INJURY WOES

What a week in wrestling. As WWE landed on British shores for they hoped would be a successful tour little could they have known that it would turn out to be one of the unluckiest visits they’ve ever made.

Injury Time

It’s a phrase which is used most in British Football, or soccer to the Americans. I assume it’s also used in American Football but I haven’t ever watched a game to see. With all that being beside the point, with what has been going on in WWE these past seven days, I thought it would be an ample sub title for this section.

WWE’s tours of Europe and the world have been an unbridled success over the last few years, hence the reason the company keeps making the trips. The United Kingdom is WWE’s biggest market outside the United States which is the reason they visit twice a year and the main reason behind the announcement that John Cena made this week. It’s also the reason WWE release ‘WWE Live in the UK’ DVD’s and don’t for any other country they visit. Vince McMahon knows which side his bread is buttered and doesn’t wish to do anything to jeopardise that. Whilst WWE are in the UK they don’t just stage Raw and Smackdown here, like in the U.S.A they also hold a weeks worth of house shows before returning to the mother land.

Only this time around, the company weren’t in such good fortune as the last time they visited old Blighty. It wasn’t the box office or the attendance for each show which was the problem with November’s tour, it was the injuries. Not since New Years Revolution 2005 and Over the Limit 2010 have the company been so unlucky with so many injuries to major players in one collective than they have been on this recent U.K tour. Many will remember both pay-per view events and the injuries which happened on both shows. The former best remembered for Lita’s horrific leg injury as she flew off of the ring apron, landing on Trish Stratus and bending her leg at the same time. The latter for Batista’s back injury when John Cena carelessly threw him off of a nearby car, through a prop stage with reckless abandon and still managed to injure Batista even though his landing was padded.

For the uninformed amongst us, Over the Limit was held in the same arena, the same city and on the same date as Owen Hart’s death but in 2010. Even the pay-per view name was unnervingly similar. Owen Hart died at Over the Edge and the recent pay-per view was Over the Limit. Many said it was a bad omen and that something bad was always going to happen should the company stage a pay-per view on the anniversary of Owen’s death in the same city and same arena – but personally I believe that to be superstitious nonsense. Just because you walk under a ladder it doesn’t mean something bad is going to happen to you. The demon of unfortunate people isn’t waiting for a superstitious moment to occur so he can appear and cast you down with the sodomites. It’s rubbish.

If you or someone you know has walked under a ladder, or left their shoes on the sofa or something like that and had bad luck happen to them then it’s their fault. If you walk under a ladder then get hit by a bus it has nothing to do with superstition and everything to do with your navigational and observational skills. Look where you’re going and stop blaming everything on bad luck. We make our own luck in this bloody world so go out and make some good for yourself. The same applies to WWE’s Over the Limit 2010. Unfortunately injuries happen. It has nothing to do with superstitious bollocks.

That said, WWE must have thought the bad luck demon was looking over them this week when they staged shows in London and Leeds, England to name a few. I mention these shows particularly because these were the backbone of WWE’s unluckiest tour yet. As if things weren’t bad enough for the company and its talent having to go to Leeds – honestly if you’ve never been you can probably live comfortably without ever visiting, it’s a hell hole – two of their biggest stars suffered injuries which as of yet we don’t know the full extent of, or how it will impact on them and storylines in the coming months.

In a tag team match with Daniel Bryan against Luke Harper and Eric Rowan, yes, an exact foreshadowing of what we can expect at Survivor Series, C.M Punk came down with what was said to be a worrying injury for the backstage crew. No one knows exactly what happened in the match but after Punk and Bryan had beaten two thirds of The Wyatt Family, Punk simply failed to get up from the mat to celebrate in the ring with Bryan and his hoards of fans who were all shouting ‘yes’. Despite the fact that WWE booked Bryan and Punk to go over Rowan and Harper so close to Survivor Series, which is a bad move – The Wyatt boys as they’re known now should have won at all costs, now those people in attendance will tune into Survivor Series not believing Harper and Rowan can defeat Punk and Bryan – the spotlight was on C.M Punk.

Almost in a collapsed position after the final bell had rang, WWE crossed its fingers and hoped its luck was in as medics rushed to the ring to attend Punk. Even Daniel Bryan looked worried as the match ended and stopped his celebrations to see to his fallen comrade.  Still, almost a week after the worrying incident there has been no explanation by WWE as to what caused Punk to temporarily stay down – he was fine after a few minutes and left the ring of his own accord, even joining in celebrations with Bryan before exiting the arena – but surely the company have to get to the root of the problem. What happens if it occurs again, or worst scenario happens at Survivor Series when the world is watching? Next time, WWE and Punk may not be so lucky.

