The WWE is now back stateside after their annual post-Mania European tour and they will look to amp up hype for Extreme Rules in a few weeks. Will we see more matches announced or will they wait until the week of like usual? Will The Undertaker make an appearance? What will Creative do to get people to care about Hunter-Brock III? Will Ziggler finally embrace all his Dolphins? Does anyone realize Kofi Kingston is the United States champion? Will The Shield continue to target Team Hell No? How many more people will believe in The Shield this week?
Best
Dean Ambrose: In yet another mention of something that happened on Smackdown, Ambrose’s match with Undertaker was pretty good. Yeah it was only 5 minutes, but like Rob said in his SD article, it was 5 minutes done better then most in this industry. The sequence of Ambrose doing the throat slash gesture over a fallen Undertaker only to get grabbed for the Chokeslam, fight it off and eventually tap out to Hell’s Gate was fantastic. He more then held his own against the legendary Phenom, which is a big boost to him as well to The Shield. Triple Powerbombing Taker through the announce table was as big an exclamation point as any the group has done so far.
The Shield: I did discuss The Hounds of Justice, but their in-ring promo on RAW is definitely worth mentioning. Reminding us of the long list of their victims and showing still shots on the Tron reinforces their domination of the past months. Cena, Ryback, Orton, Sheamus, Kane, Bryan, Rock and Taker are an all-star list of the top names in WWE which makes said dominance that much more meaningful.
Stipulate: After an excellent technical wrestling match where he defeats Cesaro, Del Rio gets to choose the WHC PPV stipulation. He makes a very good choice in picking a Ladder Match. It might not be that good at first, but remember Ziggler, Swagger and Del Rio are all former MITB winners, so they’ve got the requisite experience. This includes Ziggler retaining his MITB in a Ladder match against Cena and even Del Rio being unsuccessful against Christian at Extreme Rules two years ago. On top of that all guys have been in multiple MITB matches at the titular pay per view. This should make for a much more interesting match.
Worst
Stipulated: While the stipulation itself was good they determine it by having a triple threat of Big E vs Ricardo vs Zeb? How does that make sense? It does get each guy’s manager/accompaniment/etc involved so that’s something. However with Zeb staying out of most of it, its wacky pace and Ricardo’s tiger-stripe pants it’s treated more as a comedy match then something serious. This should tell you all you need to know about how highly WWE thinks of the WHC, though they did redeem it by having Del Rio choose a Ladder Match as mentioned above.
Cena’s Injury: While there several reports on the Series of Tubes, it is still unknown as to the extent of Cena’s Achilles injury. It could be not that serious to where he doesn’t wrestle until Extreme Rules to give him time to heal. On the other hand, if it keeps him out for an extended period or off the PPV card, then WWE may have to start thinking about stripping him of the title or going the same route they did when Punk was injured as champ. If Cena is ruled out, then what happens to the title and Ryback? Who would take Cena’s place in the match? Sheamus? Delay Orton’s heel turn and have him feud with Ryback? Rush back Punk as a face? Undertaker???
Roster Depth: With the NFL Draft over and teams restocking their rosters, how could WWE fix its own roster depth issues? This is even more apparent with the company panicking over what to do about Cena. So what to do? Well first of all they do have alot of guys on the roster, so if Creative ever realizes that, then the problem is solved. Of course they’d have to book logical angles and not have Hell No fight PTP every week or have a newly crowned champion lose the very next week. Failing that they could always sign more Indy stars or bring up guys from NXT. For example, Bray Wyatt has an intriguing character and has come a long way since his Husky Harris days. Kassius Ohno seems ready to make the jump any day now. If he were to be brought up to team with Cesaro, Indy fans would wet their pants.
