3 Up, 3 Down

By: Jason Stuart

So week one of our latest brand split is in the books, and the reviews were incredibly mixed.  Troy has done a masterful job of recapping the shows themselves, so I don’t want to rehash all of that.  However, I thought it would be interesting to start a 3 Up, 3 Down article to discuss this week’s shows.

1. Finn Balor - The #1 spot has to go to the overwhelming debut of Finn Balor.  On his first night, Finn was introduced to the fans, pinned the US Champ, pinned a 3-time WWE Champion, and earned a main event slot at the 2nd biggest event of the year.    This was a debut so epic that the IWC will quickly be saying this guy is being shoved down our throats.  In reality though Finn felt like a badly needed breath of fresh air coming to this debut of a new product.  I am already salivating at the notion of this Balor/ Rollins match at SummerSlam, making Finn's debut a grand slam for WWE and RAW.
   
2. The Broadcast Team - Coming into this episode I had concerns about how this group would work together.  Cole sounded like the same old guy despite using the phrase “Professional Wrestling” for the first time in a while.  Byron was Byron and continued to fail to contribute much.  The guy many of us were excited to see was Corey Graves.  I have been a huge fan of Corey’s on NXT, but this was a very different animal.  He was going from the freedom of his unchecked persona to having Vince in his ear.  He was moving from being the Alpha male over Tom Phillips to being behind WWE’s longest-tenured announcer.  Perhaps most challenging, he was going from 1 hour of post-production voice-overs to going live for 3 hours.  Corey nailed it.  He was perfect as the edgy heel color guy that didn’t sound corny or hokey (i.e. JBL).  He got the heels over and justified their actions, and most importantly, he wasn't trying to get himself over.  He kept it all about the guys in the ring.  That last thing has been missing for far too long.
3. Women’s Wrestling - While I have my reservations about the way this was done, which I plan to discuss on this week’s episode of The Rundown, there is no denying the women were front and center on Monday night.  In need of a big memorable moment to put the New Era on display, the female competitors were given three segments to tell their story.  It wasn’t their best match, I didn’t like the hot-shotting of the title, disliked like the lack of promotion, but you cannot deny the significance of them being in that spot.

Honorable Mention:  The return of the enhancement talents.  I’m not a fan of Nia or Strowman, but if you are going to push talent that’s been rushed, this is the way to do it.  They can look dominant and cover up a lot of their weaknesses while still building them up.

1. The Universal Title - I was never against a second Heavyweight Championship.  I said months ago on the podcast that this was the road they needed to go down.  Why take the “World Heavyweight” out of Dean’s title if you aren’t going to use it?  The World Championship is named as such because it is defended around the world.  Unless Finn or Seth are going to other planets, the Universal name is horrid.
   
2. Enzo and Cass's Usage - Arguably your hottest young team in years is up and making an impact.  They were in a semi-main event the night before with “The Face that Runs The Place” as their partner. They follow that big moment up with…The Shining Stars?  The opposition notwithstanding this match is used as the vehicle for the culmination of a lame Pokemon Go bit with Golden Truth?  This made Enzo and Cass feel less important, which was the exact opposite of what they should have been doing.
   
3. Curtis Axel vs. Neville - I am a fan of both of these guys, which is why this ends up here.  First, Neville makes his TV return to no fanfare, no promo package, just… “Oh hey remember this guy?  Well here he is again”.  With a limited roster everyone needs to feel special and important, and they missed a chance to do so with Neville.  Speaking of missed chances, Curtis Axel is capable of a lot more than he has been given.  I was hoping that by breaking up The Social Outcasts we would see Axel given a mid-card push.  Let’s repackage him as Joe Henning and acknowledge his lineage.  Hell, maybe send him down to NXT to rebuild (a formula that worked really well for Tyson Kidd).
   

1. Dolph Ziggler - Much like Balor on RAW, we saw a concerted effort to create a new top guy.  The "Make Dolph Ziggler Great Again" movement has begun.  We will see how they handle him in the coming weeks.   Heading into SummerSlam, they still have a lot of work to do to make him feel like a credible challenger, but this was a good start.
   
2. Shelton Benjamin - I'm excited to see the return of “The Gold Standard.” I was always a fan of this guy, and with this shallow roster he may see a push to the levels he should have been at during his previous run with the company.  Also the validity of Benjamin signing increases the chances the MVP rumors are true.  Those listeners of The Rundown know that I have frequently campaigned for MVP’s return to help Apollo Crews develop some character the way he helped Lashley in TNA.
3. Building New Stars - Like them or not, that 6 pack challenge drew a clear line as to who they view as the top guys on SmackDown and who will be pushed as such.  The inclusion of Apollo and Baron in this mix, and to a lesser extent Zigger, was a very positive sign.  They are showing they are committed to trying to make these characters interesting again.

Honorable Mention:  Bray Wyatt’s new look.  I am a big believer in guys mixing up their look when they get to a changing point in their career.  SmackDown is his chance to be a top guy again, and some small changes made him look and feel bigger to me.  Well done.

1. The Battle Royal - When you have a limited roster, the last thing you should do is expose that by putting all of them in the ring at once.  It really highlighted how shallow the roster was.  The other big drawback to this match was that using all these guys here left you very thin for other matches on the show.  All you had left was the 6-Pack Challenge, the Women’s match, and Orton and Miz.  Also, this battle royal led us to the worst El-Bro drop ever.
   
2. The Women’s Segment - The match between Natalya and Becky was ok (i.e. Nattie running towards the ropes, coming to a dead stop, then running back towards Becky, twice notwithstanding).  However, the match was not as good as the one the night before and was just more 50/50 booking so Becky could get her win back.  After the match was when things really went off the rails.  We proceeded to introduce the entire women’s roster.  This, like the Battle Royal, highlighted the shallow nature of the women’s roster.  I enjoyed Eva Marie’s over the top intro, but her saying nothing and the segment ending seemed awkward and clunky.  All the women went, “Oh, there’s Eva showing the goods.  Well, I guess I no longer have anything to say.”  The championship competition for these ladies will be fierce… Oh wait they didn’t address the women’s championship situation.  Never mind.
3. American Alpha - RAW made it a point to showcase their exciting young call-ups from NXT.  I dare say the pick that got the most buzz for the Blue Brand was the talented young duo of Jason Jordan and Chad Gable.  SmackDown in an effort to highlight them… made a package telling us we will see them next week?  What?  This is the first episode of your fresh new brand, and the freshest thing on your roster is not put front and center?  Then again with no tag titles or tournament for them to compete for I guess who cares right?

Honorable Mention:  I found it telling that the “Wrestling Show” had far more involvement from the authority figures than RAW did.  I don’t need every episode of SmackDown to end with Shane and Bryan doing the YES chant.  They opened the show, they closed the show, and let’s not forget Shane and Heath Slater’s show stealing “Sign my resume” segment.  Hopefully with Rhyno and Shelton we will see more depth added to the roster that will make segments like this unnecessary.

So those were my best and worsts from RAW and SmackDown this week.  I’d love to hear your opinions, so visit our forums and let me know what you think.  Also, listen to The Rundown this week as I am sure I will be arguing some of these with my fellow co-hosts.