RAW Deal: ‘Burying’ in the light

ALBANY, NY, USA—The WWE, like any other institution large enough to have varied, diverse elements within it, is a microcosm of the worst modern societies.

You know what I’m talking about—the kind where the wealthy, powerful elite get to have their way all over the less-privileged, who must damn near kill themselves in order to achieve some upward mobility, but effort and hard work isn’t always a guarantee to make it. Politics are also in play, holding down the honest workers. People stay because existing is the only way to live at all.

It’s the same way in the WWE. While social stratification has always been a part of the institution that is pro wrestling—not everyone can be in the main event; not even main eventers can always be on top—Vince McMahon’s company currently represents a terribly lopsided kind of inequality. Now more than ever, the World Championship and those who play for it represent the upper class, while everyone else are simply second – or third-class citizens.

There are some attempts at change, like John Cena holding the once-lowly United States Championship or Daniel Bryan carrying the Intercontinental Championship, but it’s either a matter of the upper-class patronizing something that’s, in theory, beneath him (in Cena’s case) or of validating what the upper-class thinks of someone trying to climb the social ladder (in Bryan’s case). It remains to be seen how these efforts will affect the middle tier going forward.

But nothing represents the flawed inequality among the ranks more than Randy Orton in his current storyline. In an attempt to portray Orton as the fearsome contender for Seth Rollins’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship, last week he defeated the tag team champions in a handicap match. This week, he’s been RKO-ing everyone he sees (actually, mostly heels) just because. Just because he’s Randy Orton and he’s a loose cannon.

Every time he (and by extension, John Cena) defeats someone randomly plucked from the undercard and thrown into his way as a roadblock—or even when he seeks them out just because—WWE’s telling us that these guys don’t matter, because only the world championship matters. When he defeats the tag champs singlehandedly, the tag titles don’t matter because that’s not the world title. When he RKOs the new no. 1 contenders to the tag titles, the tag titles don’t matter because that’s not the main event. When he RKOs the Miz, the undercard doesn’t matter because it’s not the main event of Extreme Rules.

It’s not like equality is such a difficult thing to pull off. New Japan Pro Wrestling has managed to make its Intercontinental Championship equal to, if not greater than its World Heavyweight Championship in prestige. TNA’s Tag Team Championship is just as much a headline as its own world title. What would the WWE have to lose? If they had more prestigious stars, wouldn’t they make better business?

This is why you don’t let an old white businessman run a global company.

High spots:

• Dean Ambrose/Luke Harper is exactly the kind of feud we need to see more of: just two guys going at it because they hate each other. No silly backstories, no forced explanations. Harper almost put Ambrose out of action, and Ambrose hates him for it. Unadulterated hate. Let’s hope they get a Falls Count Anywhere at Extreme Rules. (They’re actually conditioning our brains with the double countout.)

• I can watch New Day vs. the Lucha Dragons all day long. Both teams have such good chemistry with each other, especially now that the New Day’s turned heel. One day we’ll be watching them feud over the tag titles, and we’ll love it. The New Day needs a little more mic time every week to flesh out their characters, though.

• If you’re feeling feelings about Kane now, just remember who told you about the face turn.

• I have a mixed bag of feelings about Kane/Cena. On one hand, the match was solid and Kane went over really well as a solid threat up until the inevitable Cena win. What does this mean for his new role as “Guardian of the Gate” (which is as silly as WWE silly can be)? He now looks more like someone who is truly mortal and beatable. Or is this feeding his current slow face turn?

• Naomi is quickly proving herself to be a solid Divas title contender. Once Paige returns and a couple of ladies are called up from NXT, we could have ourselves a hot little title scene here.

• I’m putting Summer Rae’s heel swerve as a high spot only because it gives me a little more hope that Damien Mizdow is going to beat Miz at the pay-per-view as Damien Sandow.

• That final RKO though:

Low blows:

• If we’re pushing forward with Naomi vs. Nikki at Extreme Rules, who is the face? Nikki was spouting platitudes on guest commentary normally heard from faces, so I guess that… makes her the good guy? When did this happen? Why did this happen? Are the Bella twins going to be the masters of sudden, inexplicable alignment changes?

• The Russian Chain Match at Extreme Rules is going to be a rehash of the Texas Bullrope Match from Great American Bash 2005, where Eddie Guerrero lost the WWE Championship to JBL. While that was a great match, the idea of having to touch corners to win is tame and outdated. If they really wanted to be extreme, let it be via pinfall or submission and just let them beat the crap out of each other with the chain. 

• I don’t have a big problem with Seth Rollins’s new finisher (especially after watching it the second time around) but I do wish he got something that looked outright deadly without having to be legit dangerous. The WWE midcard suffers from what I like to call “meh finisher syndrome,” because most of them are safe and unremarkable. If they’re sticking with this, they’ll need to book it in such a way that it goes over as dangerous. It’s possible, but it’s difficult. Few will beat the elegance of the Curb Stomp. 

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– Rappler.com