A distinct wind has been blowing through WWE as of late. And we're not talking about the whooshing noise made as Big Daddy V's humongous man-boobies swing furiously in the face of his opponent, either. Within the span of less than a month, significant changes have transpired within the company.
Notably, the former WWE Champion, John Cena, was stripped of his belt thanks to a pectoral muscle tear that will put him out of commission on medical leave for the greater part of a year. Cena was the focal point of the company and it seemed that WWE placed all their eggs in one basket, pinning so much of their storylines for the RAW brand on him. With the severity of his injury, WWE was forced to scrap a lot of plans for the character and an extended feud with Randy Orton.
The contingency plan ended up being The Powers That Be putting the belt on Randy Orton. On one hand, this couldn't come at a better time. Fans were becoming restless with Cena in the seemingly invincible role as champion, defying all odds and all ass-beatings to retain. If anything, while the circumstances aren't ideally the way you would like a wrestler to step out of the spotlight, this reprieve may be a boon to Cena and his career.
With Cena out of the title picture he was such a visible part of for the better part of over two years, hopefully, it means that there are some new faces on the scene. A step in the right direction, two of the choices for fans to decide who Randy Orton to face at Cyber Sunday are Ken "Mr." Kennedy and Jeff Hardy. Rounding out the trio of possible contenders is the recently-returning Shawn Michaels, the only legend that the "Legend Killer" has had a beef with that is both young enough and viable enough to put on a strong series of matches. As much as I like Michaels and his ability to put on consistently awesome matches, I'm rooting for one of the underdogs to enter the title scene and add some new blood to the top tier talent. Kennedy has an old-school style while Hardy is reminiscent of a young Shawn Michaels with an arsenal of tricky, aerial maneuvers. From the fast-paced action of their match on RAW this week, I'm pulling for a Randy Orton/Jeff Hardy match up at Cyber Sunday.
Thus far, Orton's reign has been intriguing, a nice contrast to a babyface champion reign that fans endured for two years under the Cena regime. What makes Orton's character so interesting is that not only does he have heat with the fans, he's a heel even among the heels on the roster and certainly not beloved in any capacity.
Orton as the new champion isn’t the only major change on the horizon. As was announced on this week's episode of ECW, the ECW and Smackdown brands will be freely crossing over between the two shows. This week, Smackdown's Kane and newcomers Jesse & Festus made an appearance on Tuesday's show. It remains to be determined who guest spots on Friday's show from the ECW brand.
The détente between brands, however, has been spurred by sagging ratings on both shows and the small roster on ECW that needs to be beefed up. There are only so many permutations of feuds to be had with a roster comprised of only 14 active wrestlers. Of those 14, only about four are regularly featured prominently during the hour-long broadcast.
Concerning the ECW brand, the show has been inconsistent. While, it has potential to be the best of the three brands, so much of its limited talent pool is squandered. The past few weeks, they had me and then they lost me. The Elimination Tournament that spanned three weeks and included four solid competitors with completely different styles, was a brilliant idea. It generated drama and a slow build towards which of the four men would become the Number One contender to take on reigning ECW Champion, CM Punk. Mixing it up over the course of three weeks, you had the posterboy for old school ECW hardcore, Tommy Dreamer; the young, cocky, and athletic Elijah Burke (whose promos are seconded only in their entertainment and skill to MVP); the brutal, power offence of the vampire Kevin Thorn; and the sadly underutilized veteran (still in peak condition, I might add) Stevie Richards.
After three weeks of stellar, main event matches, Tommy Dreamer emerged victorious, beating out Elijah Burke. Either man would have made for a great PPV match with CM Punk. In on corner, you had Burke's youthful energy over Dreamer in the other as the sentimental favorite. Dreamer, who never really had a long tenure with the ECW belt, was finally getting another shot at it. The matches leading up to the Burke/Dreamer confrontation were all top-notch and any one of those guys would have made a great contender. However, minutes after Dreamer clinched his opportunity, he was defeated by Big Daddy V in a surprise bout and stripped of his #1 Contender spot.
