Straight away, let's talk about the semi-final match-ups from the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament.
I have to say, I didn't have the highest of hopes for the Roman Reigns / Alberto Del Rio match. With that being said, the two turned in an awesome opener, considering the circumstances. The circumstances being that there was no way Reigns was losing that match. Even with the finish being seen from space, I found myself very interested in the bout as it went on. Del Rio is the consistent workhorse, while Reigns continues to be great in the ring even without the years of experience many others possess.
Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose might have been the best match on the card. Owens continues to prove why he is the best (that's right, I said the best) heel in WWE. This was the only match on the card that in the middle of it, I honestly didn't know who was going to win. This is yet another example of the new generation of WWE wrestlers out-working the old guard. This set up the finals match between Ambrose and Reigns.
So guess what? You won't believe this. Reigns won the WWE title. I know, shocking right? All kidding aside, knowing how WWE does business, knowing how they react when backed into a corner, and knowing that they always get their way regardless of logic or entertainment value, the finish was predictable. So Reigns ends up with the strap, but Sheamus hits the ring and cashes in and beats Reigns. Now, I'm going to give them a bit of a break on this one. Rollins got hurt. Their plans were completely ruined (unless they had this planned with a Reigns victory over Rollins). Yes, in a way this was a shocking ending to a WWE PPV. But think of it this way: We've now gone from Seth Rollins as a heel champion (which was pretty solid), to Reigns being top guy and Sheamus ending up as the heel champion. Sorry, but this is a remarkable downgrade. Reigns' spear on Triple H builds a potential program between the two, while Reigns will obviously immediately enter a program with Sheamus.
Looking forward, there seems to be no way in my mind that Sheamus gets past the Royal Rumble with the title. Sheamus is a solid in-ring worker, but I can't imagine WWE would bet the farm on him in a Wrestlemania main event. This is another example of simple booking in WWE. Now we can rest assured that Sheamus will lose the belt before 'Mania.
Also, there was no heel turn by Reigns or Ambrose. Obviously, we need to see what goes down tonight on Raw. More questions should be answered. But at this point, it's plain to see that Survivor Series did very little to drum up any excitement surrounding the WWE Title. I understand the idea: Let Reigns get to the top of the mountain, only to lose at the worst possible moment. He was THAT CLOSE, DO YOU GET IT?! So clearly, this was WWE trying to build sympathy for Reigns and his eventual, formal title run. But who did they really get to sympathize for Reigns? The ones that already like him, that's who. This didn't change anyone's view on Reigns. The people that like him still like him and the ones that don't still don't. We've gone nowhere. Like, absolutely nowhere. I don't want to come off as a huge Reigns hater. The guy was a victim of WWE's typical, "Shove him down their throat" style of push. But in all honesty, the guy isn't ready from a reaction standpoint. I thought a heel run would add some depth of character that he definitely needs, but clearly, WWE either doesn't care or has no clue what their fans think. I'll let you guess which one is the case...
Again, a quick note on the Divas Division. Paige and Charlotte had potential. In fact, there's tons of female match-ups that have great potential in WWE. But the two wrestled to a reaction that was lacking, well, a reaction. The crowd was completely dead after watching a traditional Survivor Series match that was the equivalent to a Smackdown main event. I'm not putting the blame on the girls. The blame has to go to creative, who have rushed Charlotte to the top and hidden Sasha Banks between to girls that can barely work. Sounds harsh, I know. NXT booked the ladies to perfection. Anyone who saw Banks vs. Bayley one and two knows the difference between NXT and main roster women's wrestling drama. I don't want to harp on this because honestly, it makes me sad that these ladies can work so hard and come to the main roster where clearly, creative has little to no concept of booking their division. One last thing, they seriously need to get a Women's Championship and dump the "Divas" label. It's just demeaning and illustrates and era of women's wrestling that we should all forget. I know WWE still thinks it's 1975, but seriously, wake up.
Last thing we're going to hit is the Brothers of Destruction vs. The Wyatt Family. Before I say anything, Raw could change my mind on this completely if the Bray / Taker feud continues. But here's my thoughts as of right now. Why? Seriously, why? The Undertaker has been with us for 25 years. It's great, we appreciate him, and we respect his accomplishments. But answer me this: What was accomplished by last night's finish? Yeah, Bray didn't get pinned, Harper did (which is why I'm still holding out hope for a continuation of the feud). But like I said last week, would it have really hurt anyone for Bray to pin Taker? Similar to the WWE title picture, we've gotten nowhere with this feud. I pray to whatever God is listening that WWE has a bigger picture in mind here.
With all this being said, WWE has some work to do. They have a champion that is clearly just a delivery guy for the champion the company wants, two old guys bounced a bunch of young guys around the ring, and the ladies are again the victims of clueless writers that can't spell NXT. I hate being this negative, but things are not looking good. So now I'll ask all the people that thought Seth Rollins was a bad champion a question...Was it really that bad? Seriously. Was it? Because if this is what's better, I'm completely floored. Sadly, I can see it now....A Wrestlemania card littered with "stars" hailing from an era of wrestling that died 14 or 15 years ago. I'd hate to say he told you so, but, CM Punk told you so.
Brady Sauvageau
The Heater Wrestling
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