On the same show Vince McMahon’s heart must have temporarily stopped during the Worlds Heavyweight Championship Match between John Cena and Alberto Del Rio when it appeared that John Cena suffered a serious leg injury. Whilst WWE did as good as put on a Survivor Series preview on the UK house shows, many thought this was just a work, something to sell the match and build hope that Del Rio may recapture the gold in the U.K, like that was ever going to happen. A doubt in the mind of the fans came when John Cena began and carried on to sell the leg even after the match had ended.

Those who know Cena or have even watched him once know he doesn’t sell moves for the greatest amount of time, if at all. For him to sell a supposed injury for as long as he did and as convincingly as he did rang alarm bells with even the backstage crew in WWE, who may not want to admit that John Cena is as good at wrestling as I am at singing but who knew that something was wrong when actually did something right in the ring. Even after the match had ended Cena was still selling the leg to great concern from both himself and WWE’s creative team who worried they may actually have to come up with something gripping on the spin for Alberto Del Rio if Cena was seriously injured.

Now I’m of the ilk that still insists that John Cena came back from his triceps injury way too fast. If John Cena has done damage to his leg then surely the blame could only fall on Cena and WWE? Another injury so soon after his return would add weight to the argument that he wasn’t ready to return and WWE rushed him back because they didn’t believe Alberto Del Rio could carry the World Heavyweight Championship any longer, even though his match with Rob Van Dam at Battleground was much better than his match with John Cena at Hell in a Cell. Alberto Del Rio had been a sensation on top of the blue brand ladder, there was really no reason apart from money to bring John Cena back so soon. Obviously no one cared about the effect it would have on Alberto Del Rio’s career or image.

The last and by far the most serious injury which occurred on WWE’s U.K tour came on their London show, just a couple of days ago. During a tag team match, teaming with Tamina against The Bella Twins, A.J Lee passed out in the middle of the match. Exiting the ring moments after she was tagged in due to not feeling well, A.J stepped off of the ring apron and keeled over for a few seconds. When she stood back up, the WWE Divas Champion passed out at ringside to the concern of those watching on who have come to love A.J because of her crazy personality and skills in the ring. The ref wisely put up the ‘X’ sign to signal that something had gone wrong and the medical staff rushed to ringside to make sure nothing more serious had occurred.

It was reported that A.J was down for nearly ten minutes and in great distress that she couldn’t complete the match which says a lot about her character, that even though something was clearly wrong she wanted to give the fans what they paid to see. Appreciating that A.J was in trouble it was reported that some in the arena gave her an ovation as the medical staff helped her up the aisle. Whilst it’s not known how she is now though I believe she has recovered, WWE issued a statement that A.J was dehydrated and that was the overriding reason for her passing out. It’s a logical explanation of course, but I hope this is the message WWE needs to look at its Divas again and it’s hiring of them in the future.

I don’t believe it was merely dehydration that caused A.J to pass out at all. It could have been a factor, we’ll never know. I believe at least part of it was WWE’s treatment of her and other Divas in the company. When hiring Divas WWE only look at the best looking women. Those who have the waist of a Barbie doll and no meat on their bones. Former Divas Kelly Kelly, Eve, Torrie Wilson and Stacey Kiebler add weight to that, as do every other WWE Diva in the locker room. When they’re hired the women are given strict instructions they are not gain weight or eat unhealthily because WWE believe we only want to look at girls that are dreamy. It’s rubbish. There have been plenty of women who haven’t been supermodels during their time, women such as Bull Nakano, The Fabulous Moolah and Sensational Sherri but they were all very good wrestlers.

Personally, I don’t care if the WWE Divas have flab hanging over their wrestling gear, as long as they can put together a decent match. OBD in TNA isn’t exactly thin or pretty but she’s one hell of a wrestler. WWE need to stop obsessing about women’s looks and sizes and start letting them live a healthy life. Because restricting them to what they can and can’t eat and being so obsessed with good looks isn’t getting the company anywhere. Most of today’s Divas look thin and anorexic which isn’t a good role model for young women watching who want to be like their Divas. What kind of message does it send when A.J is forced to appear that thin every week? That young girls, to achieve that look should stick their fingers down their throats after every meal?

Before you write in and tell me no one forces them to look that way I will wholly disagree with you. WWE’s hiring of Divas is strict, stricter than their hiring of male talent. If you don’t look a certain way, you’re out. If you come in under a certain weight, you’re out. Ironically, the world’s biggest wrestling company doesn’t care about their ability to wrestle, only their ability to cause young men wet dreams every night. And this is Vince McMahon. All those rules are his, because he likes to look at pretty women when he’s backstage. Vince, buy a magazine and allow your female talent to eat something once in a while. This isn’t the modelling industry, this is wrestling and its about time as a society as a whole, we stopped obsessing about people’s looks and sizes.

