After a one week hiatus BW&Q is back! Kind of like Evolution being back, but much less impactful and certainly not as big as the return of Big Red Monster. Although we’ll all miss him wrestling in his dress slacks. Will he come back with full on red gear? How will he target Bryan? What will the Yes Man on his return? What kind of mind games will Bray Wyatt play with Cena? What’s in store for the IC #1 Contender tournament? What does Evolution 2.0 do as a follow up? More importantly, how will The Shield respond to getting beat down?
Best
Kane: As much as we all thought Korporate Kane was a great change of pace and as much we were looking forward to Kane’s own line of dress slacks not coming to fine clothing stores near you, the return of The Big Red Monster is great. The Korporate gimmick was interesting when it started, but then seemed to lose a bit of steam. The Devil’s Favorite Demon was reintroduced in perhaps the best way possible, by coming out and demolishing Bryan with, among other things, a hat trick of Tombstone Piledrivers. That’s as emphatic a statement as Kane could make, yes?
Tournaments: Regardless of whoever wins the IC #1 Contender’s tourney or if they beat Big E at Extreme Rules, the fact that there is one in and of itself is a welcome change. Tournaments in WWE are always a good thing for several reasons. They provide a multi week storyline and give the matches a sense of direction, instead of being one offs or randomly thrown together. Plus having several guys battle for a prize, the IC title in this case, makes the matches better since there’s something tangible for the winner. We all remember how great the King of the Ring tournaments were, so hopefully this IC one means there are more in the future. If not, then at least Cole gets to say ‘the prestigious Intercontinental title’ 472 times each broadcast.
Dean Ambrose: While Reigns is getting a ton of pops for his in ring moves and Rollins for being a human gas molecule in the ring, it might seem like Ambrose is taking a bit of a backseat. Perhaps not since all three member of The Shield are in perhaps the top feud at the moment. Still, we all know Ambrose is great on the mic, but lately he’s becoming one of the better sellers in the ring as he makes it entertaining to see him take the brunt of the punishment. Just like their face turn has breathed new life into The Shield, perhaps it can do the same for the US Title. It’s more or less been a prop for him, so perhaps being a face can lead to more open challenges or taking on all comers. Of course this would require Creative to form a plan for the title, though the IC tournament offers an encouraging sign. On an unrelated note, don’t you think ‘Slightly Off’ is better nickname for Ambrose then ‘The Lunatic Fringe’?
JBL Great Quote of the Night: ‘You never know a woman till you’ve met her in court’
Worst
El Torito vs Hornswoggle: Yes this is an actual feud that is taking up time on WWE programming. Yes we’d probably prefer it wasn’t happening. However, all we can really do is hope its segments are short and move on to the next thing.
Emma: Having her debut in a comedy angle with Santino was bad enough and participate in short, meaningless matches has been a gross misuse of her in-ring abilities. However, now they’re having her use a female version of Santino’s Cobra? Is this something she’ll be bale to recover from?
Questionable
Call Ups: The arrival of several prospects from NXT is great for WWE as it allows them to introduce the next generation of potential stars to a wider audience. Paige has obviously been the most successful in capturing the Divas title in her very first match and Rusev shows some promise. However, the next two being hyped don’t show much promise at all. Bo Dallas and his BOlieve/oblivious heel gimmick will probably get on people’s nerves really quick, which would seemingly make the whole thing work. However, the gimmick as a whole screams mid-card since you can’t really take him seriously as it has a dose of comedy to it. Speaking of comedy gimmicks, there’s whatever the hell is going on with Adam Rose.
