It’s been a strange, yet uplifting week in wrestling. We have new a new United States Champion and Tag Team Champions plus both Championships are hopefully on the way back to recovery. As well as the Extreme Rules outcome which seem to be putting Triple H on a storyline downfall, we were privy to a rebirth of a brand new character from an old wrestler. Without wasting anymore of your time, let’s get down to business.
A Shield of Champions
Realistically it was the only thing WWE could have done to stop the rot setting into the United States and Tag Team Championships. I would like to think that WWE have a master plan to uplift the Shield and make the titles around their waist mean something again. I refuse to believe that the Championship were put on Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins just to make things look a little different whilst keeping everything the same. In wrestling there has to be a moment when some realisation creeps into reality and one sees everything that is wrong with the business around them. Fingers crossed, Extreme Rules was that moment for Vince McMahon.
Your Wrestling God is not yet privy to the plans WWE have for the trio but as long as it involves main event calibre feuds and matches then we can all sleep safely. Logically, Dean Ambrose will have to fight Kofi Kingston and defend the United States Championship against the master of the boom drop once more, presumably at ‘Payback’ whilst Reigns and Rollins will once again have to contend with Team Hell No before that tandem spilt and go their separate ways. After that though, WWE must aid the trio with some gripping feuds and storylines.
In many ways, The Shield’s push reminds me of something WWE would have done in 2000. One of the most glorious times before the end of the Attitude Era. Everything was simpler back then and a wrestler only had to look at the fans the right way to be a star. The Shield has approached their run in the company as one would expect a stable in the dawn of the naughties to do. They dress like they belong in the attitude era and they wrestle the same. Do I for one moment believe that we’re on the verge of another glorious time in the business? Of course not! With the PG-Rated product WWE currently put out, there is no chance that a time such as the attitude era will come around again.
So what do WWE do now with the three brightest prospects they’ve had in years? Should a Team Hell No split not be on the cards and WWE have once again wimped out of turning Kofi Kingston heel, then a six man feud could be on the cards. Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston vs The Shield may have legs and WWE could even add some attitude era stipulations, such as one or all of the Championships are at stake in a certain match. Whilst the six couldn’t do battle in 6 man tag team matches on every pay-per view for the next three or four months, they could do so at SummerSlam where Kingston would turn heel on Daniel Bryan and WWE could initiate a feud between the two of them.
Looking down the WWE roster, there is no one of any value left that the Shield could possibly face. Randy Orton, Sheamus, John Cena, even Ryback have all gone into battle with the Shield and come out on the opposite end of a victory. For WWE to fashion another trio would be desperation and something which they currently do not have the time or inclination to do which means the three will either have to forget about six man tag team action or take what they’re given. I would just like to point out that WWE, knowing the Shield were going to receive the push they got, should have prepared for this moment. WWE should have had a plan of action as to where the Shield were going in WWE. That they didn’t makes me believe no one prepared or even foresaw how popular the trio were going to be.
It’s lacklustre, I know, but one thing remains in WWE. They have finally taken the initiative and taken the steps which should have been implemented years ago to rescue two ailing Championships, which were once rich in history. The Shield were the answer to WWE growing stale and not creating new stars to take over the helm when those above them stepped down. Maybe, just maybe, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and the mightily impressive Roman Reigns are the answer to WWE’s Championship problem.
A Perfect Re-branding?
He was once known as Michael McGillicutty, the member of the second wave of Nexus. In real life he is the son of Mr. Perfect, Curt Henning. Now though, WWE have decided to follow in the Shield’s footsteps and rebrand Henning into Curtis Axel hoping that name will take him to the top of the card. Will it? Maybe. I am a firm believer that it doesn’t matter about the name, but the person portraying the character.
Dolph Ziggler wasn’t a great name for a wrestler but look at him now. When he debuted I lost count of the people, supposed professionals who came out and said that Ziggler may have the look and the talent but never reach the top of the card because of his name. It apparently wasn’t a headline name. Look at him now. I can’t see the egg on their face but I hope it’s scrambled. You cannot tell if someone is headed for greatness by their name. It’s rubbish. People like Vladimir Kozlov and Ted Dibiase had the right kind of name associated with a headline star but neither man managed to breach that glass ceiling. Either because they never received the chance or in the case of Kozlov, they were wholly abysmal.
What though is in store for Henning under the Curtis Axel moniker? Hopefully a push and chance that he never received under the Michael McGillicutty name. Many stated that when Henning made his WWE debut, the company should have pushed that he was the son of Mr. Perfect but you Wrestling God has to disagree. Perfect was a one off. No one could ever live up to Mr. Perfect’s name or reputation and putting that kind of pressure on his son before his career has even taken off would have been all but the end. Once the crowd saw that Henning wasn’t as good as his father, they would have soon turned on him had the association been made public. Granted, we all knew who he was from the beginning but by not shouting it from the rooftops, WWE made sure he was treated in the ring by the fans as another part of the machine and not as anything special.
WWE have now given him the push they should have provided him with and on the Raw after Extreme Rules, Axel attacked Triple H. You can’t get a much bigger debut than that. What WWE do with him now, is up to them. The correct way to carry on with Henning would be to have him face Triple H at Payback and defeat ‘The Game’ whilst defeating higher talent than himself in Raw and Smackdown in the build up. If Triple H can put Henning over like he did to Sheamus, then Henning could become a major star.
Certainly he has the desire for the business that his father displayed and with time, plus a little help from someone like Triple H, he could also develop his skills further. Certainly, he’s never going to surpass his father in the ring, we all know that. Triple H has the talent in abundance to help advance Henning’s career and only in his 40’s, Triple H could go for another 5 years and have another three WWE Championship reigns which could be used to elevate wrestlers such as Wade Barrett and Henning. It wouldn’t take much, just a willingness from the man in charge of developmental talent, to actually do his job title in the ring.
If WWE can do it with John Cena, Ryback, The Shield and Brock Lesnar in 2002 then there is no excuse as to why the same cannot be accomplished with Henning. Curt Henning’s baby boy could become what his father never managed to accomplish. And that is the name at the top of the card and the first member of the Henning Family to be known as WWE Champion.
Onwards and upwards...
