by Daniel Johnson
I felt positive yesterday so I published a piece titled, The 5 Biggest Jumps Up The Card from SummerSlam 2013 to SummerSlam 2014. Today, I’m still feeling positive and looking forward to WWE SummerSlam 2014, but since I already gave you the yang, it’s time for the yin in this yin and yang look into this year’s SummerSlam and last tear’s show. Also, for those wondering I’ve excluded people who are not currently active on the company’s main roster. This includes people who have left the company, are out injured or were fired from WWE. So you CM Punk and Daniel Bryan fans don’t have to bug me. That one hardcore Alberto Del Rio fan and that guy crying into Kaitlyn’s panties that he bought from WWE Shop can still send me hate mail here. Really, there’s no reason they should since Del Rio and Kaitlyn are excluded due to the criteria just like Punk and Bryan are, but the diehard Del Rio and Kaitlyn fan(s?) are too far gone to try to reason with. Anyway, enough of this silliness here are the 5 biggest falls down the card from SummerSlam 2013 to SummerSlam 2014!
5. Kane
Last year Kane was paired with rising star Bray Wyatt and the rest of The Wyatt Family. This year Kane doesn’t even make it on the card. The WWE have been waffling big time on what they want to do with Kane in the last year. Actually, more than that if you really look at his career in recent years. Should Kane be a demon or a corporate lackey? Should Kane be main eventing in 2014 for some godforsaken reason or left off the card completely? Should Kane be a lone wolf or have The Undertaker lick his big red nipple? Okay, I somehow channeled The Rock before I could finish my thoughts. In actuality though it is less a case of waffling and instead Kane being flexible enough to use whenever the WWE creative team need to plug him in somewhere. Thankfully, in this year and last year WWE brass have been smart in how they have used Kane at SummerSlam if nowhere else. Last year Kane put over Bray Wyatt in a ring of fire match for the opener. This year we have 100 percent less of Kane wrestling on the show leaving room for fresher talent to shine. By fresher I mean anyone.
4. Big E
Big E Langton or now just Big E as his friends call him wrestled during the bathroom break last year. Before the epic John Cena/Daniel Bryan half hour showdown many a fan needed about five or six minutes to head to the bathroom, take a leak and maybe grab some food on the way back to enjoy the show. That’s where Langston’s intergender match came in. Langston tagged with AJ Lee to take on Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn. As much of a pee break as Langston’s match was it was connected to a storyline between the four that had some legs to it. This year Kaitlyn may be gone, but AJ Lee and Dolph Ziggler are in title matches. Meanwhile Big E will be a lumberjack for the Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins match. If he’s lucky.
3. Randy Orton
Randy Orton may strike some as an odd choice because if you look at the original SummerSlam card for 2013, Orton’s name is nowhere to be found. That is because the WWE creative team had regained their faith in Orton and was using him as an intriguing plot device. Orton ended up capping the WWE SummerSlam 2013 night off by cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on newly crowned WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and winning the WWE Championship. There was potential for a new age of Orton to run wild in the WWE, but what we got instead was Orton holding the WWE Championship and then the unified WWE World Heavyweight Championship for what seemed like forever and a day. All the while the folks at WWE teased giving Orton’s title to someone fans really wanted. This year Orton is facing the former hoss of The Shield big man, Roman Reigns and has a good chance of being fed to him. A step down for Orton, but a step in the right direction for everyone else.
2. Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes did not have a great match at SummerSlam last year. Rhodes faced Damien Sandow in a forgettable affair that didn’t even reach the seven minute mark. That being said leading up to that Rhodes/Sandow match the two had shown enough personality and given enough worthy in-ring performances to where there was real potential for both to reach something more. When Sandow cost Rhodes the chance to hold the Money in the Bank briefcase for the World Heavyweight Championship, instead taking the briefcase for himself the two had a reason to feud. There were some problems from the beginning like Rhodes being angled as the face of the feud despite Sandow winning the aforementioned briefcase in a perfectly fair way given the rules of a Money in the Bank ladder match. Yet, given the aforementioned talent of the two there was still hope at SummerSlam the two would have a match that would be the sleeper hit of the night. At least I thought there was. The match didn’t deliver. Rhodes went onto have some ups and down before becoming Stardust and getting left off this year’s card. At least he could be another person involved in the lumberjack match. Also, the WWE office has appeared to still have faith in him. Well, until he jobbed to Heath Slater.
1. Damien Sandow
Cody Rhodes may be jobbing to Heath Slater, but Sandow is lucky these days when he gets the chance to job to an established comedy heel. At this point the guy who made sure the water was cool for HHH’s “Ice Bucket Challenge” has more upward momentum in WWE than Sandow. Lou Thesz has a more successful current WWE career than Sandow and he’s been dead for 12 years, retired for 35. Sandow has been left off the card, but that is not all. In addition to not wrestling this year at this rate Sandow may be lucky if he even gets a match worth forgetting, like so many other former promising talents have had in the past, sometime far, far down the road. For Sandow the last year has been a series of low points like losing his cash in attempt for the World Heavyweight Championship to John Cena and lower points like losing to Adam Rose eight times. I’m not making that up. If you look up and include house show results Sandow has jobbed to a comedy newcomer a remarkable eight times. In fairness to Sandow, WWE needs lumberjacks and with that magnificent beard Sandow is perfect for the role. With Sandow’s luck though Zack Ryder will probably steal his close up.
Photo Credits:
Photos 1-2, 4, 6: en.wikipedia.org
Photos 3, 5: Daniel Johnson / Johnsontranscript.com
Categories: Wrestling Lists
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