For the WWE right now, the unfortunate reality is that perhaps their most compelling storyline is “how is the WWE Network doing”,\u00a0a question that certainly has shareholders on tenterhooks. \u00a0While the next subscriber number\u00a0will be out shortly,\u00a0the rather desperate tone of the on-air\u00a0promotion gives the distinct impression that it’s not going to be spectacular. \u00a0It\u00a0could yet turn out\u00a0that\u00a0effectively dumping PPV\u00a0in favour of a\u00a0subscription streaming service is a great move that was simply ahead of its time; but right now, it’s looking increasingly as if the WWE\u00a0is learning the hard way what happens to early adopters who were a little too early.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, we\u00a0have a show this weekend, which will be somewhat of a time filler, because the next two shows are rather higher priorities – August is\u00a0Summerslam<\/em>, which is\u00a0traditionally one of the biggest shows of the year, and September has to hook\u00a0the people\u00a0who subscribed\u00a0for\u00a0Wrestlemania\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0will be coming up for their six month renewal. \u00a0That said, the card is not without its interest;\u00a0while there may not be much going on in story terms,\u00a0it has plenty of potential\u00a0to be a strong show in the ring. \u00a0You’ll note the near-total lack of gimmickry on this show, which tends to suggest that they’re saving all that stuff for Summerslam.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1. \u00a0WWE World Heavyweight Title: John Cena\u00a0\u00a9 v Kane v Randy Orton v Roman Reigns.<\/strong> \u00a0A somewhat odd match, in storyline\u00a0terms. \u00a0One gets the distinct impression that they started off\u00a0with the match and worked back from there, but didn’t work back very thoroughly. \u00a0Cena won the title in\u00a0last month’s\u00a0ladder match and instantly made clear that he did not intend to be particularly co-operative with the Authority (the evil owners). \u00a0This match is\u00a0supposed to be their response.<\/p>\n Kane and Orton are both Authority associates;\u00a0the strong implication is that the marching orders are for Kane to help Orton win,\u00a0but whether he can be relied upon to do this is another matter. \u00a0Reigns’ inclusion makes rather less sense; he’s supposed to be on the outs with the Authority too, and only got\u00a0into last month’s title match by persuading Vickie Guerrero to add him just before she was fired.<\/p>\n It’s increasingly clear that\u00a0the company sees him as their\u00a0potential next big star and is determined to push him accordingly, which presumably explains why they want him in high profile matches; and thus far he’s been doing\u00a0well in that role. \u00a0But it’s also\u00a0surely too early for him to win the title here, so the best that can be hoped for is to keep him out of the decision. \u00a0Of course, there is another possibility: the company\u00a0could\u00a0go\u00a0into panic mode over the Network subscriptions, and\u00a0decide to give him the title so that they can tell people how important it is to\u00a0subscribe to the Network and see major plot developments. \u00a0But if they’ve\u00a0got any sense, they’ll\u00a0resist that temptation.<\/p>\n Cena will win,\u00a0the match should be decent, and the main storyline question is really how effectively the Authority duo work as a team.<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is the break-up angle for the other two members of the Shield. \u00a0Although it was Rollins who broke up the group by turning heel and joining the Authority, Reigns is the one who has marched straight into the main event, leaving these two to feud with one another for now. \u00a0Mind you, last month Rollins picked up the\u00a0Money in the Bank\u00a0title shot, which allows him to challenge for the WWE World Title whenever he wants, and usually\u00a0<\/em>results in the winner becoming champion – so he seems to be in line for a stint in the main event as well. \u00a0(Though\u00a0we said that when Damien Sandow got it last year, and he’s a opening match comedy act now.)\u00a0\u00a0Naturally, Rollins\u00a0claims that he would never cash in his title shot against Randy Orton if he became champion, what with them both being Authority wrestlers. \u00a0Orton doesn’t seem terribly convinced, and\u00a0the Authority themselves give the alarming (to Orton) impression of not being terribly bothered as long as the title stays in their stable.<\/p>\n Ambrose, the psycho brawler of the group, is arguably a more natural heel, but Rollins’ heel turn leaves him cast in the role of babyface for now. \u00a0Fortunately,\u00a0his character turns out to work pretty well as a Stone Cold-style loose cannon. \u00a0He wants revenge on Rollins for betraying the group; as part of that, he’s vowed to interfere every time Rollins tries to cash in his title shot, which is a fun potential long-term angle. \u00a0Even so, it’s pretty clear that the booking is not protecting him to the same extent\u00a0as Rollins and Reigns, and he could use the win here. \u00a0Since Rollins would retain\u00a0his title shot, that win wouldn’t put an end to the story, but simply shore up Ambrose’s credibility.<\/p>\n Both guys\u00a0frequently have\u00a0excellent matches, and I have high hopes for this.<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Chris Jericho v Bray Wyatt.<\/strong> \u00a0Jericho is back for another short-term run, and\u00a0as usual, he’s feuding with a new guy –\u00a0the idea, of course, ultimately being to elevate them. \u00a0While the WWE has some odd ideas about how to book this kind of thing, it seems to make sense that he ought to win the first match, since\u00a0Wyatt\u00a0is presumably winning the feud in the end, and it makes more sense for Jericho to re-establish his\u00a0reputation in his first match back in. \u00a0(Yes, I\u00a0know he beat the Miz on television, but\u00a0that’s really not enough.) \u00a0Again, it’s a good match on paper, presumably intended to build to a rematch\u00a0at Summerslam.