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Welcome back to the EXCELLENCE IN COLUMN WRITING exclusively here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com by yours truly, Mr. Tito. This is the column where it's claimed that I'm playing a "heel gimmick". Huh? What are you talking about? Mr. Tito isn't a gimmick, it's an alias. I'm 100% real and I believe in every single word that I type in this column. And if you think that I'm a "heel" now, go read some of my 1998-2002 work when I was much younger and purposely trolling wrestlers for a reaction. I'm the real deal Holyfield, folks. Don't believe me? Look at those RAW and Smackdown viewership numbers! I was not a fan of the RAW/Smackdown split for months heading into this as I said that (a) WWE roster is too thin and (b) Creative infrastructure was not there to help. But but but but but but but Olympics is what you're about to tell me. Well, we've had Olympics as competition for RAW/Smackdown before, why wasn't it an excuse? Just as we've had NFL Monday Night Football, NBA Playoffs, NHL Playoffs, MLB Playoffs, and other television shows as competition. Yet, the excuses by WWE and its yes-man fans remain. What's the matter? Upset that the poor McMahons aren't as good at running their prized wrestling company? We're in WEEK 3 of the Brand Extension and BOTH shows have already lost over 400,000 viewers each. Yikes. It's simple... Wrestling fans aren't used to watching Pro Wrestling on Tuesdays and/or actually caring about WWE Smackdown. For RAW, I thought that they lost the WWE Draft. So you've got Seth Rollins and a bunch of upper midcarders. Congrats. Lots of guys who suffered under the "50/50 Booking" as its called. Win one week, lose the next week... Over and over and over again. Worse yet, the WWE burned through the last 10 months shoving Roman Reigns down our throats on RAW. Guys like Sheamus, Cesaro, Rusev, and others just weren't given strong pushes to matter. Put any of those wrestlers in a big spot on RAW and they will NOT draw viewers. Meanwhile on Smackdown, I'm just not sure on Dean Ambrose as a top-drawing wrestler. Personally as a wrestling fan, I like his work... I like the little bit of edge that he's put on his character and he usually puts on good matches. But as a Main Event babyface who can put butts in seats whether it's at the arena or on the couch watching TV, I just don't know... I need to see more time but early Smackdown numbers do NOT look good. And if it's any indication, Dean Ambrose on Stone Cold Podcast live on WWE Network felt really weird. Ambrose seemed very put off that Steve Austin asked him questions about his childhood and then Dean cuts that promo on Austin about his "bum knee". Body language wise, you could see Austin seething in his chair. Then, Austin legitimately challenges Dean Ambrose to DO MORE with his character and ability now that he's on top (don't get comfortable) and Dean seemed like a deer in headlights answering to that. Just remember - WWE Smackdown has BOTH John Cena and Randy Orton. If Viewership keeps dropping and WWE Corporate doesn't like Dean Ambrose's image as WWE Champion... The McMahons will go back to their Cena/Orton comfort zone in a heartbeat. I can easily see WWE changing Smackdown's Main Event scene to John Cena, Randy Orton, and AJ Styles. Speaking of John Cena and Randy Orton... Did you see the RAW promo for Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar? Gee, what did WWE mention and actually show video footage of? OH YES, the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) "Class of 2002" which I've been praising for YEARS in this very column. The video showed lots of Orton/Lesnar highlights from WWE's then developmental territory and also bragged about the other 2002 members like John Cena, Shelton Benjamin, and Batista. SWEET vindication, folks... WWE rarely acknowledges their past to hype future matches but this worked perfectly. Lesnar vs. Orton at SummerSlam 2016 feels like a legitimately BIG match-up. And if Randy Orton drops Brock Lesnar with his RKO finisher... Better watch out, Dean Ambrose. That darn Class of 2002... ------------------------------------ RAW & SMACKDOWN - QUICK THOUGHTS Honestly - I was going to cover 100% Smackdown because I'm old and don't have time to watch so much damn wrestling per week... But I kind of like watching BOTH RAW and Smackdown replays on Hulu back-to-back on Wednesdays. I can tolerate 3 hours of wrestling on a Wednesday Night because there's nothing else on AND edited versions of RAW/Smackdown usually eliminates the worst stuff. Usually... OVERALL - I thought RAW was dull... Just nothing there to excite me. As I explained by Week #1's Fatal 4 Way matches and giving away Sasha Banks winning the Women's Title for FREE... WWE gave away too much during Week #1 and they just couldn't follow up a show that featured what should have been multiple weeks of storylines compacted into 1 week. The fight for the WWE Universal Title is NOT drawing and there's no heat for the new Women's Champion Sasha Banks. It was a one-week thrill to see Sasha win the Women's Title and the internet darling Finn Balor, but you can't give wrestling fans a sugar-high each and every