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| photo courtesy: wwe.com |
WATCH full episode on: WWE RAW 4/13/15
To say that WWE regularly mishandles its tag team division would be an understatement of Andre the Giant proportions.
On Monday night, as the company invaded London's O2 Arena for Raw, fans once again got a firsthand look at just how unimportant WWE Creative considers its tag division and champions when Tyson Kidd and Cesaro squared off with—and lost to—Randy Orton in a Handicap match.
There is nothing quite as disheartening as watching management not so subtly remind the audience of the hierarchy within the company by booking such a ludicrous and counterproductive match.
The Viper hardly came out of the contest looking any bigger or better than he did going in. He was already a megastar in the industry, one of the most recognizable in all of sports entertainment. The last thing he needed was to beat two talented in-ring competitors to somehow further establish himself as such.
Kidd and Cesaro were the night's ultimate losers, though. Despite being incredibly over with the audience, thanks in large part to their considerable abilities between the ropes, they were sacrificed to put over a main event star who needed the rub about as much as he needs another skull tattoo.
The tag team champions—supposedly the finest duo in the industry, as the titles they carry suggest—were thoroughly defeated in less than 10 minutes. There is no better way to prove that the tag team championships are completely meaningless than by doing what WWECreative did Monday night.
The duo of Kidd and Cesaro may be the biggest losers from the April 13 episode of Raw, but they were not the only ones. There were winners, too. They were the ones lucky enough to gain momentum heading into Extreme Rules.
Who were they? Take a look for yourself.
On a night where the focus was primarily on him and his match with Randy Orton at Extreme Rules, Seth Rollins delivered another performance that exceeded all others.
Easily the finest heel in the industry right now, The Architect does not concern himself with being the coolest bad guy on the roster. Instead, he is focused on generating heat and being the most despicable, despised star on the show.
How much more unlikable could he be than when he kicked back in the recliner set up in the ring for his face-to-face with Orton, believing to have gotten the best of his rival ahead of their monumental title clash on April 26? The goofy smile and ridiculous laugh added elements of a true villain, making fans that much more eager to see him get his comeuppance.
Rollins has single-handedly carried shows in recent months, and Monday's was no different.
For three years, Naomi has been the smiling, dancing Diva who always brings a ton of energy to her performances. An unorthodox worker, she uses crowd-pleasing spots to get fans invested in the action.
With that said, she never really advanced past the midcard of the Divas division, which is an even deeper, darker abyss than most places on the card.
Unable to really break through and become a face of the division, Naomi turned heel Monday night by attacking Paige, and though it did not make much sense within the context of her story, she received an immediate boost from the booking decision.
Now a main heel in the division, she will be presented the opportunity to change up her character, add to her performances and become something more than the generic babyface she was prior to the broadcast.
If chants of "Please retire!" were not bad enough, his chokeslam on Roman Reigns on top of a taxi cab, which will do nothing to help get him over as a threat to the second-generation star, certainly was.
The giant has been so devalued over the years and has become such a slow and boring worker that the idea of his still working a main event angle with anyone, especially the young star considered by many to be the next face of WWE, is ridiculous.
The fans in London greeted him with a chant that echoes the thoughts of fans everywhere, while WWE Creative desperately tried to get those same fans to buy into him as anything but an aging, plodding veteran whose best days are far behind him.
It did not work, and now Reigns may suffer because of it.
A week ago, this writer resisted the urge to include Neville as one of the winners of the night following his match with Seth Rollins. That is no longer the case, as the British competitor returned to his home country Monday night and wrestled a stellar match with Dolph Ziggler, arguably the most consistent in-ring performer in the industry.
They wowed the fans in London, drawing a chant of "This is awesome!" en route to a win for The Showoff.
Neville lost nothing in defeat. If anything, he gained something by proving for the second week in a row that he can hang with the very best the industry has to offer. He nearly knocked off Ziggler and can now parlay that performance into bigger and better things.
source: bleacherreport.com
