WWE Minutiae: A Week Where Wrestling Actually Mattered

I was reviewing the grades I've given the various programs since I started writing for Bleacher Report, and it occurred to me that this week was a rare occurrence.

I don't know if it is due to celestial alignments or the fact it was my birthday this week. It could be a mass coincidence thing with Thanksgiving happening this week (for our US readers), or maybe Vince McMahon was distracted by Twitter so much that the Raw Creative team was left to their jobs. 

But honestly, this past week has been a tremendous week of wrestling for the WWE.

Think about it like this: There was a great PPV this week, Raw and SmackDown were heavily focused on the in-ring product and Superstars did its usual fare as a pure wrestling show.

In short, the WWE decided to return its roots, and wrestling fans rejoiced.

Starting at the Top

"Boots... to Asses." —The Rock

This past Sunday, Survivor Series came to us from Madison Square Garden. The pay-per-view was a hot sell thanks to the return of The Rock and a WWE Championship title change. The crowd was hot for most of the event, CM Punk decided to go crowd surfing and Zack Ryder became the living embodiment of New York.

Overall, the pay-per-view was strong on many levels and memorable in a lot of ways. It was worth the cash if you are a wrestling fan. The in-ring product was strong in all ways that mattered. Punk and Alberto Del Rio stole the show, and The Rock looked exceptionally crisp in the ring. Dolph Ziggler got double duty and looked good in both matches.  

Survivor Series was probably the last PPV for John Morrison in the WWE. Wade Barrett picked up a surprising pin over Randy Orton, and Cody Rhodes looked good simply by surviving the match. It was a PPV that mattered and helped to reestablish the event's place in the WWE's "Big Four."

The Return of "Raw Is War"

"I'm not a Sports Entertainer. I'm a Professional Wrestler." —CM Punk

A day later, I expected Raw to be a static show. The show went through a large number of rewrites. As such, guest host Jonah Hill and the re-debut of Brodus Clay were eliminated altogether. But something weird happened on the show.

Yup, there was an actual focus on wrestling. Punk and Ziggler put on a PPV-quality match in the middle of the show, and Barrett versus Kofi turned out to be a very good match with a good deal of storytelling in it. The show used the angles to further the in-ring product rather than the reverse.

The issue with Raw and its string of weak shows was simply the fact that it came off as a "promo" show with some wrestling thrown in. Raw forgot its roots as a strong wrestling show. This last Monday, however, was a good show on so many levels.

The difference between pro wrestling and MMA is that wrestling is scripted. As such, wrestling needs time to adequately tell a story. This is where Raw had been lacking. Typically, the matches simply don't have enough time to draw you in. The matches becomes a byproduct and simply leave the viewer wanting more.

Both the Punk/Ziggler and Barrett/Kingston matches were given over 10 minutes in the ring. The result was that there was sufficient time to do what needed to be done. Neither Ziggler and Kingston lost much credibility in taking a clean loss. As a matter of fact, both men (particularly Dolph) looked strong in those matches.

For the record, this is how Raw needs to be.

The Wild Blue Yonder

"To be honest, when I cashed in the briefcase, it was better then I imagined." —Daniel Bryan

That's paraphrasing Bryan, so forgive me.

SmackDown has been on an tear as of late. Last night was no different. For a while now, SmackDown has lived up to it's legacy as the wrestling-heavy show. For over a month, they've usually had two good quality matches and advanced the current angles just enough to avoid stagnation.

To me, their formula has been to use the promos and feuds to accentuate the in-ring product. It's working, as SmackDown has recovered from its ratings nosedive this summer when the final numbers were consistently below 2.0. Last night continued the trend of great shows.

Bryan is becoming a focus on the show. He featured heavily in the Big Show/Mark Henry title feud and nearly cashed in his "Money In The Bank" briefcase last night. Defeating Cody Rhodes via submission in the main event sets up a potentially huge main event next week against Henry for the live holiday show.

The Fatal Fourway match and the Sheamus and Ryder/Swagger and Ziggler matches were particularly good. The tag match caught me by surprise, with Ryder and Sheamus both making great use of blind tags to frustrate "Team Zig Swag," while letting Ryder get the pin on Ziggler furthered his feud with Ziggler. The match itself started slow and switched gears with nearly impeccable timing.

Just like Raw, last night's show was great on many levels. There was some good storyline advancement and a couple of extended matches (both of which exceeded 10 minutes), and the new feud between Ted DiBiase and Jinder Mahal has some surprising potential.

Reflecting on the week that was, I have little to complain about. The shows left the viewers wanting in a good way. There was emotion and storytelling. There was soap opera and gladiatorial combat. A new champion was crowned and another nearly so.

This was, quite simply, just a great week of wrestling.