker, Mick Foley, and for Steve Austin, he had the best storyline heel of all time in Vince McMahon to draw with. John Cena has dealt with a thinner WWE roster by comparison and anytime a potential running mate was created (CM Punk, Daniel Bryan), WWE Creative tore them down. While I'll agree that Rock/Austin/Hogan were better, I'd argue that John Cena has done MORE WITH LESS than those 3 wrestlers. In fact, that's the theme with Lebron James and John Cena... Both had to do MORE WITH LESS while many all-time greats were blessed with better talent surrounding them. Rock/Austin/Hogan had deeper WWE rosters of great opponents while Michael Jordan had a stacked Bulls team and an all-time great coach. Why can't we just acknowledge that Lebron James AND Michael Jordan are GREAT? Why can't we just acknowledge that Rock, Austin, Hogan, AND John Cena are GREAT? Why debate? How about enjoying those great talents while they are still here. In the case of Jordan, Hogan, Rock, and Austin... They are NOT coming back. Their careers are over. However in the case of John Cena and Lebron James, they are here RIGHT NOW... So quit nitpicking about their greatness and enjoy the damn ride! GO CAVS! SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2016
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