Step Down: SummerSlam’s Main Event
John Cena and Brock Lesnar are supposed to main event this year’s SummerSlam PPV – dubbed the “biggest party of the summer” – but right now it kind of seems like Brie Bella and Stephanie McMahon are carrying the show. Let that sink in for a minute… Does anyone else find it kind of ironic that John Cena is phoning it in via pre-recorded video, not two years after bashing The Rock for doing the exact same thing? Given that SummerSlam is the second biggest draw of the year, and WWE desperately needs people to sign up for another six months of the WWE Network (for just $9.99), and that Daniel Bryan is still out for the foreseeable future, and that he was stripped of the title because he couldn’t be around, and – have I given enough reasons why this Trainwreck movie filming is terrible timing? I was in Chicago for Extreme Rules 2012, the last time Cena and Lesnar faced off, and that match was built up with lots of fist-fights, blood, brawls and mayhem. How am I supposed to believe this one is going to be the “fight of his life” when they haven’t even been in the same building simultaneously?
Step Up: Stephanie McMahon & Brie Bella
Like I said, Stephanie and Brie are basically carrying the show right now. McMahon closed out Monday Night Raw this week by giving a Pedigree to both of the Bella Twins. Currently their match at SummerSlam is the probably the best promoted, and most interesting one on the card. I mean… a Lumberjack match? Come on Ambrose, you can do better than that. Not to say the card is bad, on paper, but WWE has given the ladies more time and focus than the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and – not to come across as sexist – but the proof just isn’t there that it will sell as many PPV or Network buys. To be fair, it’s hard to imagine they’ll do much worse than things have been recently… Anyways, this was supposed to be a PRAISE for the Divas, and for Stephanie McMahon, who is a much better heel than the Network-promoting Triple H these days. Say it with me… $9.99!
Step Up: Guardians of the Galaxy
Just a small note – Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is an excellent movie, and WWE star Batista did a hell of a job. I applaud the minds at Marvel for using big Dave’s size and strength to pit him as a muscle-bound alien badass, with very few words. The lines he did have were well-delivered, and they used him appropriately as to exercise his strengths, and not emphasize his negatives (aka his lack of experience as a movie star). It’s been a great year for comic book films, and I’m not sure I could choose between Guardians of the Galaxy, The Winter Soldier, or Days of Future Past.
