CRAIG’S MUSINGS: What does NXT mean, Ziggler’s post-WWE comedy and indy run, Global Wars Chicago, has Vince lost enthusiasm for Styles

What does NXT Mean, Ziggler Post WWE Comedy then Indy Run, Global Wars Chicago In-Person Disappointment, Vince Must Not See Anything More in A.J. and I’m Pissed About It

-I was recently gifted a random thought: Is NXT the only wrestling promotion where the actual letter initials don’t mean anything? I know it means Next Generation, but it’s a tad gimmicky. It goes to show when a promotion is largely making fans happy, things like this aren’t brought up. Similarly, when a band puts out great music, the name of the band seems irrelevant no matter how much sense it doesn’t make when literarily broken down.

-For the life of me, I hope Dolph Ziggler has something to do with his poor booking. If so, and if his contract is indeed set to expire soon, he is setting himself up quite well for life after WWE. But, he must use it to his advantage. Currently, his character couldn’t be any less regarded for a guy who has so much talent but wasted potential.

He’s been preparing for a stand up comedy career for years. Provided he listens to his body and solely focuses on comedy, he will have some low expectations combined with some wrestler stigma. Chris Jericho did when he started Fozzy, and he was a bigger star than Ziggler. Now, Fozzy is getting the respect they deserve for making great music, despite Jericho’s voice being the weakest part of the music. My opinion, of course. The stigma doesn’t loom as large as it once did, thanks in large part to Jericho, Dave Bautista, and Dwayne Johnson. Still, the stigma has more life left than it deserves in 2017.

I predict Ziggler will endure so many humbling moments on the comedy stage. After that initial reality check, he will rise up and hopefully realize why his wrestling character didn’t get to a higher level. Once he’s able to reinvent himself, which I believe he can, he can be successful as he does have a good sense of humor that has some appeal. I attribute that to his podcast appearances and other interviews he’s done I’ve listened to. When he establishes himself as a comedy draw, he should have a few years left to wrestle. My hope is he can translate that to a successful indy run. By then, there will be a thirst for him.

He shouldn’t go back to WWE. Instead, he should wrestle all over the world to be the example many in WWE need to see and currently see in Cody Rhodes. Success is possible without the machine, and thus that will humble WWE in ways Vince maybe will only admit to himself. But, that won’t happen without the necessary reinvention with a second career to carry him through the rest of his life.

Best of all, Nick Nemeth can finally use his own name and not remind us of his WWE pitfalls, and Boogie Nights.

-I use Ring of Honor and New Japan to escape WWE. When ROH announced the Global Wars show for Chicago with Kenny Omega being the sole carrot dangled, I knew I had to make the trek from Green Bay. I promptly became a ROH Ringside Member to enable early ticket purchase.

I’ll admit being a casual viewer of ROH. I watch and follow New Japan more closely, with more awareness of most New Japan storylines. The clearly will-lose-to-Omega Yoshi-Hashi as Omega’s opponent didn’t matter to me. I had confidence in their ability to have a great match, even after Omega had his knee scoped a couple weeks or so before the Chicago show. And his public burial of Hashi via promo that made zero sense no matter how one could spin it.

Before I got to the venue, which was about 15 minutes until the start of the show, I was surprised to see the meet and greet lines were in the lobby of the building. More surprisingly was only half the building was used for the show, creating a cramped situation at the concessions on the way to my seat. I guess ROH didn’t get a sweetheart deal for the building.

The chairs on the floor weren’t well organized, but wasn’t a big deal until I found my row. I’m not a fat shamer, but there wasn’t any room to give for either of my large row mates on either side en route to my seat. Before intermission, I used the facilities and realized all paper products were in short supply in more than one area. And stall. Did I mention all paper products! Not a great way to make an impression.

The production value was pretty good, but the music wasn’t nearly loud enough nor were the microphones for promos. I was in the middle of the seventh row, opposite of the entrance ramp for those curious where I sat for my perspective.

As I stated earlier, ROH and New Japan are my WWE escapes. I still follow WWE close because I must have a perversion for finding all the logic gaps and other stuff I don’t like about WWE, and sometimes write about it for you fine folks to ponder. The show itself had too much WWE-lite schtick for my taste and not enough great wrestling. Too much comedy in all the matches before Colt Cabana vs Toru Yano, I thought, killed their ability to stand out as a sole comedy match. Despite that, they still had the crowd in stiches, including me. Thanks God for Will Ospreay vs Flip Gordon and Bullet Club vs Search & Destroy in the great wrestling department.

