There are a few angles that have really bothered me lately due to haphazard booking so this column will be dedicated to these issues…
The Miz and Del Rio Face Turns: They didn’t even bother to write a storyline for their turns. These are upper crust talents that have been built up as credible stars for years and their turn’s come abruptly in angles with heel jobbers. Each deserved better and if these turns back fire there is nobody to blame but the creative team.
The Miz turned when he began a mini feud with 3MB, the 3 standing for the combined number of wins these guys have racked up in the last year. Was this supposed to elevate The Miz back into the main event scene? Or did they plan to have him win us over with his incredible mic skills and witty catchphrases on Miz TV the next night… Wait, Miz has mic skills? Well, if trying your dandiest to rip off Jericho’s tired shtick and stockpiling Jay Leno jokes qualify a wrestler as having “mic skill” then he is “AWESOME!!”
Thankfully The Miz managed to generate a small response due to the wiry nose pubes that Cody Rhodes debuted in that segment. A segment that saw The Miz carry a cheese dick fueled Miz Tv with the Rhodes Scholars which followed with Miz TV interviews at later dates with CM Punk, Cesaro, and worst of all Ric Flair. They couldn’t have given him better people to work with but the Ric Flair segment took the cake. I never hated Miz until that segment. Embarrassing, campy, poorly acted, poorly written, waste of a Ric Flair return in order for Miz to mirror Flair about as well as a 12 year old geek in his moms basement pretending to be a wrestler with his friends. All of this led up to The Miz adopting the figure 4 which he actually BOTCHED on Ziggler the first match after the segment. It’s not that technical of a move, you put one leg over the other and form a “4” with the legs, or as Miz did it, put one leg under the other and shove your opponents foot up your ass. It capped off a turn that tried to focus on cheap pops rather than building up a turn and changing The Miz’s character with care.
To dump more manure on the career of The Miz, this isn’t the first time The Miz has failed to run with the ball since dropping the title. Once Alex Riley turned face and beat Miz and went on to botch a gutwrench powerbomb with Swagger never be seen again, the Miz lost to pretty much anyone WWE could throw at him. Reduced to a jobber coward who would come out and say ”REALLY!?” 20 times before being squashed by a dancing dinosaur character.
Most expected The Miz to see resurgence once he took time off to film a movie, however he returned with a slick back and some dirt on his face and picked up right where he left off, losing every match. Now he is a face and he has been in some segments with legitimate stars but he is still losing most of his matches. How many times can you lazily repackage The Miz before you can no longer undo all of your petty attempted to save his character?
Del Rio on the other hand was also turned in similar half assed fashion and while he was receiving Charlie Haas pops for most of his initial turn, WWE managed to turn things around by pretending he is Eddie Guerrero and having him win a very solid Last Man Standing Match versus Big Show to win the belt. It was a cheap tactic that worked but it doesn’t change the fact that WWE put no effort into Del Rio’s turn and it is not like they can just give every turning character the world title in order to make them seem legitimate. Had creative not given him the title he would be doing the exact same thing as the Miz, only the beloved character of Ricardo Rodriguez may have helped Del Rio get over a bit, as Rodriguez has done a great job of getting Del Rio over since his title win.
Beyond these pushes how about Jack Swagger’s return? Off TV for 5 months only to come back wearing the same dollar store ring gear and a 1990’s Salute Your Shorts Budnick hair cut. No storyline other than the fact that he makes mean faces and is beating the usually mid card faces that every debuting heel runs through before either floating to the top or sinking to the bottom.
Jack Swagger is an excellent talent with strong in ring skills and the ability to entertain on the mic while acting like a doofus similar to Kurt Angle of old. Creative could have done something big with Swagger, he is a former world champion, but instead he simply returns right where he left off and once he starts losing again he will be a full on jobber. Wouldn’t the blatantly obvious angle to re-debut Swagger with be to return as the all American face that defeats Cesaro for the US title? Cesaro has been saying no American can beat him for the US title, Swagger is the All American American… Seriously even Freddy Prinze Junior probably could have put this together! Shame on you “creative” team!
These issues don’t even factor in the stale pushes of The Shield, Ryback, Tensai, and Brodus Clay. Luckily some were able to impress the audiences on their own and make up catch phrases in ring but did WWE creative really do anything? They booked them to do the same attack/match every single week for way too long until they either went belly up or got over huge. So far Ryback has gotten himself over but he really hasn’t been booked that great since he was thrust into the main event of Hell In A Cell. He lost to Punk, The Shield, and Cena at the end of the Rumble. He could be so much bigger than he is right now but creative clearly didn’t anticipate him catching on like he has and don’t know what to do with him now.
The Shield debuted in NOVEMEBER! They have been attacking people twice a week for 3 months and have only had ONE match in the WWE including PPV and TV shows! The only reason they even had that match was because of Punk’s injury. It looks like they are building up to a big match at Elimination Chamber but 3 months of attacks is just ridiculous. Try harder WWE! The Shield are well seasoned brilliant in ring performers, what is the hold up?
That’s all from me this week and I hope you have enjoyed:
What do you guys think? Hit me with your thoughts and other mailbag questions on Twitter @DougGarbark or email me at DougGarbark@live.com!
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