The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Logan Paul signing with WWE is a smart move from a business standpoint and will likely be a win for both sides. It’s also a reminder that no matter how much a large portion of the wrestling fan base wants WWE to change the way it does business and the way it presents its product they shouldn’t hold out hope.
WWE and its sports entertainment are about having and creating the biggest attractions possible with the biggest stars possible in the biggest venues possible for the biggest moments possible. It’s why Brock Lesnar is back to face Roman Reigns at SummerSlam after the two already competed in the “Biggest WrestleMania match ever,” it’s why Ronda Rousey has spent much of her tenure in the company with a championship around her waist and why Charlotte Flair is rarely without one either. It’s why Goldberg continually popped up in the title picture and Pat McAfee had a match at WrestleMania and has another one at SummerSlam. It’s why “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was brought back for one more clash in the ring.
For a good portion of the audience that’s good enough. It’s what fans want to see and it can certainly be entertaining as we saw at WrestleMania this year.
Paul, who along with brother Jake has arguably been doing sports entertainment on par or better than WWE, is another example of that attraction mentality. WWE now doesn’t need to build a new star attraction, it’s buying one and hoping he is bringing his 23.5 million YouTube subscribers along with him to his likely SummerSlam match with The Miz, who always seems to get these type of matches.
Don’t get me wrong, for what WWE is trying to accomplish, Paul is a home run, especially with Variety reporting his contract runs through 2023 and WWE’s television rights deals being up for renegotiation soon. Paul gets credit for giving WWE a year-long commitment, though there are only so many washed-up boxers or MMA stars you can fight if he hadn’t. Maybe if he likes it he stays longer and he can become more than just an attraction. The 27-year-old has already proven at this year’s WrestleMania he can hold his own in the ring and will only get better. The question will be, can someone as successful as Paul get an audience emotionally invested in him as a good guy?
But on the flip side, unless WWE uses Paul to give the rub to up-and-coming talents as it did with Theory and McAfee at WrestleMania, every minute he’s on TV is the time your potential favorite wrestler who has been in the company for years is not being used, not getting a chance to work at their craft, create a moment or feeling that could ignite something for them. I understand the thinking of bringing in stars like Paul to get a new audience’s eyes on your current stars, but it’s not like WWE’s ratings took a huge jump after the most “celebrity-filled” WrestleMania in a long time. The strategy likely won’t change with WWE currently look to bring in elite athletes.
The best recent WWE stories, were for wrestlers they weren’t ready to push that happened organically – Daniel Bryan’s “Yes Movement,” KofiMania, “The Man” Becky Lynch. A few talents who had been previously stuck in the mid-card have broken through to world champion status, Big E, Liv Morgan and Bobby Lashley to name a few. Others like Riddle and Lacey Evans are still waiting their turn. Gunther might be the next to do so. So WWE is trying to build new talent – just look at what they did with Theory at Money in the Bank. But often – especially for babyfaces — it always feels like the attraction talent stops them from completing their rise or at least keeps delaying it.
It would be almost silly to think Paul doesn’t get at least one world championship opportunity during his tenure – and if he gets over enough, so be it. Again, it’s a potential attraction that’s hard to see WWE not capitalizing on because of the mainstream attention it would garner.
If I’m a performer in the WWE locker room right now, I’m looking at Paul as someone to make my name and star-making moment with if given the chance. For the WWE talent, that is at least the other big positive outside the already-proven attraction value Paul brings. But WWE is pretty protective of its big attractions, not letting them lose much luster. If that’s the case with Paul, he’s just another short-term attraction potentially taking someone else’s spot.
Bloody Glory
AEW has tried a few gimmick matches: Stadium Stampede, Anarchy in the Arena, Casino Battle Royale and even Mimosa Mayhem. But it’s pretty clear Blood and Guts — a spinoff of WCW’s WarGames — has become it’s can’t-miss yearly endeavor as Wednesday delivered plenty of blood, guts and some really cool story elements. It also got “AEW Dynamite” back over the million-viewer mark in the ratings.
The finish itself was perfect as Eddie Kingston’s rival, Claudio Castagnoli, tapped out Matt Menard on top of the cage before Kingston could get his revenge and make Chris Jericho do the same right next to them. It was the Kingston-Jericho rivalry that started the war between the Jericho Appreciation Society and the Blackpool Combat Club and now they still may need a one-on-one match to finish it before a potential Kingston-Castagnoli rivalry brews. It does make me wonder if Bryan Danielson’s injury kept that from being Danielson-Kingston. Credit to Kingston for working the end of the match through what looked like a back injury and still make the cage climb to finish it.
