Curtis Axel ran at full steam with the WWE Champion doubled over while staring down at a steel chair. He hit one of his finishers, a signature running neckbreaker, flush on the steel. John Cena kicked out at two. It was the latest in a series of sad trombone noises for Axel, who was described as the party line of being beneath Triple H all night long. Stephanie McMahon wanted to keep Trips from getting in the ring with the third generation superstar even though he could beat Axel with both arms and his dick tied behind his back, amirite guise? Father Vince was a bit more charitable; he changed his tune after the first commercial break.
I remarked on LANDMARK EPISODE 100 that Axel had been done no favors by WWE, but it didn't matter anyway because I thought he was kind of boring. As it turned out, I may have been wrong. He cut a strong promo on Smackdown and again beat the mood lighting off Sin Cara. I wonder if this is just the world's most elaborate WWE video game career mode, where Axel cheaply gains points by beating the elite via count out and getting his pinfall wins against Sin Cara on the B-show. If you watch on Friday nights, where JBL, in between proclaiming "NUMBERS GAME!" at random Shield moments like Ron Burgundy says "When in Rome," claims they like to fight, you get a different picture of the man. He may have the tools to succeed, but WWE isn't doing him any favors by having Triple H disregard him and Cena shrug off his biggest bombs on chairs like they were Gavin Loudspeaker's kick-wham-stunner combo.
The exact opposite is the case for Daniel Bryan, a man who before had many of his devotees riled up that WWE was blocking him something fierce. Now, they seem to be getting out of his way, and telling him "Just go out there and do what you do," which is yell at Kane and then kick dudes like they just cut his dad's head off right in front of him while the misinformed crowd cheered it like it was a national triumph (keeping my Game of Thrones spoilery references at least two years old, because Lord knows I don't need the late adopters coming at me like they were Ilyn Payne and I was Eddard Stark). Bryan did the latter twice in amazing fashion, first in hot trios action™, and the second in what was one of the best matches of the year to date against The Ryback.
I'd like to comment on the talent gap between Bryan and Axel, but I'm not sure we've been privy to the full battery of what Axel can do. I mean yeah, we all like to rag on him for the "Genesis of the Beginning of the Dawning of the Start of the Age of McGillicutty" promo from NXT, but do you guys realize that was like over two years ago already? Guys can change in a month if given the right cues and character prompts. It'd be foolish to think that Axel is the same rambling kid he was with the live mic and no script two, almost three years ago. I mean, I'm not ready to crown his ass just yet, but maybe there's something to be said for how WWE books its up-and-comers?
Not everyone is as preternaturally gifted as the American Goddamn Dragon. Not everyone has the built-in fanbase he had. That's the thing about being able to ply one's craft on the indies. You get grassroots support. I'd like to think Bryan won over a whole bunch of fans by Mania XXVIII weekend that aided in pushing his rise along, but we got a taste of what he could do before he even thought about signing with WWE. That's the problem with the dudes who are plucked right from wrestling school into developmental, like Joe Hennig seemingly was. We don't know what he's capable of.
When you get shuttled into matches with Poochie H and Super Cena, there's little to no chance you're going to be able to show your wares. When you get to dispatch guys like Justin Gabriel and Sin Cara? Well yeah, that's the route to go. I don't care if he held Tag Titles under another name. They didn't throw Ryback in front of Sheamus or Cena right away just because he used to be Skip Sheffield. They built him.
Why won't they give Curtis Axel the same benefit of the doubt?
I remarked on LANDMARK EPISODE 100 that Axel had been done no favors by WWE, but it didn't matter anyway because I thought he was kind of boring. As it turned out, I may have been wrong. He cut a strong promo on Smackdown and again beat the mood lighting off Sin Cara. I wonder if this is just the world's most elaborate WWE video game career mode, where Axel cheaply gains points by beating the elite via count out and getting his pinfall wins against Sin Cara on the B-show. If you watch on Friday nights, where JBL, in between proclaiming "NUMBERS GAME!" at random Shield moments like Ron Burgundy says "When in Rome," claims they like to fight, you get a different picture of the man. He may have the tools to succeed, but WWE isn't doing him any favors by having Triple H disregard him and Cena shrug off his biggest bombs on chairs like they were Gavin Loudspeaker's kick-wham-stunner combo.
The exact opposite is the case for Daniel Bryan, a man who before had many of his devotees riled up that WWE was blocking him something fierce. Now, they seem to be getting out of his way, and telling him "Just go out there and do what you do," which is yell at Kane and then kick dudes like they just cut his dad's head off right in front of him while the misinformed crowd cheered it like it was a national triumph (keeping my Game of Thrones spoilery references at least two years old, because Lord knows I don't need the late adopters coming at me like they were Ilyn Payne and I was Eddard Stark). Bryan did the latter twice in amazing fashion, first in hot trios action™, and the second in what was one of the best matches of the year to date against The Ryback.
I'd like to comment on the talent gap between Bryan and Axel, but I'm not sure we've been privy to the full battery of what Axel can do. I mean yeah, we all like to rag on him for the "Genesis of the Beginning of the Dawning of the Start of the Age of McGillicutty" promo from NXT, but do you guys realize that was like over two years ago already? Guys can change in a month if given the right cues and character prompts. It'd be foolish to think that Axel is the same rambling kid he was with the live mic and no script two, almost three years ago. I mean, I'm not ready to crown his ass just yet, but maybe there's something to be said for how WWE books its up-and-comers?
Not everyone is as preternaturally gifted as the American Goddamn Dragon. Not everyone has the built-in fanbase he had. That's the thing about being able to ply one's craft on the indies. You get grassroots support. I'd like to think Bryan won over a whole bunch of fans by Mania XXVIII weekend that aided in pushing his rise along, but we got a taste of what he could do before he even thought about signing with WWE. That's the problem with the dudes who are plucked right from wrestling school into developmental, like Joe Hennig seemingly was. We don't know what he's capable of.
When you get shuttled into matches with Poochie H and Super Cena, there's little to no chance you're going to be able to show your wares. When you get to dispatch guys like Justin Gabriel and Sin Cara? Well yeah, that's the route to go. I don't care if he held Tag Titles under another name. They didn't throw Ryback in front of Sheamus or Cena right away just because he used to be Skip Sheffield. They built him.
Why won't they give Curtis Axel the same benefit of the doubt?