As you are all aware, SummerSlam has occurred and there have been some very interesting episodes of Raw and Smackdown. To say that I am waiting to find out what will be next is an understatement of understatements.
To begin with, I have been urging the folks at WWE to give Dolph Ziggler a push. His phenomenal performance at Survivor Series 2014 was well worthy of a fantastic push. Unfortunately, WWE chose to cut that push short with their bringing back The Authority after he defeated them weeks earlier and to even give him a rather shortened reign as Intercontinental Champion. Also, after that, he has had a rather lackluster year. All that has changed thankfully. With Rusev turning his back on Lana and Ziggler taking this lovely Russian as his own. Given the bad booking he has been given, I was very afraid that they would turn him into Rusev’s whipping boy. Luckily, at Summerslam, they fought in a valiant effort that ended up in a Double Count Out. The two Raws and Smackdowns that have occurred since then have been allowed Ziggler to shine! The Raw the following night saw Ziggler be on winning team of a six-man tag match that had Rusev be on the opposing side. The following Smackdown had him be the first person (to the best of my knowledge) to pin Rusev. All the same, Ziggler did not beat him cleanly in a singles match, Big Show did betray Rusev. But still, Ziggler was able to pin the Bulgarian Brute. The following Raw, Ziggler had Rusev pinned but Summer Rae interfered. The point for all of this was not to rehash Ziggler’s victories but to show the positive trend that the powers that be have rightly been giving Ziggler.
Also, the fights between Lana and Summer Rae are very very reminiscent of ECW. Speaking of which, the manipulation of Summer Rae has turned her into an awesome femme fatale. This is definitely great work. I look forward to what Raw has for this saga!
Next, the return of the greatest heel tag team in wrestling history, the Dudley Boyz has taken the WWE by storm. their attacking of the New Day on Raw was nothing short of spectacular. This, being followed up by victories against The Ascension and former tag team champions The Prime Time Players. Truly awesome, it will not be long before we start hearing “ECW ECW ECW” from the crowd as the Dudley Boyz deliver the 3-D to Xavier Woods (yes the loudmouth will be the one to suffer their wrath) and when the tag team titles!
The last great point I want to mention is Sting’s return. When I first started watching wrestling at 1997/1998, my favorite wrestler was Sting. For a LONG time, he was known as the greatest wrestler to have never joined WWE…until now. He made his spectacular WWE debut at the aforementioned phenomenal Survivor Series match, saving Ziggler and aiding in his defeat of The Authority (until stupid booking reversed that but I will pretend that didn’t happen). With a very good build up, WrestleMania ended up having a very good match between Sting and Triple H. The match was made all the more special to me personally with the DX vs. NWO walk down memory lane. Triple H ended up winning (I really wanted Sting to win) but Sting lost very respectfully with Triple H all but honoring Sting’s legacy with a handshake. Fast forwarding to today, Sting has put himself into the shoes of hero again to go after detestable villain Seth Rollins. I honestly believe that given Seth Rollins has had a relatively long reign and that this will be Sting’s first match for the WWE Title, the title that has all but evaded him, Sting has a very good chance of being booked to win this title. A fitting end for an illustrious career.
In closing, I am very excited for what I am seeing in WWE, and that this will not be some very bland era of wrestling that has occurred.
polishpunisherjoe 