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WrestleMania season came to its unofficial end with WWE Backlash, formerly known as WrestleMania Backlash.
Before identifying this weeks’s Rising & Fading Stars, it seems fitting to describe my criteria.
A WWE Rising Star is a performer who appears poised to take on a larger role in WWE television, typically through a “push“ of high profile wins, more promo time, or involvement in important storylines.
This can take the form of the wrestler performing exceptionally well in their current role, being framed as more important by storylines, or both.
A Falling Star is, obviously, in the opposite situation.
Now let’s look at this week’s winners and losers:
Rising Star of the Week: Gunther
Throughout the WWE premium live event Backlash, fans were essentially split in each and every match, cheering heel and babyface acts equally. Even former heat-magnet, Dominik Mysterio was cheered on by as many fans as his opponent, the ultra-charismatic Penta.
Not so Gunther. His match told the most compelling story of the night, one in which the fans rallied unanimously behind his opponent: underdog announcer Pat McAfee.
Gunther is an exemplary heel in part because he does not come off as particularly cool. In fact he does practically nothing to encourage fans to cheer him.
In his Backlash match, Gunther was the perfect bully, delighting in the defenseless McAfee’s suffering and Cole’s distress. An enthusiastic audience reacting appropriately helped elevate this to match of the night. Full credit to McAfee and Michael Cole for playing their parts to perfection. The predictable outcome took little away from the drama
Following an embarrassing loss to Jey Uso at WrestleMania, Gunther has his heat back. This match made the Ring General look invincible and made fans hungry to see him get his comeuppance. He’s in a great position to retake a prominent role going forward.
1st Runner-up: Lyra Valkyria
This was a phenomenal week for the Women’s Intercontinental Champion. In her feud with Becky Lynch, Valkyria was placed in her highest profile program to date, and did not disappoint.
While she still has much to learn about how to best connect emotionally with an audience, Valkyria delivered an impassioned and convincing promo against Lynch on Raw, easily her best to date.
Her Backlash match against Lynch showcased the technical abilities of both women, a hard-hitting battle which told a good story with a satisfying ending: Valkyria cleanly pinning Lynch with a roll-up.
The duo faced an uphill challenge getting the crowd behind a new act in favor of Lynch, arguably the greatest female wrestler of all time. In this thy were mostly successful. A section of the audience did in fact cheer the heel, but it was less noticeable and problematic than most of Backlash’s matches.
Valkyria has benefited from Lynch fully embracing her heel role and generously selling Valkyrie’s verbal and physical offense. In sharp contrast to the Charlotte flair/Tiffany Stratton dynamic, it’s clear that Lynch is doing her best to get Valkyria over. The two have excellent chemistry, and I hope we haven’t seen the last of their feud.
A clean win over a newly-turned Lynch is a big deal, and signals greater things in store for Valkyria.
2nd Runner-up: Seth Rollins
Although not yet fully defined (his new faction still lacks a name), I am loving this version of Rollins so far. His face persona had a couple of big problems: an irritating cackle and ridiculously outrageous outfits being first and foremost. These attributes fit his heel character perfectly.
His identity as a visionary and revolutionary made no sense for his face character. He never explained his vision or seemed to revolutionize anything.
Now, as leader a powerful new faction whose goal is to save the WWE by seizing power, Rollins is finally living up to his nicknames.
The fact that he pretends to be the reluctant savior of wrestling, while his “revolution” is completely self-serving and hypocritical, makes him a perfect villain.
For all his immense technical skill and athleticism, this is the first version of Seth Rollins who makes a compelling main-eventer since his 2015 run as a corporate champion.
For the first time in a decade, I can’t wait to see what Seth “Freakin’”Rollins does next.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Fading Star of the Week: NXT Referees
Only a couple weeks ago an NXT referee counted a pinball on Wren Sinclair well after Izzy Dame abandoned the cover. Last week’s show saw another botched referee call.
The opening tag match had Joe Hendry team with Hank and Tank to take on DarkState. During the match, Trick Williams pulled Hendry out of the ring and attacked him.
The referee clearly saw Hendry and Williams trading punches, but inexplicably failed to disqualify DarkState or throw out the match. A displeased crowd started chanting “bullsh!t!” as the match concluded with a DarkState powerbomb victory. Booking plans notwithstanding, it would have been far better if the referee simply disqualified DarkState.
Referee botches have become all too common in NXT programming. They serve to pull the viewer completely out of the moment, a rude reminder that a wrestling match is not in fact a dramatic contest. It’s only a facsimile, and a flawed one of that.
NXT’s referees simply must do better.
1st Runner-up: A.J. Styles
Styles cut an embarrassing backstage promo on the Judgement Day on Raw. He suddenly became flustered, stammered, and completely lost his train of thought before blurting “Gosh, I can’t even think.”
It was a bad look for the Phenomenal One. Filmed backstage, it’s unclear why this scene wasn’t simply reshot.
For many years a centerpiece act in the WWE, Styles increasingly finds himself marginalized into his current gatekeeper role.
Performances like this make it clear why.
2nd Runner-up: Sheamus
Having Grayson Waller trick Austin Theory into taking his match against Seamus was a fun way to reintroduce the Celtic Warrior. The resulting bout featured good performances by all three.
Like Styles, Seamus is a former multi-time world champion who, in his most recent run, played a secondary gatekeeper role. He has proven himself capable of excellent, physically-intense matches and effective promos time and time again over his nearly 20-year WWE career. Seamus has the ability to justify a larger role.
Unfortunately, his reintroduction showed no sign that creative has anything new in mind for him. A change in presentation, a mission statement, or pairing with another talent, might go far in livening up his act.
The current outlook seems like more of the same Seamus we’ve seen in recent years, and further slide down on the card.
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