week. The THIN RAW roster is exposing itself as we have Seth Rollins as the only real main eventer on that show while the rest of the "top guys" are upper midcarders who have suffered through inconsistent WWE booking. RAW needs stars and in my opinion, the McMahons should promote Shinsuke Nakamura to RAW immediately. I'm enjoying the bantering between Chris Jericho and Enzo & Big Cass. Fun feud with some good mic work. But damn, Kevin Owens THRASHED Enzo and Big Cass when he joined Chris Jericho this week. That was BRUTAL. Great promo cut by Owens but it was extremely negative towards Enzo as if he was a parasite to Big Cass. That's not the kind of image I would push on Enzo as Big Cass legitimately needs Enzo to get over. It felt like they were planting seeds for Big Cass to turn on Enzo and in my opinion, that would be a disaster at this stage in Cass's career. I'm NOT being critical of Owens's promo, as it was well said and cut deep... But I wouldn't go that creative direction if I were on the WWE Creative Team. Hulu keeps cutting Braun Strowman matches... How dare they?!?! (sarcasm) Sheamus vs. Cesaro and Rusev vs. Cesaro felt like I was watching the same match twice in one evening. Did nothing for me... Wasn't like they were awful matches, but there's no life to wrestlers who have been destroyed by WWE Creative. RAW going under 3 million and Cesaro had 2 matches to impress. Yikes. Seems that Roman Reigns feels more comfortable in the midcard where the pressure is lower than in the main event when it's higher. Good segment with Rusev and Lana tried to celebrate their wedding in the ring and Roman, of course, interrupts their segment. Star low and let Roman GROW as a wrestler. Idiotic that WWE wasted over 2.5 years trying to groom this guy as the "next John Cena". Nothing screams of desperation like ALREADY bringing the Smackdown General Manager on RAW. Daniel Bryan should NEVER be on RAW, at least for a while... 3 weeks in, he already appears and debates Mick Foley. I guess that's what you have to do when you don't have Finn Balor appear live on the show (pre-taped segment) and no Sami Zayn. SMACKDOWN was the better show, but the Miz stuff was just stupid. Seriously, he's talking to Scooby Doo and Scooby steals his car... I understand that they are trying to build him up, but it feels completely synthetic. As I said in a previous column, it's what the WWE Corporate offices wants in a wrestler. The "I'm better than you" attitude needs to feel like it's real. Outside of WWE television, you know that Miz shuts off that character easily. Fans see right through that and that's why he's struggling as a wrestler since his WWE Title run. Am I the only one who prays that Bray Wyatt doesn't get hurt in every segment that he's in? I hold my breath when he comes in... He could be a serious superstar if only he could consistently be there. Good segment with Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler. I really enjoyed the American Alpha vs. jobbers but then 3 other teams appeared to watch along the ringside. Hey, it's actual tag teams. We can debate quality all day long, but that's 4 full time tag teams to give us something... In my opinion, I would bring up the Revival as a HEEL tag team and let them continue their battles with Alpha on the main WWE roster. I don't care if it depletes NXT. The many call-ups this year have already thinned NXT's roster that it doesn't matter now. I enjoyed the Eva Marie "match" segment with Becky Lynch. She's trolling fans and that's exactly how she should be used. This week, wardrobe malfunction didn't allow her to compete. Keep these antics up... Becky Lynch then called out anyone to wrestle and Alexa Bliss accepted the challenge. I thought Bliss looked OK in her debut and I LOVE her top rope finisher. Eva Marie returned to the ring after her wardrobe malfunction to help distract Lynch to lose that match. It's working... Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio was OK... You just can't create heat in 1 night, though. WWE needs a plan to revive Alberto Del Rio along with many damaged upper midcarders in the WWE. If only they had a guy on their WWE roster who has experience doing such a thing... *cough*Paul Heyman*cough* Crickets for Rhyno vs. Heath Slater. WWE needs someone on the Creative Staff that can get midcarders over. I would have put Carmella with Enzo & Big Cass on RAW... She feels out of place without those guys. I miss Enzo calling her "hot as hell". Dolph Ziggler/Dean Ambrose vs. Wyatt Family was a FUN main event. And again, WWE continues to do a decent quick build job on Dolph Ziggler with him scoring the win. No AJ Styles or John Cena on this show? What a crock. RAW was dull and Smackdown had good effort but needed Styles/Cena around. I don't know about this RAW/Smackdown Brand Extension, guys... The ONLY positive that I see is that I'm motivated to watch Smackdown. In the end, that's what might truly matter to USA Networks. WWE might be OK with RAW scoring just under 3 million viewers if Smackdown can consistently be above 2.5 million viewers. I don't know... Class of 2002, yo. 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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