<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0Jack Swagger v Rusev.<\/strong>\u00a0 Rusev, the Russian\u00a0monster heel, remains undefeated and continues to work his way up the card. \u00a0Attentive readers will\u00a0recall that Rusev was originally established as Bulgarian, something which has been quietly ignored while his Russian manager does her anti-US, pro-Putin spiel on recent shows. \u00a0Somewhat surprisingly,\u00a0his bio on the WWE web site does actually attempt to reconcile this, by claiming that he’s a Bulgarian who\u00a0lives<\/em> in Russia, although\u00a0this begs the question of precisely\u00a0when<\/em> he finds time to live in Russia, given that he’s working\u00a0the USA.<\/p>\n Anyhow, the obvious foil for a Russian heel is an all-American hero. \u00a0Enter Jack Swagger\u2026 except that\u00a0his “Real American” schtick was also a heel act,\u00a0intended originally as a Tea Party gimmick. \u00a0While it’s perfectly in character for him to stand up for his country against Rusev,\u00a0it also results in a rather awkward face turn, and it’s very hard to see where he and his manager Zeb Colter go after this feud if they remain as babyfaces. \u00a0Of course, the idea could be that the gimmick has run its course and that this is\u00a0a sensible way of getting\u00a0some more use out of it before calling it a day.<\/p>\n This angle has got a surprisingly good reception from live crowds, considering how mid card it is. \u00a0Oddly, live shows last weekend had the matches ending with Rusev getting a submission win almost instantly. \u00a0But the Friday night house show saw them wrestle for 15 minutes, so heaven only knows what we’re getting. \u00a0If they actually have a match, it\u00a0has potential to be decent;\u00a0Rusev has generally been solid and Swagger is better than his position on the card would suggest.<\/p>\n 5. \u00a0WWE Divas Title: AJ Lee\u00a0\u00a9 v Paige.<\/strong>\u00a0 Lee\u00a0returned from her extended break\u00a0a few weeks ago and won her title straight back from Paige on Raw. \u00a0This is Paige’s automatic rematch. \u00a0The angle over the last few weeks has been that they’re both being painfully civil and respectful to one another and\u00a0at least one of them (most likely Paige) is plainly faking it. \u00a0A heel turn for Paige would not be a bad move, since her\u00a0babyface character hasn’t really worked. \u00a0Whoever brought her up to TV evidently failed to appreciate that she got over\u00a0in\u00a0NXT doing an anti-diva loner gimmick, not by\u00a0acting like an overawed rookie.\u00a0 Again, while the story is at best in its early phases, this is a potentially\u00a0good match on paper. \u00a0AJ presumably wins, but I’d be happy to see them feud\u00a0for a little longer.<\/p>\n 6. \u00a0WWE Tag Team Titles – Best of 3 Falls: Jey Uso\u00a0& Jimmy Uso\u00a0\u00a9 v Luke Harper & Erick Rowan.<\/strong> \u00a0This feud has been going seemingly forever, and it’s surely time now for it to\u00a0reach a head with the Wyatt Family\u00a0duo winning the titles. \u00a0They’ve been having great matches, but\u00a0both teams really, really need to move on to fresh opponents. \u00a0I expect it to be good, I expect the Wyatts to win.<\/p>\n Technically this is a gimmick match, but\u00a0it’s the sort of gimmick that appeals\u00a0to wrestling purists. \u00a0Personally, I tend to feel that the best of three falls schtick only really works if you do it often enough to allow for the genuine possibility of somebody winning in straight falls. \u00a0If you do have that\u00a0possibility established, then the format has lots of potential in terms of possible stories. \u00a0But if the audience\u00a0has been trained to believe that these matches always end 2-1 (and in WWE, it has),\u00a0it’s trickier to make it work. \u00a0Not impossible, though – everyone knows that a\u00a0WWE main event isn’t ending in the first ten minutes, but it doesn’t follow that the first ten minutes are merely marking time until the finishing sequence.<\/p>\n 7. \u00a0WWE Intercontinental Title – Battle Royal: Cesaro v Kofi Kingston v Great Khali v Rob Van Dam v Dolph Ziggler v Big E v Ryback v Curtis Axel v Alberto Del Rio v Bo Dallas v Sheamus v Fandango v Sin Cara v Zack Ryder v Miz v Diego v R-Truth v Xavier Woods v Heath Slater v Titus O’Neil.<\/strong>\u00a0Pretty much everyone else in the company who isn’t\u00a0otherwise occupied will be in a battle royal for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Title,\u00a0previously held by Bad News Barrett, who is out of action with a separated shoulder.<\/p>\n Conventional wisdom is that the obvious likely winner is\u00a0Cesaro, who is supposedly in line for a push at some stage, but not actually\u00a0doing much at the moment. \u00a0I’m not entirely sure the “prestigious” Intercontinental Title is the best way to keep him occupied. \u00a0But he shares a manager with Brock Lesnar, who will be returning in a major role at Summerslam, so he could use a storyline to keep him from being overshadowed and forgotten about.<\/p>\n Of the rest of the pack, there’s a bunch of long-serving wrestlers who would merely be running in place if they won the title, and a few more\u00a0opening match geeks who obviously don’t have a chance in hell. \u00a0Sheamus is already the US Champion,\u00a0and while there’s a lot to be said for unifying the secondary titles, it would be folly to do it out of nowhere in a battle royal. \u00a0(Again, that’s unless they’re desperate for ideas for “newsworthy” angles to shill the Network.) \u00a0Kingston, Van Dam, Ziggler, Del Rio or Miz would be surprising choices, and don’t obviously go anywhere, but would at least bring some degree of credibility to the title. \u00a0Bo Dallas is an outside possibility – he’s a rookie on a highly dubious winning streak, with an obnoxious “inspirational” gimmick, and proud owner of probably the best entrance video the production guys have come up with in years.<\/p>\n