Other than the Charlotte Flair-Sasha Banks rivalry, there's nothing I find compelling in WWE.
I blame it mostly on the brand split. When WWE announced last May that it was dividing up the roster between "Raw" and "SmackDown," I wrote in my blog, "The Eck Factor," that it wasn't a good idea because there wasn't enough depth.
I think the split has weakened both shows but especially "Raw." Filling 16 segments for a three-hour Raw every week was a challenge with a full roster, so what did the powers that be in WWE think was going to happen when they removed the likes of John Cena, A.J. Styles, Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose and The Wyatt Family from the show?
Plus, the Raw vs. SmackDown rivalry, which dominated both shows recently in the lead-up to November's Survivor Series pay-per-view, came off contrived and pointless.
My waning interest in the current WWE product starts at the top with the main event scene. Kevin Owens and Styles -- the world champions on "Raw" and "SmackDown," respectively -- are incredibly talented performers, but they've been saddled with questionable booking.
As for the Brock Lesnar-Goldberg program, the "fantasy warfare gets real" matchup should've stayed in the realm of WWE's video game. More on that later.
Owens and Styles have both had their credibility as champions weakened as of late.
The best friends shtick Owens is doing with Chris Jericho is hilarious, but as legendary manager Jim Cornette has often said, funny doesn't draw money. It would be fantastic as a mid-card angle, but the holder of the WWE Universal Championship shouldn't be doing so much comedy.
Moreover, since winning the title this past August, Owens has been booked as an unworthy champion. As a heel, he definitely should win by nefarious means, but the idea should be that Owens cheats because he chooses to, not because he always has to.
Remember when Owens made his WWE debut by pinning Cena clean at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in May 2015 and then pushed Cena to the limit in two subsequent pay-per-views? Owens came off as much more of a threat then than he does now.
WWE is still searching for a legitimate lead babyface on "Raw," and I'm convinced Owens can be that guy at some point. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it will be happening any time soon, as it's a virtual certainty Jericho will be the one turning babyface when the inevitable split between the best friends takes place.
Like Owens, Styles' was established as a main-event attraction in WWE by notching a clean victory against Cena on pay-per-view (SummerSlam 2016). Styles went on to win the WWE World Title from Dean Ambrose the following month to cement his status as the top guy in the company.
And then James Ellsworth came along.
The addition of the scrawny, chin-challenged veteran independent wrestler from Baltimore into the Styles-Ambrose program was cute at first, but he quickly overstayed his welcome.
Ellsworth scoring a fluke win against Styles the first time was fine as a means of advancing the issue between Styles and Ambrose, but Styles "losing" to Ellsworth on two other occasions was ridiculous. Styles' win against Cena now seems like a distant memory.
Could you imagine one of the Mulkey brothers getting his hand raised in three matches against NWA World Champion Ric Flair in the 1980s?
Now on to Lesnar and Goldberg. I wasn't overly excited to see them wrestle, but I didn't really have a problem with Goldberg returning to the ring to do a nostalgia match with Lesnar. I figured it would just be a one-off at Survivor Series and Goldberg would put up a good fight before ultimately being conquered by "The Beast."
What actually happened was mind-boggling, as Goldberg squashed Lesnar in 86 seconds.
Lesnar, the man who ended The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak and scored lopsided wins against Cena, Orton and Ambrose, jobbed to a 49-year-old who hadn't had a match in 12 years.
Lesnar is WWE's top box-office attraction and should be portrayed as a different breed than everyone else on the roster. Getting demolished by Goldberg has diminished Lesnar's aura. Time will tell if it has diminished his drawing power.
The worst part is that there's going to be a rematch, which will undoubtedly take place at WrestleMania April 2. I'd much rather see Lesnar in a fresh matchup against someone such as Owens, Styles, Bray Wyatt or NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura on the biggest show of the year.
Speaking of WrestleMania, WWE almost always becomes much more interesting in the months leading up to the event. I'm hoping that happens this year so I'll feel compelled to start watching "Raw" and "SmackDown" again.
Until then, Mondays and Tuesdays will likely remain WWE-free for me.
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