What's next for Balor? Someone many pages back I think hit the nail on the head when he speculated that it was Balor in the Demon paint who attacked Itami. They showed Itami in the crowd watching during his match with Owens. I think that's foreshadowing that storyline. In one of the Balor vignettes he talks about the change that overcomes him when he puts on the demon paint. I noticed yesterday that he follows 666 people on his twitter account. Clever.
Loved the Japan special. Those streamers were outstanding. Jericho was great. Was fun to see an "old school" Walls of Jericho. Was mildly surprised he went over. While the storytelling may not be as good in this era, you can't complain about the quality of the wrestling.
Speaking of Jericho, he's got some competition. Cena might be giving his 1004 holds a run for the money pretty soon. I assume those that chant "Cena sucks" are referring to his character, because his ring work is amazing. He brings out the very best in every opponent. Really helps them shine. Cesaro is the latest beneficiary. Give him a better entrance and they might have something with him.
This Dolph Ziggler storyline is getting kind of interesting. Are they deliberately and slowly pushing him heel? He's been behaving like an ### lately, and I found myself cheering when Rusev beat him with the crutch. He absolutely had that coming. But they're not exactly making Rusev out to be a swell guy either. But this is what Ziggler should be. An arrogant heel who steals your woman and then rubs your nose in it.
On the topic of Ambrose, I think he works very well in the buddy angle with Reigns. I don't think the announcers do him any favors with the CONSTANT reminders of how crazy he is. And the same phrases over and over. "Lunatic fringe" "unhinged" "the unstable Dean Ambrose". Stop! We have eyes and ears. You're making it feel forced.
I think that's Vince McMahon in the announcers ears making them do that. I noticed there was less of that from Cole in the Japan special where I assume he didn't have anyone in his ear. Just a theory.
Overall, very little is working right now for the WWE. The top of the card (Cena, Lesnar, Rollins, Owens) is doing very well, but most of the rest is really boring.
Cena's character has always been the reason for the Cena sucks chant. His in-ring work, when paired with other good wrestlers in always good, he just gets bogged down in awful storylines more than anyone else so people get sick of him. I've noticed he has his best work against the Indy guys for some reason. I mean Cesaro, Owens, Neville, Zayn, Rollins and going back to Bryan and especially Punk(his best opponent ever) Cena seems to go to another level against those types for some reason, that he doesn't hit against non-indy guys, like Rusev, Wyatt and especially Orton(arguably his worst opponent) just seems like whenever he gets out WWE style match comfort zone, he performs a lot better.
While I appreciate him going deeper into his moveset as of late, some of those moves need to stay buried. Cena is great when he sticks to the power moves(that sit down powerbomb was nice) he looks awful when he does the athletic stuff. The springboard stunner is a move for Kalisto or Neville, Cena can't get the height or distance to make it look good. Same thing with that hurricanrana.
In my opinion, Rusev has been a secret face his entire run. He's never really done anything all that bad, his reason for being a heel has basically been having a Russian girlfriend and being proud of being not American. Meanwhile the faces are constantly cheapshotting him, calling him jingoistic names and now rubbing his face in his relationship falling apart. From a logical storytelling standpoint, he's never once been the bad guy in a feud.
I think they made a huge mistake putting the Money In the Bank briefcase on Sheamus. The crowd hates him, and not in the "getting good heat" kind of way, but in the "I wish I wasn't seeing you" kind of way. Basically X-Pac heat. I've noticed whenever the crowd starts chanting for CM Punk, or for the announcers, its almost always when Sheamus is wrestling. At this point it isn't a coincidence at all, he's the problem. Putting him and Orton in a feud is crazy, the crowd will be so quiet, we'll be able to hear crickets dropping pins in the arena.