While Castagnoli feels right at home and in a great spot to show off his unique talents in the BCC, Sammy Guevara went from being a featured TNT champion to potentially just another guy in the JAS. He was back to taking the big bumps – a toss off the cage onto the announce table to pay homage to the Mankind “Hell in a Cell” bump 24 years ago to the day.
Having the Blackpool Combat Club in the match really solidified the potential for them to be AEW’s version of the babyface Four Horsemen from the standpoint of they are the group with absolute legitimacy with the audience, no heel faction wants to mess with them and they can defend AEW’s honor if needed.
However, Blood and Guts can’t remain AEW’s signature match forever, as its sheer level of violence could turn off a portion of the audience and keep parents from letting their kids watch it. But for the test of us, the spectacle is worth enjoying yearly.
The 10 Count
NXT appears to be finally setting up Toxic Attraction’s downfall. It’s done a solid job building Nikkita Lyons – who probably wins the women’s breakout tournament if she doesn’t get hurt – as a threat to Mandy Rose’s NXT women’s championship and Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade for the women’s tag titles. It feels like a matter of when and not if for them.
AEW just might have something with the double-ring, 20-man Rampage Rumble it debuted last week. Splitting the competitors evenly between the two rings to start was a good way to control the action and set up storyline spots and it was high stakes with an interim AEW title shot on the line. I’m here for Brody King vs. Jon Moxley. King putting Darby Allin to sleep on the apron for the final elimination was a badass way to build him up for their match.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with Max Dupree’s “Maximum Male Models” gimmick, but at least WWE is using it to put a fresh coat of paint on Mace and Mansoor and give them a talented manager and mouthpiece who could make all the difference for them.
Every, AEW women’s match has the same post-match ending and so does every finish to WWE battle royals.
Can Money in the Bank eventually become a full stadium show after WWE’s failed attempt this year? I think so, just not in Las Vegas on international fight week and this close to a stadium-show SummerSlam. WWE may need to consider moving the date of the show to make it work.
I think we forgot how damn entertaining Orange Cassidy is with him out of action. He’s reminded us very quickly, though.
The Sandman and Microman both wielding kendo sticks in MLW was certainly a sight to see.
The Judgment Day 2.0 – sans Rhea Ripley right now – feels like just another group after just a few weeks. Finn Balor and Damian Priest lost to the Mysterios thanks to an old Eddie Guerrero trick then did the standard backstage beatdown to get their heat back. Maybe Edge’s eventual return to face them changes things, but don’t hold out hope.
The groundwork for “Hangman” Adam Page-Young Bucks reunion is slowly being laid and it added another chapter on Monday’s “Being the Elite.” Matt Jackson writes Page a text asking if they can just forget the past few years and can they just have a talk to work it out. But he did not send it. BTE may got back to being can’t miss until this story arc ends.
Did WWE just quietly end the brand split on Monday?
Bonus: The criticisms of Shotzi’s “botches” in the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match just feel like people wanting to pick on a young performer still trying to figure it all out. If ladder matches were so easy, we’d all be doing them and probably be enjoying them less. She had every right to fire back at the critics
Wrestler of the Week
Liv Morgan, WWE
The New Jersey native delivered the two moments many WWE fans have been waiting for: winning the women’s Money in the Bank contract and then getting a shocking and successful cash-in on Ronda Rousey of all people. What made it even better was the emotions Morgan displayed throughout. There were some tears before and after the MITB match, a palpable intensity and owning the moment when she challenged Rousey (her face as she jumped up and down before the bell will forever stick with me) and pure joy after pinning “The Baddest Women on the Planet” to become the SmackDown women’s champion. She followed it up with the perfect from-the-heart promo on Raw.
Match to Watch
Bron Breakker (c.) vs. Cameron Grimes, NXT Championship (Tuesday, USA, 8 p.m.)
These two, especially Grimes, have absolutely killed it in the build to this match. They have pulled in elements both from their real-life and characters’ storyline to make this feel more meaningful than maybe any other of Breakker’s title defenses. They hit it out of the park last week to close the show. For the first time it feels as if Breakker’s reign is in jeopardy. We also know how good these two are in the ring, so the Great American Bash’s main event is worth your attention.
Honorable mention: Jon Moxley vs. Brodie King, interim AEW world championship (Dynamite)
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