Gleed’s Blog: Thoughts From Across The Pond – Ric Flair, various thoughts on WWE SummerSlam, Baron Corbin failing in his MITB cash-in attempt, gear grinding

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By Haydn Gleed

-I’m writing this to you from a throne of smugness this week as a season ticket holder to the soccer team that has played three games, won three, scored six, and conceded no goals to sit proudly on top of the league……Cardiff City. Okay, so it’s not going to last, and there’s still 43 games to go, BUT we are top of the league right now, dammit!!

-Obviously the top story of the week is the situation with Ric Flair, who by all accounts was taken to the hospital last Saturday and had surgery on Monday which left his management team asking for people to send Ric their prayers. I’ll be honest, I feared I would wake up on Tuesday morning and read that the worst had happened, but by all accounts the operation was successful, but he’s still not out of the woods as of this update. Obviously, with this being a medical situation, we are all entitled to privacy so the family haven’t released any details, but to be put into a medically induced coma as Flair was is not something that is done for your regular routine tonsil surgery, so this is obviously a very serious situation.

The word legend is branded around far too loosely these days, but Ric is certainly a bonafide legend who has managed to bridge seamlessly from the territory days to the national days to the international days and still be loved and respected all over the world. I have been and will continue to send good positive thoughts to Ric and his family during this time.

-So the go home shows for SummerSlam are in the books and considering it is one of my favorite pay-per-views more a less on a yearly basis, this time around I have a general feeling of meh. I will say and I’ve written about this a couple of times, the main event is going to be great and I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out. Again, it’ll come as no surprise for me to say that I’m also looking forward to seeing how Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose get along. Everything else? Puffftt (that is a real term. It reads like the sound of a fart if you want a point of reference dear reader). I look up and down the card and I can’t see a potential Bret Hart vs. Mr Perfect from 1992 or HBK vs. HHH from 2002, a match that is a sleeper that has the potential to be something we remember when we are writing blogs 25 or 15 years from now if the alien warlords haven’t enslaved us by that point. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens, would have potential if they hadn’t already faced each other and didn’t have a gimmick of a special referee, but nothing else jumps out at me.

I think a large part of my apathy is the thought of spending six hours to get to the only match that I truly feel has been well built and I’ve got any emotional attachment too. As it stands, there are twelve matches advertised to be spread over six hours, so that’s a lot of toilet breaks. This is the first major WWE pay-per-view in a long time that I’m not staying up to watch live until four or five a.m. My original plan was to watch the show the next day, but I may even pick and choose matches based on reviews. I hate being a negative nelly, so I’ll leave it there, and hopefully by the time you read my official SummerSlam 2017 preview and prediction piece over the weekend, I’ll be full of joy about the card….

-While it’s on my brain, would it really shock anyone if WWE decides to cast Bayley as a heel and Sasha Banks as a babyface within the next few months? #miscast #randommusings

-What the hell was that nonsense with Baron Corbin at the end of Smackdown? I know it’s a silly notion, but I always assumed that the winner of Money In The Bank should come out looking stronger than before they won the briefcase. Not only did Corbin fail to cash in his Money in the Bank contract successfully, but he did so because he got distracted by John Cena. I wrote last week asking what this feud was actually about as they hadn’t defined what the beef is between the two, and I’m even more confused now. My suspicion is the story WWE wants to tell with this match is Corbin is pissed at Cena for costing him his opportunity, which would be fine, but where is the emotional hook? Not just wrestling angle 101 but storytelling 101 is that the good guy is wronged by the bad guy and looks to get revenge. Applying that logic here, Cena was taken out as he walked backstage (bad guy wrongs good guy, check), Cena then distracts Corbin to cost him his opportunity (good guy gets revenge, check), and so why exactly should I care about this match? Not only that but you have weakened Corbin in the eyes of the fans in the process unless he comes out and destroys Cena, which I don’t see happening. It’s just a mess.

-Another thing I don’t get is Naomi’s character. I do have a ton of respect for Naomi based on where she started with the Funcadactyls and somewhat limited moveset to being not only the champion but a champion that I feel is worthy of the title, not just someone who is champion because WWE feels they need to promote diversity to look like good corporate citizens. I’m not saying that has ever happened in WWE, but what does “the glow” even mean? Is “the glow” a tag partner who is interfering on the outside of the ring by blinding Naomi’s opponents? Is “the glow” what happens when she snatches an opponent bald and a light reflects off the bald head? I will grant you that I am old man Gleed, so it could just be that, but I just don’t get what she’s talking about and it takes me out of the moment.

-Did anyone else notice that Alberto El Patron kept referring to GFW as Impact in his “official” statement on Instagram? It’s okay, Alberto, I can’t keep up with the name changes either.

-In the immortal words of Peter Griffin, here’s something that really grinds my gears. If you are a wrestler, ex-wrestler, used to work in the business, wrestling media folk, etc. and you want to do a podcast that goes around the world, if it was up to me you would be banned from podcasting for one whole moon cycle if you don’t take the time to understand Great Britain does not equal England and England does not equal Great Britain. There are four nations in the UK, jackasses, show a bit of respect for them all. No word of a lie, out of four podcasts I’ve listened to this week, when talking about elections or the general public of Great Britain in some way or form, some ignorant host or guest has said “well this happened in England last week.” Anyway, these have been my thoughts on the world of wrestling from across the pond this week. Enjoy SummerSlam gals and guys!

Agree or disagree with anything I’ve written, then let me know!! Find me on twitter @haydngleed or via email haydn.gleed@gmail.com

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