Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: League of Nations Will Be Remembered as Historic Flop

1. WWE's League of Nations as Forgettable as the Real-Life Group

All the ingredients for a thriving faction seemed to be there.

The League of Nations boasted two former world champions, an elite brawler in Sheamus and a top-notch in-ring performer in Alberto Del Rio. It featured King Barrett, a compelling talker and proven leader. Add a promising powerhouse in Rusev and the quartet's bond as foreign heels, and it was easy to project success for them.

It never came.

With the faction seemingly set to disband, each member has to be relieved. They just never clicked together.

In a Spanish-language interview with SoloWrestling.com (h/t Wrestling Inc), Del Rio said, "We as a group have never worked very well, so we decided that it is better to separate."

He may have spoiled what's to come with The League of Nations, but he is certainly right. As Will Pruett of ProWrestling.net pointed out, the Superstars weren't as compelling once they joined forces:

Some of that has to be attributed to a simple lack of chemistry. The New Day is electric. Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns fit perfectly as a threesome. The same hasn't been true for Sheamus and Company.

In interviews, they felt like four separate entities. 

Poor booking hurt them, too. For one, WWE unwisely made Sheamus the group's spokesman. One could argue that he is the least talented mic-worker of the four.

Barrett would have been far better in that role. His career peak came as the man in charge of Nexus, the one giving the orders and laying out the challenges. 

And WWE didn't allow them to be a dominant force. 

Yes, Sheamus held the WWE title, and Del Rio carried around the United States Championship, but their win-loss record told the audience they were a middling stable. 

Per CageMatch.net (link contains SmackDown spoilers), The League of Nations lost four of its first five matches. None of its members have a winning percentage over .500 this year.

• Del Rio (.333)
• Sheamus (.417)
• King Barrett (.429)
• Rusev (.455)

It certainly didn't help that Roman Reigns beat all four of them by himself on SmackDown in December. It's tough to sell a crowd on a band of men worth fearing if they can't take advantage of a three-on-one advantage like that.

The foreign heels' most famous moment was getting crushed at WrestleMania by Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin. Sheamus and his crew have no great rivalry, no classic match, no moving promo on their resume. 

And so as harsh an assessment as Sean Ross Sapp of Wrestling Inc gave of The League of Nations' connection to the crowd, it's hard to argue with it:

That apathy will only worsen in time as the group fades into obscurity. WWE misfired here. The League of Nations had about as much impact as X-Factor, a group many fans have already forgotten about.

2. The Fall of the United States Championship

For much of last year, the U.S. title's prestige shot up. It felt like a valuable prize and was at the center of a series of classic matches.

That championship's momentum has since dissipated.

Its place on the card today is an indication of that drop-off. Since John Cena lost the title at Hell in a Cell, it has drifted from the spotlight.

Neither Roadblock nor Survivor Series featured a U.S. title contest. And with Kalisto set to defend it at Payback, the belt will be featured on a PPV pre-show for the third time in a row. That makes it four of the last six PPVS that the title wasn't on the card proper.

That's miles away from being a part of one of SummerSlam 2015's biggest bouts.

3. Throwback Video of the Week: Chyna

Sadly, last week marked another death in the wrestling family. Chyna died in her California apartment, as reported by Andreas Preuss of CNN and others.

Fans are naturally inclined to reflect on her career, remembering some of her biggest moments. Many of those involved her mixing it up with men. In 2000, she battled Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship, a controversial ending resulting in co-champions.

In many ways, Chyna was a pioneer, but she was also one of a kind. We just haven't seen any other woman trading shots with a man with the IC title on the line. 

4. Why Samoa Joe's Win Makes Sense 

The latest NXT Championship title change came unexpectedly, in front of an audience of less than 3,000. The Samoan Submission Machine defeated Finn Balor at a live event in Lowell, Massachusetts, and it was absolutely the right move.

NXT fans are conditioned to expect something as major as a new champion being crowned at a TakeOver special, or at least on NXT TV. WWE, though, surprised us all. Upending expectations like that from time to time is exciting.

