I watch pro wrestling every week. It’s one of the things I find joy in, as I’m sure most of the people reading this do as well. But lately, I’ve been left feeling uninspired by the effort from WWE. And it’s that reason why I sit here with really nothing to write about.
We’re on the road to SummerSlam, but there wasn’t much build towards it this past week. The only feud that gained some steam was Daniel Bryan and The Miz, which almost seems for certain to be happening in four weeks in Brooklyn. That’ll be a barnburner of a match, but we all know that.
What else had build up this week though? Everything just kind of happened on Raw and SmackDown this week. I get we’re trying to build to the WWE Universal Title match, but as soon as the triple threat matches were announced, you knew Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley were going to win those. The aura around Brock Lesnar has worn off so much that I don’t care about his title defense at SummerSlam, and either Reigns or Lashley as champ doesn’t get me excited. A Braun Strowman cash-in is the only thing that can save the Universal Championship match at SummerSlam.
Everything else seems to be in flux. What’s the status with the U.S. and Intercontinental Championships? Who’s next in line for tag team gold? AJ Styles will find out his opponent for his WWE Championship match this week. Cool? I guess? Some seeds have been planted, but we didn’t see anything really mature from it this week.
There was one awesome thing this week, and that was the return of the true “Viper,” Randy Orton. His brutal attack on Jeff Hardy reminded me of why Orton is a future Hall of Famer. Orton is a way better heel than a face, and he showed that in his beatdown of Hardy.
Overall, there’s a sense of “blah” from me towards wrestling. Some things are good, but for the most part, it feels like things are just happening and that’s it. If Reigns beats Lashley Monday to become number one contender, then it totally defeats the purpose of Lashley’s victory at Extreme Rules. It feels lazy at times, and I don’t want it to feel lazy.
I want wrestling to excite me. Not much of it has recently.