Ricochet always seems frustrated on social media lately. Frustrated with fans. Frustrated with rumors. Why do you think this is?
Ricochet is under a lot of pressure and like so many stars who have had success in NXT, has found it difficult to get established on the main WWE roster. Not everyone can get pushed to the moon but Ricochet is one of the most accomplished and decorated talents to come to WWE. He is seen as one of the best workers in the world. Yet he is “just another guy” on Raw. It is unfathomable to me how WWE can covet a talent like Ricochet and finally get him, only to struggle to book him. He reminds me of KENTA (Hideo Itami), another successful worker who could never get over due to WWE constraints. So when I see Ricochet firing back at a fan over how he is booked or acknowledging a false rumor, I just look at it as him blowing off some steam as he tries to navigate this difficult season of his career. I hope he can be elevated but I am not optimistic.
Now that we know true identities of Retribution members, what do you think of WWE using the opportunity to swerve and align a major main event Superstar as its leader?
In the beginning, there were a lot of people that felt like Roman Reigns would be revealed as the leader. That is obviously still possible and we could make arguments for and against it. The Retribution stable needs further progression and is getting stale in its current form. It’s been a slow burn that is burning so slow it has become predictable. It is not fair to compare Retribution to the nWo but the best angles come when the line between what is storyline and what is not is blurred. Lately with Retribution we can set our watches to the lights flickering and then the group coming out and attacking or threatening to overtake the company. They have been doing this for weeks and WWE continues to operate with minimal interruptions. WWE needs to move things forward to engage fans. If putting an established star with them will help, I am for it.
How is it for WWE talent whose spouses work for AEW such as Renee Young and Jon Moxley or Miro and Lana.
Renee Young recently spoke about this and stated there really was not much to it. She still showed up to do her job and that was about it. While related or not, as we highlighted in this space earlier in the week, Lana got put through a table a week after her husband told Vince to kiss his ass on TV. Obviously that could just be us making a big deal over nothing but rest assure, Vince McMahon does not like competition. It’s the McMahon way to drive competitors in the ground and purchase their tape libraries for nothing. So while it may not have been awkward for Renee and Lana going through a table could be a coincidence, I do not see Vince ever “playing nice” with competition.
Is it safe to say SmackDown is WWE’s new A brand?
SmackDown is currently WWE’s most watched show each week, however, I am not going to say they’re automatically the A brand now. I enjoy the show more because it’s shorter. Raw needs to be two hours and it would fix a lot of problems. I know I harp about that a lot but that extra hour has caused a lot of viewership fatigue.
The next installment of Ask WNC is scheduled to run on Monday, September 21, 2020.
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