The title change adds to the appeal of future house shows like this one. There is a more distinct "anything can happen" feeling now. 

Breaking from the formula has worked to create buzz, too. In between TakeOvers, NXT managed to get Joe's fans talking in a big way.

5. Video Introductions

Showcasing character through a video package is a Lucha Underground staple. It's an element of the show that WWE should borrow more often.

A fan who knows nothing about Aerostar could see the following clip and be invested in him right away. The vignette told us who he is, what he wants, where his allegiances lie and who his enemies are, all in a minute-and-a-half.

The Vaudevillains could certainly use one of these to help introduce themselves to casual fans.

6. Payback's History of Title Changes

Don't expect a flurry of new champions at Payback on Sunday. In the event's short history, titleholders have been more successful than not. 

In three years, there have been a total of three title changes (including one changeover involving the defunct World Heavyweight Championship in 2013) at Payback.

Event	U.S. Title	Tag Team Title	IC Title	Divas Title	WWE Title
Payback 2013	Title retained	Title retained	New champion (Curtis Axel)	New champion (AJ Lee)	Title retained
Payback 2014	Title retained	Not defended	Title retained	Title retained	Not defended
Payback 2015	Title retained	Title retained	Not defended	Not defended	Title retained

This is certainly a small sample size, but there has been a pattern forming in the last two years. Perhaps with so many new champions coming out of WrestleMania, WWE has decided to make Payback more of a cool-down show.

Ryback fans are hoping that pattern changes. A new United States champ has yet to be crowned at the event.

7. Plans Derailed By Injury

WWE looks to have had something major in mind for The Wyatt Family at Payback. The PPV's promotional video features the group prominently. 

With Wyatt going down with a calf injury, though, The Wyatt Family has been nowhere to be seen in the last two weeks. Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman are poised to be healthy scratches.

Had The Eater of Worlds not gone down with a bad wheel, the Wyatt clan may have been devouring The League of Nations on Sunday, building momentum en route to SummerSlam.

8. Best Dolph Ziggler Losses

A good number of The Showoff's best work has come in defeat. He's adept at putting a guy over, as he is expected to do against Baron Corbin at Payback.

Before those two go to battle, check out Ziggler's greatest performances in a losing effort:

• vs. Rey Mysterio: SummerSlam 2009
• vs. Edge: Royal Rumble 2011
• vs. Zack Ryder: TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2011
• vs. Randy Orton: Night of Champions 2012
• vs. Alberto Del Rio: Payback 2013

The match against The Lone Wolf will struggle to be as good as those, since Corbin is so green. Still, Ziggler has been stealing shows while playing the role of prey for years. 

9. Becky Lynch vs. Emma Too Low of a Priority

The women's division's secondary feud has been pushed aside. Even if there was no room for Lynch and Emma to clash at Payback, WWE should be doing a better job of maintaining interest in the animosity between these two women.

WWE did nothing to advance the feud on Raw in London. And the same scenario played out on Monday's Raw.

The only thing WWE did with the story is to have Lynch talk about Emma in a Raw Fallout video in which she fired off food puns in between bites of salad.

That's a missed opportunity to capitalize on Lynch's surging popularity and Emma's excellence as a heel. This could be one of the better midcard rivalries going, but the company simply isn't finding time for it.

We shouldn't be surprised, though. Natalya, despite being in a title match at Sunday's PPV, got just two minutes and 12 seconds, per ProFightDB.com, to work with in the ring on Monday.

10. Xavier Woods on Wrestling Being "Fake"

The issue will never stop coming up, it seems. People still want to take jabs at wrestling by pointing out that it's a scripted sport.

The New Day's Woods tweeted to a fan who did just that, offering a perfect response:

How right he is. Throwing out the word "fake" when talking wrestling is disrespectful and inaccurate. I'd challenge anyone who brings up this tired rhetoric to take one German suplex courtesy of Brock Lesnar. 

Chances are, they would be using a different f-word afterward.