November was WWE’s attempt to woo back fans who had either stopped watching WWE or were watching but not engaged enough to spend $9.99 a month to see monthly PPVs and the other offerings from the WWE Network. They’ve spent the entire time building up to Survivor Series pumping out really, really bad programming and doing nothing enticing to lure in you, the fan, into giving them a paltry sum of money.
How sad is that?
They aren’t even doing enough to deserve ten bucks a month. In fact, they are probably doing more to turn active, engaged fans who give them money away than they are likely to win any new ones over. If the WWE Network is their bread and butter then I have no clue what they are doing, because it’s very clear that they’ve made serious cuts into the budget for original programming and it all just reeks of lack of effort. I was incredibly gung-ho on the WWE Network to begin and I’m still cool with watching old Nitros, WCW PPVs and ECW stuff, but the same level of original programming like the Daniel Bryan or Shield special just isn’t happening anymore.
I’m not even sure what to say about Raw. It was bad. Just flat out bad. WWE’s strongest asset in the previous cycle was the feud between Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, so now Seth Rollins is a focal point, which is good, but Dean Ambrose is involved in this nothing feud with Bray Wyatt that involves Wyatt cutting increasingly incoherent promos that don’t have that magic anymore and Ambrose doing pre-taped segments.
Part of what made Dean Ambrose a star was him coming out, causing chaos and getting the crowd pumped up. They kind of did that here, but not really. This feud with Bray is DOA and a waste of two talented guys for a completely dull feud that is devoid of any heat.
The main storyline of the Authority vs. Team Cena is also kind of weak, although I’m okay with how they’ve pushed Ryback into being a main eventer again, although they need to keep him away from singles matches still, I’d wager. They once again ran one narrative throughout, but it was just a crappy story, so it was hard to really get behind it. This whole thing is just getting tedious, isn’t it?
Survivor Series is this weekend and none of the matches outside of the main event have any real gusto behind them.
Harper and Ziggler Had a Match
Both guys can do and the story behind this was that Team Authority was looking to take out Team Cena throughout the night. This meant forcing Ziggler into an IC title match against Harper with a lot of interference. This match was pretty good for what it was and told a story that seemed to be worth telling. I’m OK with them wrestling more in the future and hey, Luke Harper is a champion.
Cesaro, Once Again, Saves the Day
You want people to believe in Ryback as a legitimate top guy and make him look good? Put him in the ring with Cesaro. Solid choice. This wasn’t the greatest, but Cesaro did all that he could to help Ryback look great and it worked.
Grumpy Cat and the Miz Was a Thing
WWE has gone BUCKWILD for memes, apparently, having Grumpy Cat of internet fame on the show. He was involved in minimal segments, with the Miz being the main guy who interacted with him and it was okay, but, really? I don’t know.
Let’s just call this a day, alright? Let’s hope that there is some good wrestling at Survivor Series or something.
