Big E Langston Will Be WWE's Next Temporary Top Star

Big E Langston received an audition of sorts this past week on Raw when he was booked in a competitive match against Randy Orton. 

A former bodyguard for reigning Divas champion AJ Lee, Big E Langston was selected by users of the WWE App to compete against Orton. Langston received 75 percent of the vote, beating out The Miz and Dolph Ziggler, whose graphics were basically studies of WWE taxidermy. 

The announcers played their parts, marveling at Langston's "raw power" and impressive physique. Before the match even started, Jerry Lawler crooned "Look at those arms, look at that chest! Pecs, this guy is unbelievable!"

JBL cited Bobby Heenan in with a vintage hyperbole ("you can play handball on his back!").

Langston was presented as a legitimate threat to the current WWE champion, who was booked to have his hands full against the overpowering monster. 

After getting in his fair share of scares, Langston would eventually be defeated clean by Orton, signaling the end of his top-star audition. 

Langston will never be the catch-as-catch can workhorse that makes Tyson Kidd so popular with hardcore fans. He doesn't have to be, nor would he want to be in the WWE if given the choice between work-rate specialist and money-drawing musclehead.  

Big E's competitive powerlifting accolades give him the perfect backdrop and built-in depth. His history in powerlifting is already incorporated into his entrance, as Langston powders his hands before animatedly clapping them together.

With WWE's babyface roster damaged to the point of having to rely on the once-tearful Big Show, new heroes must be created. Fast. Unfortunately for Big E Langston, his ascension is as promising as it is a kiss of death. 

It's happened with Wade Barrett, Sheamus, Jack Swagger and Ryback, to name a few. It just happened to Daniel Bryan. Designed momentum turns to sudden oblivion in one swift, inexplicable motion. 

In Ziggler and Miz, WWE's flash poll showed approval ratings of 12 and 13 percent, respectively. The Miz is only three years removed from main-eventing WrestleMania against John Cena. Ziggler is seven months removed from a World Heavyweight Championship win that seemed to have made him. 

Both have since been rendered fodder for a would-be WWE zombie apocalypse, no better than walking corpses. 

For now, WWE's latest flavor of potential is Langston. 

Given WWE's pattern of cold feet in the final stages of solidifying new stars, it's likely that Langston's graphic will eventually belong with that of Ziggler and Miz for all the wrong reasons. 

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