The rest of the matches were just good; Omega vs Hashi left me less than satisfied. They didn’t deliver a great in ring performance to make up for the booking mistake. I hated the overbooked finish after Todd Sinclair did the ref bump. I did read and listen to others’ opinions of the show. In retrospect, I dislike the show even more due to the booking. There was a lack of follow up on a few wrestlers coming off recent big wins, notably Kenny King being stuffed in a six man match after winning the ROH TV Title. I’ll credit the booking for Cabana vs Yano though. I’m not enough in the know for how New Japan and ROH book these combined roster shows.

I deliberated buying the iPPV to offer a contrasting perspective and write about it for this piece. The show I saw didn’t grow a legend in my mind to compel me to watch it all over again, even with a fast forward option.

I will say, and boldly so, that the Bullet Club is getting very close to the end of the NWO honeymoon period as far as oversaturation and dilution. I’d suggest there be minimal appearances of the entire faction, maybe to highlight a guy like Hangman Adam Page by himself in a match. Better yet, just give me something that hasn’t been done before. ROH is simply too dependent on the Bullet Club right now.

The Bullet Club is rightfully running with the WWE cease and desist story. But, it has a short shelf life and the group will have to thrive on its own merits again. And soon. Cody became a hot commodity by initially distancing himself and becoming his own man from WWE after his release. That’s why he doesn’t want the Rhodes last name. Now he and the rest of the Bullet Club are going in the other direction. Again, I’m not a fervent viewer but I do read a lot of the goings on; minus the previously mentioned ROH and New Japan combined booking.

The time for Bullet Club to shift their focus away from WWE before they must for survivals’ sake is filling the hourglass very quickly. Turning it around before they need to will allow them to add to the equity and goodwill that already exists.

-What an abuse of power. What a statement. What a way to telegraph it. What a way to take a great guy for granted To my eyes and ears and the brain between them, Vince McMahon will not do anything more with A.J. Styles. No more world titles. Maybe a midcard or tag team title, but that’s it. With the blatant disregard for Styles’ wellbeing and ability to rest and recover from just kicking an illness and the last-minute flight from Chile to Minneapolis, Vince had Styles appear in my city of residence, Green Bay, for Raw.

If Styles wasn’t forced to appear on Raw Talk after TLC, he could have had a head start on sleep before making the trip to Green Bay. I’ve made the same 4 and a half hour drive before, and I couldn’t imagine doing it with the jet lag Styles had, and after the grueling match he had with Demon Balor. Even if he was in the passenger seat, it’s no way to be treated. Or get decent rest. The 30 minute or so flight would have been better, and I hope that was part of the deal.

This was Vince seeing Styles as nothing more than a guy to get others over. Yes, he scored the pin for his team on Raw. That was likely just a make good for losing to Demon Balor the night before. The rub that Balor got was immediately transferred to old man Kane. What a waste. Just two weeks before that, Styles did his best to polish the turd that is Baron Corbin, another guy Vince is trying to build. Corbin is definitely better than he was, and the match wasn’t bad. It was just a clear picture of how far away and unrealistic Corbin is from credibly beating Styles.

Styles is too old in Vince-brain to strap the rocket on, but apparently not too old to endure that kind of travel just after being sick. I was not at Raw, but if I was I, would have not been happy to see Styles there. My anger went right to Vince, and sympathy right to Styles.

Did Styles really need to go to Milwaukee the next night for Smackdown to beat Samil Singh in 30 seconds? Vince could have given Styles the rest of the week off and had him annihilate both Singh Brothers the next week. Then, of course, eventually lose to Jinder Mahal who will then lose to Brock Lesnar. You see all the cracks Styles is falling through!

My fear is Styles will be seen as a push over. Vince doesn’t respect push overs, even though he should in this case where Styles is just being a solid company man. A very fine line exists in WWE-if you’re too much of a fan or too nice a person, then you get dumped on. If you speak up against it, even tactfully, you’re seen as a malcontent. Many previous WWE wrestlers and other employees have been on record with those sentiments. Justin Roberts’ book has a litany of examples. And it’s very good.

The foundation of Styles’s passion to be the best is to provide for his family. That’s easy fodder for Vince to use against a good Christian man. And not make it up to him. I hope I’m wrong.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: CRAIG’S MUSINGS: Mae Young Classic and Vince McMahon-Kevin Owens angles – what worked and what didn’t