Gleed’s Blog: Thoughts From Across The Pond – John Cena and Roman Reigns, Raw Women’s Championship picture, Randy Orton’s hatred of foreigners, NXT and ROH television

By Haydn Gleed

-My throne of smugness is growing by the week, ladies and gentleman. My beloved, wonderful, awesome Cardiff City now sit three points clear at the top of the league looking down on the peasants below us after winning five games out five. Give it another couple of weeks folks and I’m sure after crushing defeat followed by crushing defeat you’ll never hear me mention Cardiff City in a wrestling article.

-Coming out of Raw, the big talking point was John Cena against Roman Reigns and their worked shoot promo exchange. I’m not going to go through that again because a) I’ve written what I consider to be a kick ass blog on it already and b) other staff members have talked about the subject from a variety of angles in both written and audio form. On a personal note, I love Prowrestling.net because you have so many varied opinions amongst the staff. We rule! That aside, the card for No Mercy is starting to shape up well with the top of the card being what many people have described as WrestleMania worthy, which I can’t argue. I have mixed emotions on this as I can listen to the argument that this is hot-shotting feuds and matches that should have more build, but you could also look at it from the perspective of this could be the start of a storyline arc that could lead WWE through the dark days of winter when “football” is back as competition. Yes, I know I’m being my glass half full self, but I want to see how this plays out before going all in with the hot-shotting crowd. If these matches are one and done’s then, yes, it’s hot-shotting, but I’m willing to give WWE some slack and see what their plans are following No Mercy.

-Another match that seems to be coming up at No Mercy is either a singles match between Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax or including Sasha Banks in a Triple Threat for the Raw Women’s Hot Potato, er, Raw Women’s Championship. Such an easy mistake to make. I really don’t understand what they are doing with Sasha Banks, but I could take that sentence and hit ctrl + C and ctrl+V from anytime in the last two years and it would still be true. After all, this lady is a natural heel and works best as a heel but she’s been shoehorned into the babyface side. And now they make her look weak with this “she can’t successfully defend the title” gimmick. The only explanation that I can think of is that WWE officials think that by doing this they are placing sympathy on her and the crowd will be happy when she finally retains a title. I don’t think that will work, especially since the next time she wins it it will be for her fifth time and I don’t think the crowds will care. I don’t necessarily think that’s what WWE is doing, but they really need to get a grip of what they want to do with not just Sasha, but the women’s division as a whole, as a lot of talent is being wasted and money is being left on the table with what feels like backwards booking. If I want to grab a positive from the whole Emma and Mickie James nonsense it’s that they are being given TV time. Then again, they are feuding over fricking hashtags people, hashtags.

-Randy Orton’s character confirmed with his actions this week that he hates foreigners. Nobody is safe, especially if you don’t think playing a sport predominately with your hands means you call it football. If I were Drew McIntyre or Neville, I would be walking around worried about a Viper RKO’ing my ass backstage more than I would be of the former ROH or cruiserweight crew. Indian, Bulgarian and Japanese, it’s only time before he adds a Scotsman or Englishman to that list, folks. Naturally, Mason Ryan would kick his ass so don’t think about adding a fellow Welshman to that list, Randy. In all seriousness, it’s a sad indictment that all I can think of saying about Smackdown these days is making jokes about Orton’s “xenophobia”. I am digging the Kevin Owens against Shane McMahon feud, but everything else fits into a special category that I have in my head labelled Meh.

-NXT and ROH are still pumping out fun one hour shows on a weekly basis. Don’t get me wrong, at least 20 percent of the appeal for me with these shows is they don’t take up too much time, which is very much appreciated, but they manage to fill the time they have so effectively. It’s a shame regarding the possible Dalton Castle injury as a top level feud with Cody Rhodes would not only potentially elevate him, but also be intriguing on the level of whether his flamboyant act be a hindrance to taking him seriously as a top level babyface or if he good enough to be a credible main event star for ROH, which is enhanced by everything around him. Hopefully, it won’t be long before we find out.

-So, Jim Cornette is a regular now in GFW……anyway…..

-That will do it for this week, folks. For those who have contacted me, Progress had one of their main shows last Sunday and it was the last show before their biggest show of the year in mid-September. It should be available on their on demand service sometime over the weekend, so I should have a review of that for you guys and gals sometime next week. For those in the United States, I hope you have a fun but safe Labor Day weekend.