I can't stress enough how off-putting that move was to fans of ECW and the WWE product. To create some sort of an emotional investment for the fans, rooting for their favorite and anticipating a match of different styles, and then to yank it away in a squash match negated three solid weeks of hard work by talented competitors. Even worse, this was yet another instance of WWE pushing a competitor most fans could care less about. Nothing personal against Big Daddy V, however, we've all seen the "monster" matches with big men with a limited repertoire of moves. Newsflash. They're not enjoyable! Particularly when it concerns a championship belt!
Hopefully, the ECW and Smackdown roster crossovers will revive the ratings for both programs and generate some solid new match-ups instead of stagnant combos. Smackdown is rather "heel-heavy" without the benefit of some strong faces to round out the Friday night card. ECW has several "good guys" that could give the brand a shot in the arm with a crossover.
Purely speculating on what I'd like to see with this new crossover, here's a few dream matches I would love to check out and see The Powers That Be churn out for the fans:
Kane vs. Kevin Thorn
Kane vs. Thorn could prove to be an interesting prospect considering the power-styles of both men and the occult angle it could represent. Kane can carry anyone in a match. He's an underrated veteran with a lot of mileage still left in him. (I'm still pulling for one more Kane title run, but hey, you can't have everything.) Thorn doesn't need to be carried and can pull his own weight with a complimentary wrestling style to the veteran's.
Speaking of occult-based characters… Boogeyman vs. Fit Finlay - Part Deux
This one was so much fun the first time around with the 2007 Draft busting it up right when it was getting good and Boogey carried over to the ECW brand. Surprisingly, this mid-card pairing was very much over with the fans and could be something worth re-exploring.
Big Daddy V vs. Mark Henry vs. The Great Khali
Quarantine some of the big guys and place the three men into a Battle of The Giants. This would make for a great (brief) special attraction match suitable to the skill level and pacing of the three men. This would also take them out of the title picture and leave contention for the belts to average-sized wrestlers and make for more entertaining, fast-paced title matches.
Stevie Richards vs. Kenny Dykstra (w/ Victoria)
Using Stevie Richards' former "Stevie Night Heat"-era relationship with Victoria as a basis, it could make for a great "veteran vs. talented young upstart" feud with Kenny Dykstra. Dykstra, currently squiring around the cougar-licious ex-Women's Champion to his matches at ringside could benefit from working with Richards and would be able to help the younger Dykstra develop more of a character on his own. Richards would shine with an opportunity to bring back his flair for comedy and a series of high-profile matches.
CM Punk (w/ Elijah Burke) vs. MVP (w/ Matt Hardy)
As far as to what they're doing right, Smackdown has struck gold with the Matt Hardy and MVP storyline. The two of them work well together and have given some of the better moments and match-ups on the brand in recent months. More mileage can be added to this by pitting Smackdown's resident "odd couple" against CM Punk and Elijah Burke. With Punk and Hardy both with leanings towards fringe/counterculture and Burke and MVP's highly athletic styles and cocky attitudes, it might be fun to see Smackdown's Tag Team Champions go up against a makeshift ECW pairing with each side finding a bizarre camaraderie with their opposition. It would be an interesting juxtaposition of troublemakers on either side of the face/heel contingent and would create an interesting four-way feud crossing over between two shows and endless configurations of match-ups. Hey, it could work!
Batista vs. John Morrison
Pit each brand's champions against one another or give Morrison a shot at the World Title. Batista has mastered the art of the eye-roll and Morrison's "Shaman of Sexy" gimmick would induce a few of those from Smackdown's leviathan. Batista's "no-nonsense" demeanor would contrast nicely with the flamboyant Morrison's swagger. Morrison has consistently proven himself with innovative moves and has gotten much better with his promos. A feud with Batista could catapult him into the big time and create an interesting series of matches for Batista who lately has been sacked with big, hulking opponents rather than someone with a fast-paced move set.
This is just pure speculation on my part, but hey, every fan can dream, right? These are just matches and pairings I would love to see and I'm sure all of you have your own ideas of what could be the makings of great matches.
For now, ECW and Smackdown's crossovers are a step in the right direction. With all three WWE shows receiving ho-hum ratings as of late, it may just be time to further relax the brand extension definitions even further. With these two shows testing the waters, the doors of possibilities have widened just a bit and hopefully, the fans benefit with some of their favorites getting more air time and in turn, WWE benefits with a rise in ratings. Hey, it's a start!
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