Get well soon A.J.

Trio War

If you’ve been tuning into Raw recently then you will have been no stranger to the ongoing hostilities between tow of WWE’s most promising trios. The Shield and The Wyatt Family. Whilst both teams had so much promise upon their debut and only The Shield were allowed to accomplish that promise – The Wyatt’s were stupidly wasted after their thoroughly excellent build up – WWE are attempting to rectify that mistake and hope that a six man war will up both teams image and standing in the company and with the fans.

With The Wyatt Family, WWE had a team they could have inserted into the main event spot upon their introduction into the company. They had the build and the look to be a top tier talent if WWE elected to accentuate the positives and hide the negatives. Okay, Bray Wyatt isn’t that great in the ring but then again since their debut in July 2013 he hasn’t been given a really great opponent in which to create something memorable with. His opening feud with Kane was dreary and produced a forgettable ‘Ring of Fire’ match at SummerSlam and his Battleground encounter with Kofi Kingston wasn’t much of an effort either. That’s the problem with WWE today. They believe their top line talent such as Randy Orton and John Cena are too precious to be dealing with a trio who haven’t proven themselves yet.

Newsflash people; if people aren’t given the chance in the first place, how can they prove themselves? WWE need to get over the stigma of wrestlers paying their dues, especially in 2013 when WWE don’t have the main event talent to capably fill out their shows without repetition. If they took the chance of inserting three new people into the picture – unproven or not – then they may find the rewards are plentiful. WWE could have made a bigger impression with The Wyatt Family had the company hired back The Undertaker for two nights and had The Wyatt Family target Undertaker in their first attack, instead of Kane. That would have made even more of a splash than what happened.

After SummerSlam, WWE could have asked John Cena to appear on Raw after his loss to Daniel Bryan – Cena would have complied – in order for The Wyatt Family to beat Cena down and thus be held responsible for his absence. To be associated with putting John Cena on the shelf would have done huge business for Bray, Luke and Eric. Instead of hiring The Shield in bouncer roles, Triple H could have turned to The Wyatt Family for help in joining The Authority only for The Shield to take exception. It would have been a slow but successful build for the trio whose association with the bigger names in the company would have carried them over.

The other thing WWE could have done failing the above is put them on Smackdown. Because the blue brand doesn’t go out live and is taped, WWE have the chance to edit the show before broadcast. It’s the perfect chance to get new stars over because you can touch up their matches and take out the bad parts. It’s something WWE did well with John Cena upon his debut in the company and he didn’t look half bad. It’s only when he transferred to wrestling live on Raw each week his weaknesses began to show. WWE could have easily edited Bray Wyatt’s matches to make him look a star and then worked on his in ring skill for when he was live on pay-per view. There are ways and means around working around limitations on a live pay-per view once a month, there aren’t every week.

The Shield on the other hand are three exceptional talents who need another boost of life into their storylines. After losing the WWE Tag Team Championships to Cody Rhodes and Goldust on Raw, they seem to have lost their sparkle and whilst Dean Ambrose is still the reigning WWE United States Champion, the trio don’t look as thrilling as they once were. The answer once again is simple. Stop booking them apart and begin booking them in six man action once again. They were stronger when they were a team and a much more interesting to watch.

Now, the news coming out of Titan Towers is that WWE are planning to book a six man war between The Wyatt Family and The Shield  but not just yet. What we’ve seen so far is apparently just a teaser, laying the foundations for what WWE hope will be a six man tag team match at WrestleMania XXX. Unless WWE begin to build The Wyatt Family as a serious threat to all in the company then there’s no way that match will spark anyone’s interest. Yes, it will be good that WWE are booking six young men who have the world at their feet on the grandest stage of them all but who’s going to care if The Wyatt Family aren’t responsible for at least one major disruption in the company before April 2014 rolls around?

Hopefully, by the time WrestleMania XXX rolls around, Rollins and Reigns will be WWE Tag Team Champions once again and Dean Ambrose will still have the WWE United States Championship around his waist. Failing all else, the Championships could be the main focus of the feud and main drawing point. If WWE were to book a six man tag team match for both the WWE Tag Team Championships and the WWE United States Championship with whoever pinned whichever champion taking that particular belt (example: Luke Harper pins Seth Rollins and becomes one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions) that could open up a whole new avenue, especially if Roman Reigns retains his half of the Championships.

WWE could book that feud then to run, with Reigns being forced to team with Harper or Rowan or Wyatt. It’s an avenue which has been explored before in the past but one which could work again with enough backing and television time invested in it. You never know, it could be what both teams have been waiting for. It could be the beginning of something special for six men who could help carry WWE into better times.

Onwards and upwards...