The Road To WrestleMania XXVI – Week 5
I think if polled, most people would say that the WWE has dropped the ball with the Bret Hart and Vince McMahon feud. Though I’d acknowledge that for whatever reason they decided to add something to it that wasn’t necessary, I still think the peak is coming.
Yes, for whatever reason, they chose to mess with what should’ve been one of the single easiest angles to book in the history of wrestling, but if it goes the way I think it goes, I think it’ll be ok. It won’t be ground breaking, but it will still work. On Raw, Bret Hart made his return supposedly to say goodbye to the fans, but because he was injured, Vince McMahon now wanted the match and he was rabid for it. So rabid in fact that he made Bret look pretty weak.
From the looks of it, Bret will reveal that he’s not really hurt, but he hasn’t even give the fans a wink wink, nudge nudge yet. What I hope happens is that Vince McMahon makes Bret sign a contract for the match and then at that time, Bret lets it be known that he’s not really hurt. To give that wink wink, nudge nudge, I’d even have him walk backstage before the commercial before the segment and have him wink at the camera or even walk properly for two steps before going back to his crutch limp.
I wasn’t necessarily happy with where they went, but wasn’t as bothered as everyone else seems to be either. Vince was great and probably more over-the-top than need be, but was very entertaining. I still think this is going to end well.
Is it just me or is Edge already just another guy? I thought he was hot coming out of the Royal Rumble and then he just started wrestling. Him actually wrestling has taken him down a few notches in my eyes. I thought he could’ve been so much more if his first match was at WrestleMania. And he has a built-in excuse too. He just came back from injury. So why does it even make sense that he’s wrestling, possibly ruining his shot at the championship?
What else can you say about John Cena and Batista? I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s the best build WWE has had for a title match in at least three years. Everything about this has been perfect from Batista pointing out that Cena was given the ball to run with to Cena telling Batista it’s because he’s worked harder than everyone else for his spot.
When thinking about the first Cena/Batista “friendly feud”, I went on the AngryMarks Podcast and said that they should start friendly, but then Batista should be jealous because of how Cena is treated by WWE. And low and behold, they’re finally doing it. This is right up there with HBK and the Undertaker.
I thought the opening segment with HBK and Triple H was really good. Triple H flubbed his lines a few times, but the tone was right on. HBK’s best buddy should think he could win the match against the Undertaker. In fact, his best buddy should do whatever it takes to get him ready to win that match. It worked perfectly. Now, after they lost the match to ShowMiz with HBK being pinned, it also made sense that he was so frustrated that he didn’t want anything to do with his friend. Again, it was very logical. HBK is obsessed with beating Taker and thus, every time he loses, he’s pissed. And people get mad at their buddies.
I was bothered by the Randy Orton/Ted DiBiase Jr./Cody Rhodes love triangle because they haven’t gone anywhere yet. Originally, it made sense for Ted to turn face. Randy wanted him to be a submissive follower and everyone was ready for Ted to step out of his shell and strike back. And then, it never happened. Now, Randy’s beating up both of them and there’s really no reason to see them wrestle at the big show. And he has to be the babyface now right?
The ending angle with Sheamus taking out HHH was very smart and logical booking. Even though HHH is still one of the biggest stars, it looks like he and Sheamus are going to work a solid angle, but not one that will take a lot of attention away from the others. I actually think it’s a great pairing because Sheamus is still pretty green and if HHH likes him, he’ll work with him and teach him some things. Let’s just hope this ends up in the midcard and it shouldn’t be any longer than 12 minutes or so on a show that has at least three matches that should go 20 minutes.
A few questions that I have coming out of both shows:
– What are Miz and The Big Show going to do on the big show? Are they going to defend the tag belts or do they go Money In The Bank? Or does Daniel Bryan face the Miz?
– Is John Morrison going to face Drew McIntyre? Are they both going to eventually be in Money In The Bank? Do they tag and go after Miz and Show?
– Is there going to be a big battle royal to get the rest of these guys on the show, including the WWE NXT guys? Or maybe an NXT battle royal?
– What are the divas going to do? What, we don’t care? You’re right, I nearly forgot.
– Is Stone Cold Steve Austin going to be involved in the Bret/Vince match?
– Will Kevin Nash show up at the Hall Of Fame ceremony and steal Mad Dog Vachon’s leg?
Only a few more weeks left. It’s been terrific thus far.
My only concern with the Bret angle is that they may be making him look too weak. It seems like we hear the line “what an embarrassing night for Bret” on every show. I don’t expect there to be a lot to the match itself so i think they need to keep Bret looking relatively strong.
It’s definitely an issue, but if the climax is that he comes from the bottom up, I still think it can work.