Photo Source: WWE.com
On WWE Raw this week, a handful of superstars had a rough night. Who needs to turn things around quickly, especially with WrestleMania around the corner?
As much as we’d all like to think everything is sunshine, roses, and kittens, sometimes people hit a rough patch. It’s no different for WWE superstars. Sometimes, they’re just in a funk. After WWE Raw this week, there’s a few superstars who fall into this category.
This isn’t to say there’s no hope for these particular superstars to come back to the promised land. It’s WWE – things can change in a heartbeat. But at the present, here are three Raw superstars who are in need of a big boost in the coming weeks. And with WrestleMania less than two weeks away, now would be a good time to turn things around.
John Cena
Going back to the Royal Rumble, John Cena has been on a singular mission – get to WrestleMania. It’s an obvious goal, after all – big show, big spotight, big star. It fits. But at Cena failed to win the Royal Rumble, so his Road to WrestleMania got a bit tougher.
After losing in the Elimination Chamber a few weeks later, WWE’s Free Agent headed back to SmackDown Live. He pushed his way into what ultimately became a six pack challenge for the WWE Championship. And again, Cena came up short.
With no apparent path to get on the WrestleMania card, Cena decided to issue a challenge to the Undertaker. You know, the guy who apparently retired after last year’s WrestleMania. The only appearance Taker has made since losing to Roman Reigns in last year’s main event was at Raw 25, where he kind of alluded to being done.
Apparently, John Cena doesn’t care. For weeks, he’s complained that Undertaker won’t even respond to his challenge. This week on Raw, Cena defeated Kane – Undertaker’s brother – in a no disqualification match. But rather than let that be the end of it, Cena grabbed a mic and kept at his quest. It was a weird, anticlimactic way to end an episode of Raw.
The mocking of the Undertaker was also a bad look. Like, I get where Cena is coming from, but he comes across as a spoiled rich kid who isn’t getting his way. I thought his motto was “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect” – there’s been no respect here.
Just enter the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal already, John.
Alexa Bliss
For someone who’s supposed to be a master manipulator, Alexa Bliss sure seemed out of her element this week. She wasn’t scheduled for a match – which sadly is often the case – but instead accompanied Mickie James to the ring. James took on Nia Jax, and I’m sure you know how that ended even if you didn’t watch Raw this week.
But the Raw Women’s Champion’s actions during and after the match feel like a step back for the build in this one. I’m fine with Nia not getting her hands on Alexa until WrestleMania, but there’s got to be more to things than “Alexa is a coward.”
Bliss provided a brief distraction early on for James to attack Jax’s leg, but it wasn’t nearly enough to stop he momentum. With Mania right around the corner, someone as conniving as Bliss should have more tricks up her sleeve than “one brief distraction.” After all, she’s bragging to anyone who will listen about how she played Nia and manipulated her for months. Is the master plan over because she got found out?
The post match “attack” was a joke, too. Cowardly heels realizing their goose is cooked and running is nothing new, but this sneak attack was almost non-existent. If Nia is supposed to be unstoppable, show it another way. If Alexa is supposed to be a coward, don’t have her charge in before retreating – let her just run away. There’s other ways to get to the end game here, and all of them are better than what’s been showed thus far.
Photo Source: WWE.com
Michael Cole
I’ve been writing about Raw for Daily DDT for a little more than a year. The “Biggest Losers” column started last fall. In all that time, I’ve done my best to keep things focused on those performers who step into the ring. Whether wrestler, advocate, valet, authority figure, whatever, they’re the ones we’re tuning in to watch.
But between this week and last week, Michael Cole has once again forced me to look at the broadcasters. It all boils down to the Ultimate Deletion – though there’s a lot more Cole talks about or says that makes me incredibly frustrated.
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Prior to the Ultimate Deletion a week ago, Cole called the affair “obnoxious.” In fairness, if anyone knows obnoxious, it’s Michael Cole. But despite WWE doing something different (for them, at least – wrestling fans who watch promotions other than WWE had an idea as to what to expect here), Cole had to put it down before it began.
Trying to turn lemons into lemonade, WWE and Matt Hardy played along. Hardy tweeted out his displeasure with Cole’s comments, threatening to delete the broadcaster. He even got Vanguard 1 in on the action.
So on Raw this week, did Cole back down? Nope – in fact, he doubled down. Even though Corey Graves (and, to a lesser extent, The Coach) tried to convince Cole of how impressive what they saw was, instead Cole decided to continue to put down Hardy, the Ultimate Deletion, and everything connected to it.
When Michael Cole first became the lead Raw announcer many years ago, I wasn’t a fan. When the whole storyline with Jerry Lawler resulted in a WrestleMania match, it was bad. But over the years, I’ve come to appreciate what Cole can do – I’m still not a huge fan, but he’s better than he used to be, and I get that a lot of his trouble comes from being forced lines to promote things other than the match at hand. But this was a clear step back, and with WrestleMania looming we can’t have that.
Next: WWE Raw: 5 Takeaways from March 26
Who else came out of WWE Raw as a loser this week?